Leiden University Libraries has donated 2400 historical photos of Asia to Wikimedia. The importance of the donation is improved access to the history of Indonesia and India. The photos may be used in Wikipedia articles and are easily accessible to an international public.
In May the University Library will start with the renovation of the open stack area in preparation of the building of The Asian Library. Meanwhile the Van Steenis Building, housing the new repository with a volume of approximately 37 km, will be prepared for the moving in of material of the University Library.
Architects Katja Hogenboom and Jasper Felsch work together to create optimal designs for the new Open Stacks and The Asian Library. The construction of The Asian Library consists of the renovation and/or construction of three physical spaces: (1) the redesign of the Open Stacks, (2) the construction of The Asian Library on the roof of the University Library and (3) the Van Steenis Building.
Antique dealer and collector Hans van der Kamp collected more than 6,000 photographs made in the Dutch East Indies. More than a year after this unique and diverse photo collection was purchased by the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), the pictures have now become available online in the Digital Media Library. The collection includes images of general colony life, still lifes based on the tradition of 17th century painting and images showing photographers at work in a studio.
In October 2014, Leiden University unveiled plans for a new Asian Library scheduled to open its doors in 2017. The Asian Library will not only house various existing and world-renowned Asian collections, it will also be a focal point for study, research and encounters between people
with a profound interest in Asia, and its position in the world. Advanced plans exist to make its collections widely available through intensive digitisation programmes and the inclusion of born-digital information.
> Article: ‘Leiden University unveils plans for The Asian Library’
Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Rob Swartbol poses together with Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Indroyono Soesilo in Jakarta recently. The two discussed ways to further increase maritime cooperation programs. Swartbol informed the minister of the establishment of the Asian Library at Leiden University, Netherlans, which hosts archives on Indonesian maritime culture, history and arts.
A new boost for Asian studies thanks to cooperation between the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) and Leiden University Libraries on the international ICAS Book Prize.
The Asian Library at Leiden University Libraries will be sponsoring the next three editions, between 2015-2019, of the ICAS Book Prize (IBP) of the International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS). In return, ICAS and IIAS agree to hand over the book collections of the previous five and the upcoming sixth ICAS Book Prizes to The Asian Library. These include some 600 studies of the past ten years in the broad field of Asian studies in the social sciences and humanities. Leiden University Libraries will present at least the current edition of the Book Prize in the library.
Some 80.000 titles at the East Asian Library are now fully accessible through the online catalogue rather than the paper card catalogue. Also, Indian and Indonesian materials are being processed, the collection of Chinese DVDs are steadily added to the catalogue, and three quarters of all Japanese and Chinese printed journals are now requestable by issue. This is the result of our ‘Asian Collections’ project, which will be completed in the third quarter of 2015 – in due time for the move to the new Asian Library.
During November Leiden University Libraries and Studium Generale organise a series of four lectures (two in English, two in Dutch) to accompany the exhibition Investigating Indonesia.
- Nov 6: Recording the Future; archiving everyday life in Indonesia
by Fridus Steijlen (KITLV) - Nov 13: Van Grammofoon naar YouTube, een populaire geschiedenis van Zuidoost Azië’s 20e eeuw
by Bart Barendregt (Instituut voor Culturele Antropologie en Ontwikkelingssociologie - Nov 20: De Cariben in de Leidse collecties
by Gert Oostindie (KITLV) - Nov 27: Female Islamic leadership in Indonesia
by David Kloos (KITLV)
Location: Leiden University Library, Vossius Conference Room, Witte Singel 27
Time: 19h30 – 21h00
The Sinology collection gets a boost thanks to the opening of a Taiwan Resource Centre for Chinese Studies (TRCCS) at Leiden University Libraries (UBL).
The Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies (TRCCS) has been opened on October 27, 2014. Kurt De Belder, University Librarian: ‘By opening a TRCCS the Leiden University’s internationally renowned Sinology collection is both confirmed and expanded.’ Worldwide, there are nine centres, among others at School of Oriental and African Studies (London), the University of Texas at Austin, Leipzig University and the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences.