How do you move 3,000 fragile clay tablets that date back thousands of years? This was the challenge faced by staff from the Netherlands Institute for the Near East (NINO). After years of preparation, the Liagre Böhl collection has been moved on trolleys to its new home.

In the UBL podcast Leiden University lecturers, professors and other experts talk about their research based on items from the Special Collections.

The standard loan period for items borrowed at Leiden University Libraries (UBL) is 3 weeks.

The Centre for Digital Scholarship offers several opportunities for training on data management. Topics included are policies and requirements, sensitive data and GDPR, data sharing and consent, publishing and archiving data, Data Management Plans, FAIR data (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and…

With its more than 1400 bindings and over a thousand fragments Leiden’s collection of medieval manuscripts (up to ca. 1550) is the largest in the Netherlands.

As of 2017 the Wouter Swets Foundation has invoked a Wouter Swets Fellowship at the Scaliger Institute. The Foundation supports the promotion of research into the holdings relating to the musical tradition from the Balkans and Turkey to Central Asia in the Special Collections of Leiden University Li…

The G.W.J. Drewes Fund was invoked to celebrate the transfer of the scholarly legacy of Professor Drewes to the UBL and to mark the opening of the Asia Library in the University Library at the Witte Singel. The fund provides financial support to one or more fellowships at the Scaliger Institute. The…

The Juynboll Foundation and the Scaliger Institute of Leiden University Libraries have founded a collaborative fellowship program to enable one or two scholars to study the Arabic and Islam special collections of Leiden University Libraries. The allowance is € 1,500 per month.

The Lingling Wiyadharma Fellowship program offers the opportunity to three scholars to spend up to three months conducting research using the Southeast Asian and particularly the Indonesian special collections at Leiden University Libraries.

As of 2017 the Vera Gottschalk-Frank Foundation has invoked an Arminius Fellowship at the Scaliger Institute. The Foundation supports the promotion of research into all holdings relating to the Remonstrants in the Special Collections of Leiden University Libraries.

The Isaac Alfred Ailion Fellowship will support scholars to work with the extensive Special Collections of Leiden University in the field of Japanese culture and language for a period of maximum three months.

The Van de Sande Fellow conducts research in the Special Collections of Leiden University Libraries, preferably in one of the areas of interest of the Van de Sande Foundation: the history of pharmacy, botany, medicine. In exceptional cases the fellowship is also available to researchers in the field…

Since 2006, publishing house Brill in Leiden has sponsored the appointment of so-called 'Brill Fellows'. The Brill Fellow researches items in the department Special Collections of Leiden University; as much as possible, this research is based on any of the specific publishing areas of publishing house…

The special collections from Japan and Korea are located at the central library building at Witte Singel, where it forms a part of the Asian Library.

Workshop

Leiden University teachers wishing to stream audiovisual materials during online classes, can book the University Library's media room (ground floor) for this purpose.

Museums, libraries and similar institutions can request materials for exhibitions from the Special Collections.

Public lecture

Do you have plans to conduct scientific research on the basis of the extensive digital collections of Leiden University Libraries (UBL)? Then the Fellowship Program for Digital Scholarship sponsored by Elsevier is something for you.

Under agreement with the Dutch National Archives (2011), all static archives created by Leiden University are kept as a loan in the University Library. In this way, users can study the history of the university and library in conjunction with other relevant archives, collections and items.

A number of tools and services are available to help you keep up to date with the latest developments in your subject field.

The collections of drawings consists of around 12,000 drawings of mostly Dutch origin, dating from 1500 until now. The collections is the result of some major purchases, such as the collections of Albertus Welcker (1957) and Adolphus Staring (1969). Almost every Dutch artist is represented with a single…

The number of historical and contemporary photographs of Leiden University approaches a half million.

The collection of maps and atlases consists of approximately 100,000 map sheets (including c. 3,000 manuscript maps), 3,500 atlases and 25,000 topographical prints and drawings.

The main focus of the Islamic World Special Collections is on the Middle East and North Africa, with smaller holdings from Indonesia, the Indian Subcontinent and Central Asia as far as Xinjiang, China.

The South Asian and Tibetan special collections provide material pertaining to the languages, histories, philosophies, art and material cultures of the region. The focus lies on Sanskrit, Tibetan, Lepcha, and Buddhism, but the collections also hold rich visual material for educational and academic purposes…

Practical information on submitting your dissertation

Inaugural lecture

The domain of the post-medieval manuscripts and private archives covers the period from about 1550 to the present. A clear distinction with the medieval manuscripts, however, is difficult to make. There are many undated manuscripts and it is often difficult to date them even within a decade or a quarter…

A (digital) course reserve shelf offers the possibility to set library materials for a designated period aside.

The Chinese Special Collections are part of the Asian Library. Items can be consulted at the Special Collections Reading Room.

Read all about the most important functionalities of Zotero.

As soon as your thesis has been approved, you will be asked to upload your final version to the Student Repository. The Repository is an online archive for Leiden University theses. You can send all questions regarding your upload to the repository to your Education administration office.

The Library of Leiden University holds c. 550 manuscripts and an extensive collection of rare printed books in Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, the languages of Ethiopia, South Arabic, Coptic and Armenian, as well as a collection of rare books on the Jewish World.

According to a rough estimate the western manuscripts collections and (private) archives contain some 500,000 letters, of which over 300,000 are catalogued. The letters kept in the University archives are not catalogued; the same holds for most letters kept in the oriental collections. They can be found…

Tips for using film and music in your presentation or essay

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) owns over 5 million paper materials. Loanable items can be picked up and returned at the UBL library location of your choice.

The Centre for Digital Scholarship offers training, events and presentations for members of Leiden University on the many different aspects of digital scholarship.

Library, Research

Leiden University alumni and PhD graduates can continue to use library facilities free of charge.

Library, Research

Amid rising polarisation and discrimination, lawyer and human rights activist Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You wants to show in her Cleveringa Lecture on 26 November how dangerous exclusion is.

Lecture

Library

A guide for finding Korean newspapers, magazines, live TV broadcasts and audiovisual materials.

What do you think about our libraries, the (digital) collections, services and the library staff? The Leiden University Libraries (UBL) would like to know!

Last February, Leiden University Libraries (UBL) acquired a rare Chinese manuscript dating back to the Ming Dynasty. Three Chinese Studies students got the opportunity to decipher the edict (dated 1582) during their internships. In this UBLpodcast they share their findings.

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for research in Ancient Near East Studies. Last update: October 2020