Leiden University Library#Print Room

File:WilliamOfOrange1555.jpg, Prince of Orange, main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish, founder of Leiden University, donated the first book to the library, a copy of the Polyglot Bible. Copy of a painting by Antonio Moro, dating from 1555.]]

The 16th-century Dutch Revolt against the Habsburgs created a new country with a new religion. Soon, the need for a seat of higher learning was felt and in 1575 Leiden University was founded with the spoils from a confiscated Catholic monastery nearby.{{sfn|van der Vlist|2016|p=52}}{{sfn|Hulshoff Pol|1975|p=395}}{{sfn|Berkvens-Stevelinck|2012|p=13}}

At the time the university was founded, it was immediately determined that a library in the vicinity of lecture halls was an absolute necessity. The library's first book was the Polyglot Bible, called the Biblia Regia (Royal Bible, as the university was officially founded in the name of King Philip II of Spain) printed by Christoffel Plantijn and gifted by William of Orange to the library in 1575.{{sfn|Berkvens-Stevelinck|2012|p=13}} The presentation of this book is regarded as the base on which the library is built (Latin: fundamentum locans futurae aliquando bibliothecae, translation: laying the foundation of an eventual future library).{{sfn|van der Vlist|2016|p=53}}Catalogus 1597, folio a2v. The library became operational in the vault of the current Academy building at Rapenburg on 31 October 1587.{{sfn|van der Vlist|2016|p=56}}{{sfn|Berkvens-Stevelinck|2012|p=25}}

In 1595 the Nomenclator appeared, the first catalogue of Leiden University Libraries as well as possibly the first printed catalogue of an institutional library in the world.{{sfn|Berkvens-Stevelinck|2012|pp=31-33}}{{Cite book |title=Nomenclator : the first printed catalogue of Leiden University Library (1595) |vauthors=Bertius P, Breugelmans R, Witkam JJ |publisher=Leiden University Library |location=Leiden |date=1995 |oclc=35020828 |language=latin, dutch}} Facsimile edition with introduction. The publication of the catalogue coincided with the opening of the new library on the upper floor of the Faliede Bagijnkerk (now Rapenburg 70) next to the Theatrum Anatomicum.{{Cite book |last=Basbanes |first=N. |date=2001 |title=Patience and Fortitude |publisher=Harper Collins |location=New York |page=63 |isbn=9780060196950 |oclc=901134300}}

In 1864 the copy for the complete alphabetical catalogue of the library in Leiden from 1575 to 1860 was finished; it was never to appear in print. Readers were able to consult alphabetical and systematic registers of the Leiden library in the form of bound catalogue cards, known as Leidse boekjes (Leiden booklets). This remained the cataloguing system for the library until 1988.{{sfn|Berkvens-Stevelinck|2012|pp=173-175}}

The 22nd Librarian of Leiden University, Johan Remmet de Groot took the initiative for the Dutch library automation endeavor PICA (Project Integrated Catalogue Automation). Pica was started up in 1969 and was bought by OCLC in 2000. The first automation project in Leiden started in 1976, produced 400,000 titles via the Dutch PICA-GGC and resulted within a few years in a catalog on microfiche, which partly replaced the famous Leiden booklets catalogue.{{sfn|Berkvens-Stevelinck|2012|pp=217-227}}

In 1983 the library moved to its present location on Witte Singel in a new building by architect Bart van Kasteel. The first online catalogue became available in 1988.{{sfn|Berkvens-Stevelinck|2012|p=223}}

File:Leiden University Library, Information Centre Huygens.jpg

The library facilitates access to published information and 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.{{cite web |title=Voor onderwijs & onderzoek. Beleidsplan wetenschappelijke informatie & bibliotheekvoorzieningen Universiteit Leiden 2006-2010 |trans-title=For education & research. Policy plan scientific information & library facilities Leiden University 2006-2010 |page=14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217235925/http://www.bibliotheek.leidenuniv.nl/general/img/beleidsplan_ub_tcm37-22688.pdf |archive-date=2008-12-17 |url=http://www.bibliotheek.leidenuniv.nl/general/img/beleidsplan_ub_tcm37-22688.pdf |publisher=bibliotheek.leidenuniv.nl |url-status=dead |language=nl |access-date=17 April 2025}} The strategic plan Partner in Kennis 2011-2015 (Partner in Knowledge 2011-2015){{cite web|url=http://media.leidenuniv.nl/legacy/meerjarenbeleidsplan-ubl-2011-2015.pdf |title=Partner in Kennis. Meerjarenbeleidsplan 2011–2015 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=17 June 2012}} focused 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{{Cite web|url=https://catalogue.leidenuniv.nl |title=Leiden University Libraries Catalogue |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=17 June 2012}} makes available more than 400 databases, >70,000 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.

File:Leiden University Library, Group Study Room.jpg

The special collections and archives of Leiden University (see below) are accessible through the library's Catalogue and Digital Collections{{Cite web|url=https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl |title=Digital Collections |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=9 September 2020}} environment.

The library supports researchers from Leiden University through its Centre for Digital Scholarship which focuses on open access, copyright, data management, text and data mining and virtual research environments.{{Cite web |url= https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/research-and-publishing/centre-for-digital-scholarship |title=Centre for Digital Scholarship – Libraries |publisher=library.universiteitleiden.nl |access-date=9 November 2019}}

The library makes all doctoral dissertations available online through the Catalogue and Leiden University Scholarly Publications{{Cite web |url=https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl |title=Leiden University Scholarly Publications |publisher=scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl |access-date=23 January 2014}} that functions according to the open access principles. Furthermore, publications from Leiden researchers are made available through the same repository. Thanks to the use of international standards, including the Open Archives Initiative, the repository is visited daily by general and specialized search engines that harvest and index this information.

File:The Asian Library Leiden University.jpg

In 2007, the library started the renovation of 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 25 March 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 were renovated and a media centre was opened.

File:Leiden Science Library 2024.jpg

Since 1 June 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 3 September 2012, a Library Learning Centre was opened on the university's The Hague campus.{{Cite web |url=https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/introduction-to-leiden-university-libraries/25418965 |title=Introduction to Leiden University Libraries |first=Kurt |last=de Belder |date=August 20, 2013 |access-date=10 April 2025 |publisher=SlideShare from Scribd}}

Leiden University Libraries took over in 2013 the colonial collections including the entire map collections (colonial and modern) of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) and in 2014 the complete collection of the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV). By bringing these collections together with those of the university libraries, the largest Indonesian and Caribbean collections worldwide were created. Furthermore, Leiden University Libraries took over the KITLV-Jakarta office where extensive paper and digital collections on modern Indonesia are collected and cataloged. To house its world-famous and vast Asian collections a number of new facilities have been created: an open stack area making 5 km of materials directly available and a new remote storage facility housing 38 km of library materials. On 14 September 2017, Queen Máxima opened The Asian Library, a new floor on top of the University Library.{{Cite web |url=https://www.asianlibrary.nl/theasianlibrary/ |title=The Asian Library - bringing Asian collections together. |access-date=10 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031225839/https://www.asianlibrary.nl/theasianlibrary/ |archive-date=2020-10-31 |website=asianlibrary.nl |publisher=Leiden University Libraries}}

In 2017, the Academic Historical Museum{{cite web |url=https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/about-us/library-locations/academic-historical-museum |title=Academic Historical Museum |website=Universiteit Leiden |access-date=3 May 2022}} became part of UBL. The library of The Netherlands Institute for the Near East, specialised in the fields of Assyriology, Egyptology and Near Eastern Archaeology, became part of UBL in 2018.{{cite web |url=https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/about-us/library-locations/nino-library |title=NINO Library |website=Universiteit Leiden |access-date=3 May 2022}} In 2021, the Walaeus Library of the Leiden University Medical Center joined UBL.{{Cite web |url=https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2021/10/walaeus-library-part-of-ubl |title=Walaeus Library part of UBL |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=universiteitleiden.nl |publisher=Leiden University |date=1 November 2021}}

In 2024 a new Science Library, African Library and Middle Eastern Library were opened.{{Cite web |url=https://lup.nl/middle-eastern-library-launch/ |title=Middle Eastern Library Launch |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=lup.nl |publisher=Leiden University Press |date=September 25, 2024 |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote=}}

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{{cite web|url=http://www.darenet.nl |title=NARCIS |publisher=Darenet.nl |access-date=31 October 2008}} project and in projects financed by the European Union such as DRIVER-II,{{cite web|url=http://search.driver.research-infrastructures.eu/ |title=DRIVER | Home |publisher=Driver-repository.eu |access-date=31 October 2008}} OAPEN,{{cite web|url=http://www.oapen.org |title=OAPEN: Open Access Publishing in European Networks |publisher=Oapen.org |access-date=31 October 2008}} PAGODE{{cite web|url=https://photoconsortium.net/pagode/ |title=PAGODE - Europeana China}} and ARMA.{{cite web|url=https://www.medieval-reads.eu/ |title=The Art of Reading in the Middle Ages}}

Leiden University Libraries hold a large number of special collections of national and international importance. These include manuscripts, early printed books, maps, atlases, prints, drawings, and photographs. To make these collections visible for a broad audience, the library partnered in 2015 with {{interlanguage link|De Boekenwereld|nl}}, a richly illustrated magazine in Dutch for lovers of books with information about the early and modern book and graphic art.{{Cite web |url=https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/special-collections |title=Special Collections |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=library.universiteitleiden.nl |publisher=Leiden University |date= |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote=}}{{Cite web |url=https://vantilt.nl/boeken/de-boekenwereld-2/ |title=De Boekenwereld – Abonnement Nederland. Blad voor bijzondere collecties |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=vantilt.nl |publisher= Uitgeverij Vantilt |date= |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote= |language=nl}}

File:Aratea 10v.jpg manuscript illustrates the constellations Ophiuchus, Serpens and Scorpius. Around 816.]]

The collection Western Manuscripts contains all western manuscripts (including some two and a half thousand medieval manuscripts and fragments and twenty five thousand modern manuscripts), three hunderd thousand letters, archives and three thousand annotated prints of the University Library, including the archives of the university.{{Cite web |url=https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/special-collections/collections/manuscripts-archives-and-letters |title=Manuscripts, Archives and Letters |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=library.universiteitleiden.nl |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |date= |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote=}}

The collection Western Printed Works contains materials printed before 1801 (including 700 incunabula) and rare and precious works from after 1801. In the course of four centuries the collection has been expanded through bequests, gifts and acquisitions of collections from scholars. Furthermore, the University Library obtained the deposit right for a copy of each book for which the States of Holland had given the privilege to print.{{Cite web |url=https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/subject-guides/early-printed-books |title=Early Printed Books |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=library.universiteitleiden.nl |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |date= |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote=}} The collection also includes more than 100,000 printed works from the library of the Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde which has been deposited on permanent loan since 1876.{{Cite web |url=https://collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl/resources/ubl056 |title=Collection guides. Archive of the Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde (MNL) |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |date=12 June 2020 |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote= |language=en, nl}}

File:BodelNijenhuis.JPG (1815-1882): Portrait of J.T. Bodel Nijenhuis. Collection Leiden University Libraries.]]

The Bodel Nijenhuis Collection contains mainly old maps, atlases, topographical prints and drawings. Most of the collection was obtained as a bequest from J.T. Bodel Nijenhuis. The lawyer Johannes Tiberius Bodel Nijenhuis (1797–1872), director of the publishing house Luchtmans, for 25 years a member of the Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde, was a passionate collector of cartographical and topographical material.{{Cite web |url=https://collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl/resources/ubl068 |title=Collection guides. Johannes Tiberius Bodel Nijenhuis collection |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |date=15 October 2015 |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote= |language=}}

The collection contains 60,000 maps (of which 3,000 drawings), 1,500 atlases, 24,000 topographical prints, 1,600 drawings and the archive of Youssouf Kamal's Monumenta Cartographica Africae et Aegypti.

From its very onset the study of the Orient was of vital importance to the new university. Theologians studied the Semitic languages to perceive the meaning of the Bible. Political and commercial interests prompted the new-born Dutch Republic to establish relations with its enemies' enemies, among whom the Ottoman Empire, then at the zenith of its power. In the course of its expansionist policy the Dutch Republic secured possession of the Indonesian archipelago and other territories in South East Asia. In Japan, Dutch merchants maintained a trading post to the exclusion of all other European powers.{{Cite book |first= |last= |title=Prophets, Scholars and Poets. The Collections of the Middle Eastern Library of Leiden University |publisher=Leiden University Press |location= |date=2024 |isbn=9789087284077 |oclc=1441774888 |quote= |url= |chapter= |editor-first1=Arnoud |editor-last1=Vrolijk |editor-first2=Kasper |editor-last2=van Ommen |editor-first3=Karin |editor-last3=Scheper |editor-first4=Tijmen C. |editor-last4= Baarda}}{{Cite web |url=https://collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl/resources/ubl045 |title=Collection guides. Oriental manuscripts collection (KNAW) |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |date=15 October 2015 |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote= |language=}}

In the course of four centuries countless manuscripts, printed books and photographs on the Orient and Oriental Studies have found their way to the library of Leiden University. Oriental Studies are still flourishing at Leiden University, and the Oriental Collections are still growing to serve the needs of the national and international scholarly community.

The Oriental Collections of Leiden University Libraries are known as the Legatum Warnerianum (Warner's Legacy), referring to Levinus Warner (1619–1665), envoy to the Sublime Porte at Constantinople, whose collection of 1,000 Middle Eastern manuscripts forms the core of the present-day Oriental Collections. In 1659 following the death of the Ottoman bibliophile-encyclopedist Kâtip Çelebi his library was sold. At the time it was the largest private library in Istanbul, and Warner acquired part of it for the University of Leiden.{{Cite web |url=https://collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl/repositories/2/resources/161 |title=Collection Guides. Levinus Warner collection |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |date=2 March 2015 |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote=}}

The Oriental Collections nowadays contain 30,000 manuscripts and 200,000 printed books on subjects ranging from Archaeology to Zoroastrianism and in languages from Arabic to Zulu.{{Cite web |url=https://islamicbridge.com/2022/06/the-library-of-the-university-of-leiden-has-been-holding-the-most-valuable-islamic-manuscripts-for-450-years/ |title=The library of the university of Leiden has been holding the most valuable islamic manuscripts for 450 years |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=islamicbridge.com |publisher=Islamic Bridge |date= |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote=}}

File:Leiden-bibliotheca-thysiana.jpg

The Bibliotheca Thysiana was erected in 1655 to house the book collection of the lawyer Joannes Thysius (1622–1653). Upon his early death, he left a legacy of 20,000 guilders for the building of a public library ("tot publycque dienst der studie") with a custodian's dwelling. Designed by the architect Arent van 's-Gravensande, the building follows the Dutch Classical style and is regarded as one of the jewels of Dutch 17th century architecture. It is distinguished by its balanced proportions and the purity of its Ionic order on top of a high basement.{{Cite book |first=Paul |last=Hoftijzer |title=Bibliotheca Thysiana. 'Tot publijcke dienst der studie' |location=Leiden |date=2008 |oclc=747837932}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/taffehtempel |website=atlasobscura.com |title=Leiden, Netherlands. Bibliotheca Thysiana This public library and its impressive collection of academic books have not changed since the 17th century. |access-date=20 March 2025 |publisher=Atlas Obscura |date=2025}}{{Cite web |url=https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/view/collection/thysiana |title=Leiden University Libraries. Digital Collections. Bibliotheca Thysiana, "For the public benefit of study" |website=digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=20 March 2025}}

The Bibliotheca Thysiana is the only surviving 17th century example in the Netherlands of a building that was designed as a library. It is quite extraordinary that a complete private 17th century library has been preserved and thus offers a good impression of the book collection of a young, learned bibliophile from the period of late Humanism. The collection contains about 2,500 books and thousands of pamphlets in all scientific fields.{{Cite web |url=https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/about-us/library-locations/bibliotheca-thysiana |title=Bibliotheca Thysiana |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=library.universiteitleiden.nl |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |date= |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote=}}

Otherwise known as the MNL, the "Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde" (Dutch Society of Letters){{cite web|url=https://www.mdnl.nl/ |title=Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde |publisher=Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde |access-date=10 April 2025 |language=nl}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.mdnl.nl/?page_id=22 |title=Over de MdNL |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=mdnl.nl |publisher=Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde |date= |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote=}} was founded in Leiden in 1766 to promote the study of Dutch historical linguistic subjects. This society joined the Leiden University Libraries in 1876, and since 1999 forms the basis of the DBNL – the digital online library of the Dutch Language, an initiative for an online open access archive of the greatest works in Dutch literary history.{{Cite web|url=http://www.dbnl.org |title=dbnl digitale bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse letteren |access-date=10 April 2025 |publisher=Digital Library for Dutch Literature |language=nl}} The society had regular meetings in Leiden on literary subjects, but also on scientific subjects. It became fashionable for the elite to become members, and many were also members of the Dutch Society of Science (Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen), a similar society for the study of scientific subjects founded in Haarlem in 1752.{{Cite web |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151008012459/http://www.khmw.nl/about |title=English introduction |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=khmw.nl |publisher=Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen |date= |quote=}} Both societies still hold contests and award prizes for achievement.{{Cite web |url=https://khmw.nl/ |title=Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen |publisher=KHMW |website=khmw.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location= |language=nl}}

Founded in 1822, the Print Room possesses art works from the sixteenth century until the present day. Whether you are interested in mythological scenes from the Italian Renaissance, daguerreotypes, the largest collection of portraits in the Netherlands, stereophotography or Dutch landscapes by Rembrandt and his pupils, the Print Room has them.{{Cite web |url=https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/prints-printroom |title=Prints Print Room. More than 100,000 European prints from 1500 until the present time. |publisher=Leiden University Libraries Digital Collections |website=digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location=Leiden |language=}}{{Cite book |first=Jeff |last=Schaeps |chapter=For study and delight: the Leiden Collection of Drawings and Prints |pages=9-17 |editor-first1=J. |editor-last1=Schaeps |editor-first2=Elmer |editor-last2=Kolfin |editor-first3=Edward |editor-last3=Grasman |editor-first4=N. L. |editor-last4=Bartelings |title=For study and delight : drawings and prints from Leiden University |publisher=Leiden University Press/Leiden Publications |location=Leiden |date=2016 |isbn=9789087282417 |oclc=960841882 |translator=Vertaalbureau Cis van Heertum ('s-Hertogenbosch) |quote= |url= |language=}} The holdings presently amount to some 12,000 drawings, around 100,000 prints and some 80,000 photographs, with an emphasis on Dutch art. Amongst the drawings and prints you will find works by famous Dutch artists like Goltzius, Visscher, Rembrandt, Troost, Maris, Toorop, and Veldhoen, but prominent artists from other European Schools, like Hogarth, Callot, Canaletto, and Dürer are also present with specimens up to 1900. The photography collection spreads from its earliest history to the present day and boasts examples of virtually every Dutch photographer, from anonymous nineteenth-century pioneers through Piet Zwart and Paul Citroen to Ed van der Elsken and Johan van der Keuken, including a lot of attention to present day photographers such as Erwin Olaf and Hendrik Kerstens.{{Cite web |url=https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/special-collections/collections/photography |title=Photography. The number of historical and contemporary photographs of Leiden University approaches a half million. |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |website=library.universiteitleiden.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location= |language=}}

The collection was started in 1864 with the opening of the Colonial Museum in Haarlem, but parts date back to the predecessor of the museum: the department of 'Trade and Colonies' founded in 1777 and part of the Hollandsche Maatschappij van Wetenschappen.{{Cite web |url=https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/colonialsources |title=Colonial Sources (KIT). Colonial Sources of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |website=digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location= |language=}} In 1913 the collection was taken over by the Colonial Institute in Amsterdam founded in 1910. In 1950, after the Dutch decolonization, the mission of the Colonial Institute changed which was reflected in a name change to Royal Tropical Institute. But also the development of the collection changed quite drastically. In 2013 the library of the Royal Tropical Institute was closed and the part of the collection that dealt with the former Dutch colonies was housed at Leiden University Libraries.

The KITLV was founded in 1851 and created the foremost collections on Southeast Asia (especially on Indonesia) and the Caribbean (especially Suriname, Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles). The collection contains about 1 million – mostly postcolonial – books and special collections, including 150.000 digitized historical photographs, maps, prints and unique archives.{{Cite web |url=https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/colonialarchives |title=Colonial Archives (KITLV). Archives of The Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |website=digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location=Leiden |language=}}

On 1 July 2014, the management of the collection was transferred from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences to Leiden University Libraries.

