Leiden University Libraries (UBL) recently acquired a major collection of 19th-century photographs on South East Asia. The collection comprises more than 3,700 photographs of the Netherlands East Indies and mainland South East Asia, including Singapore, Myanmar, Penang and Malacca. The photographs are…

Leiden’s University Library provides access to a large collection of digital (contemporary) and digitized (historical) newspapers. These newspapers can be found through the library’s catalogue and through the library’s databases. Furthermore, the Dutch National Library offers access to several international…

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for research in English language and culture.

With support of several companies, including Brill Publishers, Elsevier and private foundations, Leiden University Libraries (UBL) and the Scaliger Institute welcome around 15 to 20 Fellows and guest per year to consult and examine material in the Special Collections. The Scaliger Institute received…

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.

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for Research in Russian and Eurasian Studies

In addition to the Bodel Nijenhuis Collection, the map collections of the former library of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), and the map collection of the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), the collection of Maps and Atlases includes several smaller sub…

Our collections contain many materials that are old, fragile, light-sensitive, maltreated in the past or much used and therefore tattered. Other items may be hundreds of years old and still be in sound condition. We aim to have all collections available as much as possible, while we also preserve them…

The research suggestions below may be suitable for a bachelor's or master's thesis or can be used as additional source material in ongoing research.

The IFLA-Section Rare Books and Special Collections committee and the Indigenous Matters Section, in collaboration with Leiden University Libraries (UBL) organize a satellite conference in Leiden – Friday August 18th and Saturday August 19th – prior to the IFLA World Library and Information Congress…

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

Knowledge Unlatched makes 343 new humanities and social sciences scholarly monographs available in Open Access.

Historian Peter Frankopan has been appointed Visiting Scaliger professor at Leiden University for 2017. The holder of this chair is affiliated both to the Scaliger Institute of Leiden University Libraries and to the Faculty of Humanities. Former holders of the chair include Anthony Grafton (Princeton…

Leiden University Libraries invites you to the public lecture by Ted Underwood, Visiting Scaliger Professor. This lecture will be held on Thursday 21 November, from 16.00-17.00 in the Lipsius building, Room 0.19, Cleveringaplaats 1, Leiden. Afterwards, you can meet the new Visiting Scaliger Professor…

Three cholera epidemics struck 19th-century Leiden. Today’s corona epidemic prompted Martijn Storms, curator of maps and atlases at the Leiden University Libraries, to scour the library for maps about these past epidemics.

Private collectors John Steegh and Harrie Teunissen from Dordrecht have donated their entire collection of maps, city plans and atlases to Leiden University Libraries (UBL). In almost 40 years they brought together circa 17,000 map sheets and 2,300 atlases and travel guides. Especially the thematic…

The ICAS Book Prize (IBP) is one of the most prestigious book awards in the field of Asian Studies. The prizes were awarded in Kyoto, Japan at the 2021 International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS). As the proud sponsor of the ICAS Book Prize, Leiden University Libraries/Asian Library congratulate…

Leiden University Library (UBL) has made more than 20,000 digitised drawings and prints available via Digital Collections. This means that the core of Leiden University’s collection of European ‘art on paper’, which ranks fourth in the Netherlands in terms of size and importance, is now available in…

CDS staff cooperate with colleagues from Leiden and other universities and libraries in giving training sessions, workshops, and presentations. They have (co)authored a diverse set of publications dealing with Digital Scholarship.

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.

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for research in Italian Language and Culture

Leiden University contributed to colonialism and slavery through its research and teaching. And governors and residents of Leiden had an active role in colonial networks. These are the findings of two explorative studies presented on 3 April.

From mid-September two exhibitions with maps from the collections of Leiden University Libraries are on view. Mapping Asia opens in the National Museum of Ethnology and Mapping Japan in Japanmuseum SieboldHuis. The exhibitions are organised in the context of Leiden Asia Year and the symposium 'Mapping…

With support of several companies, including Brill Publishers and private foundations, Leiden University Libraries and the Scaliger Institute welcome around 15 to 20 Fellows and guest per year to consult and examine material in the Special Collections. The Scaliger Institute received a large number…

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for research in Philosophy

Overview of databases, reference works and website for research in the History of Science

Describing almost 1400 maps of Africa in three months. It’s no small task that student assistants Artemis Mantheakis and Beatriz Veiga have been working on within the joint ASCL-UBL Africa Maps Project. The project’s aim is to describe and catalogue a 20th-century map collection of the library of the…

Overview of the Scaliger, Brill, Elsevier, Van de Sande, Juynboll, Drewes, Isaac Alfred Ailion, Arminius, Van Gulik and Lingling Wiyadharma Fellows who have conducted research in the Special Collections of the University Library.

In collaboration with the Fotomuseum Den Haag, Leiden University Libraries organizes the exhibition Photography becomes Art - Photo-Secession in Holland 1890-1937. The exhibition shows a selection of 65 early art photos from the Leiden University photography collection. It’s the first time that early…

With support of several publishers and private foundations, Leiden University Libraries (UBL) and the Scaliger Institute welcome around 15 to 20 Fellows and guests per year to consult and research materials from our Special Collections. The Scaliger Institute received applications this year from domestic…

On 31 January 2020, the United Kingdom officially left the European Union. New regulations, agreed upon by both parties took effect on 1 January 2021. What impact did Brexit have politically? Do British and European citizens now have different opinions of one another? And why did the Brits want to leave…

Tensions between Israel and Palestine again reached fever pitch in May, with hundreds of – mainly Palestinian – deaths as a result. Now that a ceasefire offers some respite, there is an opportunity to reflect on the history of the conflict. Are there lessons to be learned from the past? How do historians…