The perception of the Middle East is riddled with stereotypes that have had dire consequences on its people. What is myth and what is reality? How did these stereotypes come about? What consequences have they had? All of these questions and more are answered within this reading list.

From Persia and Arabia to North Africa: as early as the nineteenth century, there were Dutch people who used the camera themselves in various regions of the Middle East.

Leiden University recently named a new building for Egyptologist Herta Mohr. But who was she?

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.

Leiden scholars study clay tablets from ancient Mesopotamia. But what exactly does the cuneiform script say?

How did the mythical kings of ancient Persia live? In this podcast, we delve into the Shahnameh, also known as the Book of Kings.

Beatrice Gründler, professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the Freie Universität Berlin, will receive an honorary doctorate in Oriental Manuscript Studies from Leiden University.

Special visit of seven ambassadors of the Arabic-speaking world to the University Library

An international consortium of research institutes, universities and non-academic partners in six European countries, including Leiden University, has been awarded with a research grant from ERC Marie Curie ITN for the project Mediating Islam in the Digital Age (MIDA). On behalf of Leiden University…

The Epic of Gilgamesh was a lifelong inspiration to artist Harry van Kruiningen. This tale from Mesopotamia about the adventures of Gilgamesh, the legendary king of Uruk, and his friend Enkidu is one of the oldest surviving epics in world literature. Despite its almost 4,000 year age, it still captures…

Starting in September, 55,000 books from the Leiden University Libraries will be digitized. This marks Leiden University’s contribution to the successful partnership between the National Library of the Netherlands (KB) and Google.

From study places to consulting collections and from a meeting with your faculty liaison to getting books after opening hours: the new Science Library offers it all. The library moved to a brand new location in the Gorlaeus building and will be open starting 15 April.

An overview of all Leiden University Libraries' opening hours

Library

The people behind the Leiden University Libraries aim to maintain the level of their services to clients as much as possible. They are making thankful use of internet, but not everything can be put online.

Starting 1 November, the Walaeus Library, located in the Leiden University Medical Centre, is part of Leiden University Libraries (UBL).

Modern Arabic titles in the catalogue of Leiden University Libraries (UBL) can now also be consulted in original Arabic script. Taking away the need to transliterate titles, has made searching for Arabic source materials in the catalogue much easier and more efficient for users.

A lot has happened at Cluster Zuid since the highest point of the building was reached in December. See the photo report below.

The special collections of Leiden University Libraries offer access to worldwide known valuable, rare, and unique materials. The collections are actively complemented and made accessible for research and education.

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

Facility, Library

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.

UBL, Leiden University Libraries, is doing all it can to continue to offer its services. Even now the motto is, ‘work from home’. Who is doing want and how are things going?

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) has been able to acquire four remarkable medical manuscripts partly thanks to support from the Friends of Leiden University Libraries, the Pieter van Foreest Stichting and the Van de Sande Fonds. All four are largely written in Dutch and can be dated between 1595 and…

Leiden University Libraries has been elected to the Executive Committee of the IIIF Consortium. The term of office is two years starting from January 2022.

The board of the Netherlands Institute for the Near East (NINO) has agreed on June 27 on a plan for closer collaboration with Leiden University and the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO). The plan includes the launch of a NINO research institute with an annual budget of approximately 300.000 euro.

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) recently issued a new collection policy plan, containing priorities for the coming years regarding the formation, management, availability, and use of the UBL collection.

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…

The UBL develop collections which support the needs of faculty and students of the University.

Due to Leiden University network maintenance, all Leiden University Libraries (UBL) locations may have to remain closed on 31 January and 1 February. Online library services and resources, such as the catalogue, Digital Collections, databases and journals, may be offline too. Unfortunately, the…

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

On Thursday 11 November, Jan Jaap Hooft and Marjon Hooft donated a special collection of glass negatives and photographic prints from the Arabian Peninsula to Leiden University Libraries (UBL). The collection is part of the estate of their grandfather Jan Albert Hooft (1883-1972). Hooft held a position…

The Asian Library at Leiden University Libraries has renewed its sponsorship of the ICAS Book Prize (IBP) of the International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS) for the 2023 edition.

Library