Search the catalogue to see whether the library provides access to the resources you need. For more information about access to different types of resources, take a look at our Subject Guides, for example on Film and Music, Images, Legislation and Treaties and International Newspaper Articles. 

Some digital sources have particular access restrictions. For instance, some only allow a limited number of users to use a source simultaneously, due to the number of online copies the library provides access to. You can find the access terms on the title page of a specific book. See the E-books subject guide for more information. 

Make sure to check these terms and communicate them clearly to your students.

Course reserves are physical and digital shelves to host all your course readings together in one place, providing easy access to these materials to your students. Placing printed literature on course reserve shelves ensures your students will have access to the core readings throughout the course. 

For more information about course reserves, how to request a shelf and what physical materials can be placed on a course reserve shelf, see the course reserves webpage. 

Please note it is not possible for us to provide scans of physical materials in our normal collection. By placing the mandatory reading on a course reserve shelf, your students can have equal access to these resources.

The Special Collections of the Leiden University Libraries are available to be used in teaching. Our curators are happy to discuss possibilities for incorporating primary sources, visual literacy and/or object-based learning into your classes.

We also offer an online tutorial that teaches students how they can use our Special Collections and reading room. This tutorial can be embedded into your course’s Brightspace. 

Want to use the Special Collections in the classroom? Find all the information on Teaching with Special Collections. 

Were you unable to find a (e)book in our catalogue that you would like to use for your course? Please submit an acquisition request. 

Requesting materials

Your request will be reviewed by the relevant subject librarian. Please ensure to include the following information in the form:

• Is this required reading for a course?
• How many students are taking this course?
• Do you prefer an e-book or print volume?
• Would you like to request the shelf for 1 or 2 semesters?

The subject librarians review acquisition requests based on the library’s acquisition policy. In case your request cannot be fulfilled, the subject librarian will contact you. If necessary, they will help find alternative sources. 

Please note that we have a library-wide policy that we do not buy textbooks, due to their costs and short-term relevance. You may ask your faculty or the study association whether they can support your needs with regards to purchasing textbooks. 

Timeline

After the submission of your request, it may take up to 8 weeks for your request to be processed and for the item to become available in our collection. Your subject librarian will inform you whether your request has been accepted, but you will not receive a notification when the item becomes available in the catalogue. Please ensure you check this yourself. This can be done in the catalogue, for example, by saving the search query to your item and turning on notifications when new results to the query have been found.

For more information and to submit an acquisition request, see our acquisition requests page. 

Get the support of a librarian to teach your class information literacy skills! 

We offer live physical classes on the following topics: 

• Basic introduction to the Leiden University Libraries catalogue
• Searching and evaluating academic literature
• Preventing Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

We also offer the following online tutorials: Introduction to Searching for Academic Publications; Preventing Plagiarism; and the reference managers Zotero, EndNote and Mendeley. We can help you upload these tutorials into your Brightspace environments. 

Want to discuss possibilities for general information literacy education? E-mail our Information specialists education: onderwijs.ubl@library.leidenuniv.nl 

For any subject-specific lessons, you may contact your Subject Librarian or Medical Information Specialist.

You are welcome at the Centre for Digital Scholarship (CDS) if you are looking for advice, information or courses on:

• Data management and FAIR data;
• Open Science, publication advice, copyright, licenses, and LUCRIS;
• Data engineering, text and data mining and elementary knowledge of Python and/or OpenRefine.

Our Centre for Digital Scholarship also hosts a variety of workshops throughout the year for you and/or your students to attend. You can check out more information about CDS and their events calendar on their page. 

Want to share materials with your students in Brightspace? Want to use copyrighted images in your presentations? On the page Copyright for Teachers you can find all the relevant information about copyright. 

Do you have specific questions about teaching and copyright, or copyright in general? Please contact the Copyright Information Office: auteursrecht@library.leidenuniv.nl

The library offers a lot of useful information through the Subject Guides.

Course Guides outline useful (open access) resources for different courses, while How To subject guides offer information about general library-related topics. The Special Collections subject guides dive deeper into the various thematic collections that are held by the library. 

Interested in using and sharing educational resources? We can help you get started with looking for open textbooks, presentations and/or infographics, and more!

Read all about it in our Subject Guide Open Educational Resources. 

Feel free to ask your question to our staff at the information desks in the various library locations. You can also submit your questions online. 

Our Information specialists education are happy to discuss introductory tutorials and classes about the library, searching and evaluating sources, and plagiarism: onderwijs.ubl@library.leidenuniv.nl

Contact the relevant Subject Librarians and Medical Information Specialists for any subject-specific questions about the library or our services.