The UBL and the Friends of the Kern Institute (VVIK) signed a loan agreement for the collection of South Asia, especially India, and Tibet. The collection contains material from before 1960, which was purchas
ed or donated to the VVIK before or after 1960. The collection includes rare books, recent books and journals, archives from the collection VVIK, Sanskrit, Tibetan and other manuscripts, Tibetan block prints and Abklatschen, a photo collection and a collection of glass plates. The Kern collection is renowned worldwide.
The South Asian collection (Kern collection) is being renumbered and will be moved from the Closed Stacks to the Open Stacks at the University Library. This is expected to last four months. During this period the Kern collection will be available. Repositioning of the Open Stacks will take place daily. This may cause some inconvenience. During 2016 more Asian collections will be moved into the Open Stacks.