File:Spijkerschrifttablet_in_Oud-Babylonisch_LB1821.jpg

This De Liagre Böhl or Böhl Collection includes 3,000 cuneiform tablets of Sumerian and Babylonian/Assyrian origin, the largest collection of its kind in The Netherlands.{{Cite web |url=http://www.nino-leiden.nl/collections/de-liagre-bohl-collection/ |title=De Liagre Böhl Collection |author= |date= |website=nino-leiden.nl |publisher=The Netherlands Institute for the Near East, Leiden |access-date=20 March 2024}} The collection was brought together in the 1920s and '30s by F.M.Th. de Liagre Böhl, Professor of Assyriology at Leiden University and Co-Director of NINO 1939-1955. Diverse text genres are present in the tablet collection: literary texts, omens, incantations, archival texts etc. In addition to the tablets, the collection includes a smaller number of seals, bullae, terracottas and other objects. In 2024 the collection was moved from NINO to Leiden University Library.{{Cite web |url=https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/news/2024/02/clay-tablets-dating-back-thousands-of-years-moved-from-receipts-to-the-oldest-literary-works |website=library.universiteitleiden.nl |title=Clay tablets dating back thousands of years moved: ‘From receipts to the oldest literary works’ |publisher=Leiden University Library |location=Leiden |date=27 February 2024 |access-date=20 March 2025}}

File:Scaliger.jpg: Joseph Justus Scaliger, 1597. Merula was the third Librarian of Leiden University (1597–1607).]]

The Scaliger Institute, founded in 2000, aims to stimulate and facilitate the use of the special collections in both teaching and research. For this purpose, the institute offers favourable working conditions and expertise, organizes lectures, symposia, master classes, and special courses, and provides fellowships to junior and senior scholars from the Netherlands and elsewhere who wish to work in Leiden for a longer period.{{Cite web |url=https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/special-collections/scaliger-institute |title=Scaliger Institute |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=library.universiteitleiden.nl |publisher=Leiden University Library |date= |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote=The objective is that, in close co-operation with the Leiden faculty departments, students are brought in to contact with the wealth and diversity of the Special Collections by means of lectures, courses, masterclasses or otherwise.}}{{cite web |url=https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/special-collections/research-in-the-special-collections/prior-fellows |title=Prior Fellows |website=Universiteit Leiden |access-date=3 May 2022 |quote=Overview of the Scaliger, Brill, Elsevier, Van de Sande, Juynboll, Drewes, Isaac Alfred Ailion, Arminius and Lingling Wiyadharma Fellows who have conducted research in the Special Collections of the University Library.}} These include the Brill, Elsevier, Lingling Wiyadharma, Van de Sande, Juynboll en Ailion fellowships, which focus on different disciplines or regions.{{Cite web |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/elsevier-and-leidens-scaliger-institute-establish-fellowship-program-for-rare-books-scholars-137184428.html |title=Elsevier and Leiden's Scaliger Institute Establish Fellowship Program for Rare Books Scholars |access-date=10 April 2025 |website=prnewswire.com |publisher=Cision US Inc. |date=January 12, 2012 |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote=}}

The Scaliger Chair (Scaliger Professor), affiliated with both the Institute at Leiden University Libraries and the university's Faculty of Humanities, is tasked with "promot[ing] teaching and research relating to the Special Collections held by the University library" through outreach activities directed towards academic and non-academic audiences.

Scaliger professors:

• {{interlanguage link|Wim Gerritsen|nl}} (2002–2006){{Cite journal |url=https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/423083/10.1515_jias_2022_0010.pdf |format=PDF |title=Obituary Willem Pieter Gerritsen (1935–2019) |publisher=De Gruyter Brill/Utrecht University Library |journal=Journal of the International Arthurian Society |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=122–125 |date=September 8, 2022 |first=Bart |last=Besamusca |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location=Utrecht, the Netherlands |language= |doi=10.1515/jias-2022-0010}}
• Harm Beukers (2007–2016){{Cite web |url=https://www.gewina.nl/harmen-beukers-1945-2020-in-memoriam/ |title=Harmen Beukers (1945–2020), in memoriam |first=Harold J. |last=Cook |publisher=GeWiNa Belgian-Dutch Society for the History of Science and Universities |website=gewina.nl |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location= |language=}}
• Erik Kwakkel (2016–2018){{Cite web |url=https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2017/05/erik-kwakkel-confesses-his-love-of-medieval-books |title=Erik Kwakkel confesses his love of Medieval books |date=9 May 2017 |publisher=Leiden University |website=universiteitleiden.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location= |language=}}
• Rick Honings (2020–present){{Cite web |url=https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2020/07/rick-honings-appointed-scaliger-professor |title=Rick Honings appointed Scaliger professor |date=30 June 2020 |publisher=Leiden University |website=universiteitleiden.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location=Leiden |language=}}

