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…

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

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…

At the moment a lot of discussion surrounds ChatGPT, an advanced chatbot which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI). ChatGPT is based on a Large Language Model (LLM) and has been trained using an enormous amount of text, providing it with knowledge of grammar, semantics and contextual nuances. The program…

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

Practical information on submitting your dissertation

The libraries offer over 2300 study places. Some are freely available, some are available to Leiden University students only.

Leiden University Libraries' favourite tools to facilitate your online work and research.

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

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.

A growing community of the world’s leading research libraries and image repositories have embarked on an effort to collaboratively produce an interoperable technology and community framework for image delivery.

Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID) is an international system for the persistent identification of academic authors.

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) has been able to acquire an extraordinary Chinese manuscript at auction in Hong Kong. It concerns an Imperial Edict (dated 1582) from the Ming dynasty period, at one time part of the former collection of well-known sinologist and author of detective-novels Robert van…

The family of the famous diplomat, sinologist and writer Robert van Gulik has donated his personal archive and part of his collection to Leiden University Libraries (UBL). The collection and archive provide insight into the life and work of Robert van Gulik, who became known to the general public for…

The collections of Leiden University Libraries (UBL) not only hold academic material, but also many novels, collections of poetry, non-fiction works and even cookbooks. Is there still some space on your summer reading list? Take a look at the list below and borrow your book through the UBL.

The complete Johan Huizinga, the single most important historian of the Netherlands, is now available worldwide through the new Huizinga Online website. Huizinga’s scholarly archive, his Verzamelde Werken and his correspondence have been made digitally accessible by Leiden University Libraries (UBL).…

Researchers from Leiden and Delft have found a way to look inside early-modern bookbindings. An x-ray technique has allowed them to search for remains of medieval manuscripts hidden inside the bindings.

The programme for the Leiden Asia Year in 2017 is now available. Rector Carel Stolker launched the new website leidenasiayear.nl at the opening of the Academic Year of Leiden University on 5 September.

Today is World Philosophy Day. We asked three staff members from the Leiden Institute for Philosophy to name three of their favourite works from the Leiden University Library (UBL) collections. What is: the best introduction to philosophy, the best philosophical work published in the last few years…

Dick Schoof kan ook wel de buurman van de Haagse faculteit worden genoemd. Vooral vanuit zijn rol bij de NCTV werkte hij veel samen met de Universiteit Leiden en hielp hij onderwijs en onderzoek vooruit, vertelt hoogleraar Terrorisme en Contraterrorisme Edwin Bakker. ‘Voor een kritische vriend was altijd…

In September 1321, exactly 700 years ago, one of Italy's most famous writers, Dante Alighieri, died as a Florentine exile in Ravenna. That makes 2021 a Dante year. Already during his lifetime, he was a famous writer. His current fame rests especially on the Divine Comedy, a long narrative poem describing…

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) recently participated in the Pagode-Europeana-China project as an associated partner. As a result, almost two hundred items related to China from the UBL Special Collections are now available via the Europeana website. The UBL was the only library to participate in…

Open Educational Resources (OER) are freely accessible and reusable educational materials in various formats. OER can be very valuable for teachers and students alike. On this page, we will discuss exactly what OER are, their advantages and disadvantages, whether certain restrictions may apply, and…

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for research in Caribbean Studies

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.

One of the main functions of a University Library is the preservation of documentary heritage. Not just to facilitate research and education, but also because this heritage in many ways represents our collective memory. UNESCO has been registering special and often threatened documents in the international…

Three enormous maps of China, created during the reign of three different emperors of the Qing dynasty, have now been made available in open access and are downloadable via Leiden University Libraries’ (UBL) Digital Collections. The rich maps are an early example of academic collaboration between the…

Spui Campus, Leiden University’s fourth location in The Hague, will soon open its doors. The former V&D department store’s transformation into a university campus is becoming more visible by the week. Removal vans will soon be driving back and forth to move all the furniture there in time. The first…

At the start of the new year, we celebrate the release of a new selection of collection items into the Public Domain. This year, Leiden University Libraries (UBL) is making approximately eight hundred items freely downloadable via Digital Collections.

Leiden University Libraries holds an internationally unique collection of unofficial poetry from China. Produced outside the System over the last fifty years or so, this poetry is hugely influential yet hard to find beyond the informal networks through which it travels. To address this paradox, the…