Leiden University Library

Leiden University Library (Leiden, The Netherlands) is a library founded in 1575 in Leiden, the Netherlands. It is regarded as a significant place in the development of European culture: it is a part of a small number of cultural centres that gave direction to the development and spread of knowledge during the Enlightenment. This was due particularly to the simultaneous presence of a unique collection of exceptional sources and scholars.

Holdings include approximately 3,500,000 volumes, 1,000,000 e-books, 20,000 current serials, 30,000 e-journals, 60,000 Oriental and Western manuscripts, 450,000 letters, 70,000 maps, 100,000 prints, 12,000 drawings and 120,000 photographs.

"Est hic magna commoditas bibliothecae ut studiosi possint studere"

—Josephus Justus Scaliger

"The greatest advantage of the library is that those who want to study, can study."

Leiden University Library today

Leiden University Library focuses on the complete information chain. The library facilitates not only access to (published) information but increasingly supports the evaluation, use, production and dissemination of scholarly information. To accomplish this the library’s activities range from supporting education in information literacy to serving as an expert center for digital publishing. The University Library aims to function as the scholarly information manager of Leiden University.

Leiden's Digital Library makes available a considerable array of digital scholarly information: more than 400 databases, >30,000 e-journals, >5,000 newspapers and newsmagazines, >1,000,000 e-books and reference works. The Digital Library is available worldwide to Leiden University students and staff.

The special collections and archives of Leiden University (see below) are increasingly made available through the library's Digital Special Collections environment.

The library makes all doctoral dissertations available online through the Leiden University Digital Repository that functions according to the open access principles. Furthermore, publications from Leiden researchers are increasingly made available through the same repository. Thanks to the use of international standards, among others the Open Archives Initiative, the repository is visited daily by general and specialized search engines that harvest and index this information. The library also support authors from Leiden University through its Copyright Information Office.

In 2007, the library started with an ambitious program to renew and renovate its facilities: wireless access became available throughout the library in December 2007, in March 2008 the completely renovated Special Collections Reading Room Dousa was reopened, in June 2008 the fire protection systems installed in the closed stacks and the vaults of the library were taken into use, in December 2008 library patrons were able to make use of the new facilities created in the renovated Information Centre Huygens, and a new exhibition space was opened on March 25, 2010 in the direct vicinity of a completely renovated entrance.

Since June 1, 2009, the Leiden libraries form one organization: Leiden University Libraries (UBL). Leiden University Libraries has a number of locations: the University Library, the libraries of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Law, Mathematics and Natural Sciences and the East Asian Library. The collections of the former Archeology, Art History and Kern libraries are available at the University Library. In 2015, the East Asian library will move from its present location to a new floor to be built on top of the University Library where an Asian Library will be inaugurated.

Leiden University Libraries works together with other organizations nationally and internationally on innovation projects in this area. The library participates in the DAREnet project (concluded) and in projects financed by the European Union such as DRIVER-II and OAPEN.