Furthermore, an internationally prominent scholar is frequently appointed as 'Visiting Scaliger Professor' who delivers the Scaliger Lecture: Anthony Grafton (2009), François Déroche (2010), Peter Frankopan (2017),{{Cite web |url=https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/news/2017/06/historian-peter-frankopan-visiting-scaliger-professor |title=Historian Peter Frankopan Visiting Scaliger professor |date=12 June 2017 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |website=library.universiteitleiden.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location=Leiden |language=}} and {{interlanguage link|Ted Underwood|ca}} (2019).{{Cite web |url=https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2019/10/public-lecture-the-role-of-the-humanities-in-an-information-age-by-ted-underwood-visiting-scaliger-professor |title=Public Lecture ‘The Role of the Humanities in an Information Age’ by Ted Underwood, Visiting Scaliger Professor |date=18 October 2019 |publisher=Leiden University |website=universiteitleiden.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location=Leiden |language=}}

The institute was named after Josephus Justus Scaliger (1540–1609), Leiden's most renowned scholar during the early years of its existence and a great benefactor of the University Library through the donation, at his death, of his exceptional collection of manuscripts and all his oriental books.

• Areas of concentration: archaeology, anthropology, art, astronomy, cartography, classics, education, history, law, literature, medicine, Orientalism, papyrology, philosophy, politics, publishing, religion, science.
• Some individual collections: Emmy Andriesse,{{Cite web |url=https://collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl/resources/ubl223 |title=Emmy Eugenie Andriesse collection. Collection Identifier: ubl223 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |website=collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location= |language=nl, en |date=14 April 2015}} D. Bierens de Haan, Willem Bilderdijk, T. Bodel Nijenhuis, G.J.P.J Bolland, J. Golius, Robert van Gulik, A.P.H. Hotz,{{Cite web |url=https://collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl/resources/ubl063 |title=Albertus Paulus Hermanus Hotz archive and collection. Fonds Identifier: ubl063 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |website=collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl |date=6 February 2017 |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location=Leiden |language=}} J. Huizinga, Constantijn and Christiaan Huygens, Frans Kellendonk, Justus Lipsius, Prosper Marchand, Eduard Meijers, K.H. Miskotte, Jan Oort, Valery Pereleshin, Menno Rijke,{{Cite web |url=https://collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl/resources/ubl107 |title=Menno Rijke collection. Collection Identifier: ubl107 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |website=collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl |date=19 April 2013 |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location=Leiden |language=}} Joseph Scaliger, C. Snouck Hourgronje, Cornelis Tiele, Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk, Isaac Vossius, Levinus Warner, Nicolaas van Wijk, Jan Wolkers.{{Cite web |url=https://collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl/resources/ubl669 |title=Jan Wolkers archive. Fonds. Identifier: ubl669 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |website=collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl |date=24 February 2025 |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location= |language=}}
• Some institutional collections: Bohn Publishers,{{Cite web |url=https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/bohncorrespondence |title=Bohn Correspondence. Archives of the publishers De Erven F. Bohn, Haarlem |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |website=digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location=Leiden |language=}} Sijthoff Publishers, Bibliothèque Wallonne, NHK (Dutch Reformed Church), Seminarium Remonstrantum, photographs Indonesia, ISIM (Islam), Zaken Overzee (Netherlands Ministry of Overseas Affairs), Leiden Observatory.{{Cite web |url=https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/leidenobservatorypapers |title=Leiden Observatory Papers. Archives of the Leiden Observatory and its successive directors, 1829-1992 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |website=digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location= |language=}}

File:La Galigo item 29355-0009 (cropped2).jpg, a Sulawesi 18th - 20th century creation myth. Page from the Leiden Manuscript.]]

File:UBLOHS Or.7398.tif reading a islamic mystical tasawuf text in exile in Makasar, 1833-1855. Babad Diponegoro manuscript, Leiden University Library.]]

In the prestigious UNESCO Memory of the World Register documents are inscribed that affirm their world significance and outstanding universal value. For the Netherlands from Leiden University Library the following entries are inscribed:{{Cite web |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/grid?hub=1081 |title=Memory of the World International Register |publisher=UNESCO |website=unesco.org |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=13 March 2025 |location= |language=}} Search for Netherlands in the menu, with in total 20 entries as of 13 March 2025.

