Are you curious about how the human skeleton works? Discover this and more on 3 October in Leiden and on 4 October in The Hague.

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

Two Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) have been placed in front of the University Library in memory of the Jewish Cosman family. At the time of the Second World War, they lived in one of the houses where the library is now located.

A new government, conflicts around the world and obviously a lot of science: these are the five stories about Leiden University that you enjoyed reading in 2024.

The University Library's Open Science services are available to individual researchers as well as on the level of the University's faculties and institutes.

The Copyright Information Office provides information and advice to teaching staff, eg. on sharing material with students in a digital learning environment or in a reader

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has introduced itself into everyone's lives. Naturally, Leiden University Libraries also has to address the development of AI. In this subject guide, we will give a short introduction to (Gen)AI and its effects on the university library. This subject guide has also been…

You win the Leiden Teaching Prize and suddenly all eyes are on you. Three past recipients reflect on how this student-awarded prize has changed how they work and improved their teaching – and how they chose to spend the money.

Library

Leiden Professor of Maths Frans van Schooten Jnr. (1615-1660) and his wife Margrieta were painted by Rembrandt. This is the claim made by mathematician and art historian Johan Zwakenberg in his recently published article in the 2018 Leiden Yearbook. Leiden art historians are not completely convinced…

This Subject Guide is designed to support students of Japan studies at Leiden University in their research process. For every step of the research process, this guide introduces a number of tips and recommended resources. You can find several sub-guides and contacts in the 'quick links' in the tab on…

Festival

Try to resolve the nitrogen problem, go on a regeneration journey or take part in psychological research: discover this and more at the new and improved 3 October University, ‘WetenschapsWarenMarkt’.

Students from the Royal Academy of Art The Hague (KABK) designed the 450 lustrum logo.

Since the demonstration over a year ago on the Wijnhaven campus, Leiden University has developed plans and initiatives to create the safest possible work and study environment for our university community. The Executive Board would like to explain what has happened since and what else we can expect…

Study support

Knowing where scientific information can be found and how to use it is of great importance for getting through university. In collaboration with teachers, UBL guides students in information literacy skills: from assessing information to searching in the Special Collections and citation management.

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

A discount on textbooks is always welcome. But for these students joining a study association has meant much more than that alone.

Network Workshop

Leiden University’s Executive Board has appointed Erwin Muller as Vice Rector of Organisational Development. In this role, he will help further professionalise and improve the university’s organisation as per the Strategic Plan.

With its FestivOWL theme, Orientation Week Leiden (OWL) promises to be one big festival for new international students in Leiden.

Research into our history of colonialism and slavery, heart-to-heart conversations at a Keti Koti table, exhibitions, lectures and podcasts that establish the link between present and past. Staff and students participated in the national Slavery Memorial Year in many different ways. What have we learned…

With the creation of James Bond, author Ian Fleming laid the foundation for a sprawling media franchise. Since the first novel appeared in 1953, Bond has appeared in books, movies, comic strips, video games and countless other media. On September 30, the twenty-fifth instalment of the film series, 'No…

With its more than 1400 bindings and over a thousand fragments Leiden’s collection of medieval manuscripts (up to ca. 1550) is the largest in the Netherlands.

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…

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Tanzanian author Abdulrazak Gurnah. The Swedish Academy praises Gurnah's "uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents". The works in the reading…

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) has made approximately 200.000 digitised books, maps, photographs and other materials available in Digital Collections via the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF). IIIF offers researchers and lecturers numerous new ways to share digital images from…

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) has received a donation from Dr. Freerk Heule to digitise and publish an internationally unique collection of unofficial (minjian) poetry journals from China. These poetry journals are produced outside the official infrastructure for literature in China for literature…

The exhibition 'A Buddha in the Backyard: Asia as a Source of Inspiration' shows how we surround ourselves with elements from Asian cultures and gives a glimpse into the rich Asia collections of Leiden University. The exhibition runs from January 26 to May 9 and is on display in the exhibition hall…

A collection consists of items and parts that have been collected by one or more individuals or institutions not responsible for their formation. An archive has been created by one or more individuals or institutions.

‘What if we switch off all the lights one evening? That idea crossed my mind from time to time. And when I mentioned it to a taxi driver one day, he said: “Oh, you mean: lights out, stars on!” That’s not completely true, of course, because the stars are always on, but his phrase summed up the idea n…

At the first Climate Café of 2025, we celebrated the one-year anniversary of The Hague Climate Agreement and reflected together on the successes and opportunities for the future.

Festival

On a sunny Lammermarkt, thousands of new students gathered to kick off their student life in Leiden at the 56th edition of EL CID.

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

This Subject Guide is designed to support students of Korean studies at Leiden University in their research process. For every step of the research process, this guide introduces a number of tips and recommended resources. You can find several sub-guides and contacts in the 'quick links' in the tab…

Four prints, ten years of research. Not that she got bored of them, on the contrary. Corrie van Maris, who receives her PhD this week, has always remained fascinated by her 17th-century series, for which she feels so much love. ‘I kept seeing different, new things.’

In his leaving interview, Martijn Ridderbos doesn’t have to think long when asked what he is most proud of. ‘Bringing people together; creating things together. Reducing the gap between researchers and the staff who support them because the latter are essential. We’ve achieved that and the seeds have…

Do you need help with writing your thesis or do you have a question about using the library? Take a look at the sources below.

Our information specialists are ready to answer your questions on how to use Leiden University Libraries' (UBL) services or how to search for information.

The Dutch universities are pleased with the announcement by the international group of research funding bodies (Science Europe) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) that, from 2020, all publications resulting from projects funded by the affiliated bodies will be published exclusively…

Graphic Novels and Comics have developed from pulp status to an entirely self-contained medium. This form of storytelling is not limited to stories of superheroes but has been used, molded and reshaped to display historical events, classic stories and autobiographical memoirs. But where should you begin…

Would you like to have your monograph published Open Access? This is becoming ever so attractive. Authors and publishers are increasingly discovering that online publication stimulates higher sales numbers of paper books.

The South Asian and Tibetan special collections provide material pertaining to the languages, histories, philosophies, art and material cultures of the region. The focus lies on Sanskrit, Tibetan, Lepcha, and Buddhism, but the collections also hold rich visual material for educational and academic purposes…

All University staff involved or interested in research data management are invited to join Leiden University Research Data Management Community.

Use LUCRIS and Scholarly Publications to share, promote, and store your publications.