Leiden University Libraries Today
Leiden University Libraries 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 library aims to function as the scholarly information manager of Leiden University. The strategic plan Partner in Kennis (Partner in Knowledge) focuses on the transformation of the library to an expert centre supporting research and education in digital spaces through Virtual Research Environments and Datalabs, the realization of library learning centres, the development of new expert areas such as data curation and text & data mining, and on digital information skills.
Leiden's Catalogue makes available a considerable array of digital scholarly information: more than 400 databases, >40,000 e-journals, >5,000 newspapers and newsmagazines, >1,000,000 e-books and reference works, many hundreds of millions of journal articles, its digital special collections and repository materials. These digital information resources are 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 Catalogue and Digital Special Collections environment.
The library makes all doctoral dissertations available online through the Catalogue and 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. In 2012-2013 the study areas (the complete first floor and parts of the second floor) of the University Library will be renovated and a media centre will be created.
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. On September 3, 2012, a Library Learning Centre was opened on the University's The Hague campus. 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 e.g. participated in the DAREnet project and in projects financed by the European Union such as DRIVER-II and OAPEN.
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