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From tulip to quantum: Leiden discoveries revisited News - 22 September 2025
To mark the university’s 450th anniversary, the Leiden Discoveries science route has been updated and was relaunched on the Night of Discoveries. New signs in town and a revamped website tell Leiden residents and visitors the stories of the city’s spectacular discoveries.

Disposal collection dissertations from foreign universities (post 1850) News - 16 September 2024
In September 2024, Leiden University Libraries (UBL) will dispose of a collection of dissertations from foreign universities published after 1850. This allows us to make room for new acquisitions.

Our man in Jakarta keeps the institute running from Venlo News - 19 May 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic forced many staff of Leiden institutes abroad to leave their posts in a hurry. How is the KITLV Jakarta team doing now? Director Marrik Bellen talks about the turbulent times for this Leiden institute and its staff. And can we learn anything from the Indonesian approach?

Vici grants for seven researchers from Leiden University News - 29 February 2024
From research on stellar winds to sign language: an impressive seven researchers from Leiden University will receive a prestigious Vici grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

Climate and elections: these were your top stories from 2023 News - 18 December 2023
The year 2023 saw the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, the Wagner Group rebellion and wildfires and floods as all the weather records were smashed. Our most-read stories were about the climate crisis and the elections: here’s the list.

The Internet Archive takes over foreign dissertations from UBL News - 8 October 2024
Last month, the UBL announced that it will deselect an extensive collection of foreign dissertations. We are happy to report now that The Internet Archive will be taking over this collection.

Veni grants for 22 researchers from Leiden University News - 17 July 2024
An impressive 22 research projects by Leiden researchers have been awarded Veni funding from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

Uncatalogued materials from the Middle East now available through Leiden University Libraries’ catalogue News - 20 July 2020
A collection of uncatalogued books from the Middle East is now available through the Leiden University Libraries’ (UBL) catalogue. The collection contains over 12,000 books mainly written in Arabic, but also in multiple other languages from the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, including Persian,…

The Hague and Leiden less accessible from 22 June till 26 June due to NATO summit Announcement - 16 June 2025
Library

A DIY tradition goes online: unofficial poetry from China in Digital Collections News - 18 May 2022
Close to twenty thousand pages of new material have been added to the online collection of unofficial poetry journals from China in the Leiden Digital Collections. Produced “outside the system,” these journals are hugely influential yet very hard to find. To address this paradox, Leiden University Libraries…

Historical research shows how Leiden University and city council benefitted from colonialism News - 3 April 2025
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.

Nearly all buildings at LBSP open and operating again from Wednesday 24 May News - 24 May 2023
Nearly all university buildings at the Leiden Bio Science Park will be open and operating again as of Wednesday 24 May. Last night a team worked hard to restore the power to the buildings in phases and this was successful. Students and staff can work and study there again.

Leiden University Libraries acquires 16th-century Chinese imperial edict from Robert van Gulik’s collection News - 18 February 2021
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…

Leideners and researchers learn from each other at the Science Market News - 4 October 2023
3 October University has become something of a tradition: a bit of science among the Leidens Ontzet celebrations. During the new and improved edition, the WetenschapsWarenMarkt (Science Market), visitors spoke to researchers about the nitrogen problem, making organs and the city’s connections with A…

Donation of early twentieth-century glass negatives and prints from the Arabian Peninsula News - 11 November 2021
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…

Huge interest from prospective students (and their parents) on Bachelor’s Open Day News - 4 March 2024
Presentations, city tours, themed cafés and information fairs − there was plenty to discover on the Bachelor’s Open Day last Saturday. Around 6,000 prospective students and 4,000 parents visited faculties in Leiden and The Hague to soak up the atmosphere and imagine how it would be to study at Leiden…

World Heritage Status for Letters from Indonesian Women's Rights Advocate Kartini News - 11 April 2025
UNESCO has recognized a large collection of handwritten letters and the archive of Raden Ajeng Kartini (1879-1904) as documentary world heritage. Kartini opposed gender inequality in feudal Javanese society, including forced marriages, polygamy and lack of education for women.

Literature on discrimination and racism from the Leiden University Library collections News - 3 July 2020
After large scale protests in the United States following police violence against black American citizens, racism in the Netherlands, too, is once again being widely debated. This renewed and intensified interest in the problems surrounding racism is prompting many to (re)read important works by black…