• The Leiden La Galigo manuscript, written in Buginese (inscribed on 25 May 2011). From the NBG collection. NBG-Boeg 188.{{Cite web |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/la-galigo?hub=1081 |title=La Galigo |publisher=UNESCO |website=unesco.org |first= |last= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240704230625/https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/la-galigo?hub=1081 |archive-date=2024-07-04 |access-date=13 March 2025 |url-status=live |location= |language=}}{{Cite web |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:52070 |title=La Galigo - Part 1 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries Digital Collections |website=hdl.handle.net |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=13 March 2025 |location=Leiden |language=}} Digital version of La Galigo NBG-Boeg 188.

• Babad Diponegoro, the Dutch translation of the autobiographical manuscript of the Javanese prince Diponegoro (1755 -1855), national hero and pan-Islamist (18 June 2013). From the KITLV collection. D H 589 a.{{Cite web |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/babad-diponegoro-or-autobiographical-chronicle-prince-diponegoro-1785-1855-javanese-nobleman?hub=1081 |title=Babad Diponegoro or Autobiographical Chronicle of Prince Diponegoro (1785-1855). A Javanese nobleman, Indonesian national hero and pan-Islamist |publisher=UNESCO |website=unesco.org |first= |last= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240701194129/https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/babad-diponegoro-or-autobiographical-chronicle-prince-diponegoro-1785-1855-javanese-nobleman?hub=1081 |archive-date=2024-07-01 |access-date=13 March 2025 |location= |language= |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:3303001 |title=Babad Dipanagaran D H 589 a |publisher=Leiden University Libraries Digital Collections |website=hdl.handle.net |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=13 March 2025 |location=Leiden |language=}} Digital version of Babad Dipanagaran / D H 589 a.

• The Panji manuscripts with ancient tales revolving around the mythical Javanese prince Panji (30 October 2017).{{Cite web |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/panji-tales-manuscripts?hub=1081 |title=Panji Tales Manuscripts |publisher=UNESCO |website=unesco.org |first= |last= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240630080213/https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/panji-tales-manuscripts?hub=1081 |archive-date=2024-06-30 |access-date=13 March 2025 |location= |language= |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/panjitalesmanuscripts |title=Panji Tales Manuscripts |publisher=Leiden University Libraries Digital Collections |website=digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl |first= |last= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027210734/https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/panjitalesmanuscripts |archive-date=2023-10-27 |access-date=13 March 2025 |location=Leiden |language=}} Digital versions of the Panji-manuscripts.

• Voyage of circumnavigation by Ferdinand Magellan: Viagem de Fernao de Magalhaes, secundum narrationem cuiusdam socii et suppletus ex aliis fontibus, lusitanice (18 May 2023). VLF 41.{{Cite web |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/first-voyage-circumnavigation-fernao-de-magalhaes-and-juan-sebastian-elcano-1519-1522?hub=1081 |title=First Voyage of Circumnavigation by Fernãõ de Magalhães and Juan Sebastián Elcano (1519-1522) |publisher=UNESCO |website=unesco.org |first= |last= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240701103913/https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/first-voyage-circumnavigation-fernao-de-magalhaes-and-juan-sebastian-elcano-1519-1522?hub=1081 |archive-date=2024-07-01 |url-status=live |access-date=13 March 2025 |location= |language=}}{{cite web|url=https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/in-the-media/2023/05/unesco-recognizes-manuscripts-first-voyage-around-the-globe-and-hikayat-aceh-as-world-heritage |title=UNESCO Recognizes Manuscripts First Voyage Around the Globe and Hikayat Aceh as World Heritage |website=library.universiteitleiden.nl |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=13 March 2025}}{{Cite web |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:3494583 |title=Ferdinandi Oliveri de Sancta Columba (1507-85) opera duo: Ars nautica, autographa. - Viagem de Fernao de Magalhaes, secundum narrationem cuiusdam socii et suppletus ex aliis fontibus, lusitanice - VLF 41 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries Digital Collections |website=hdl.handle.net |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=13 March 2025 |location=Leiden |language=}} Digital version of VLF 41.

• Hikayat Aceh manuscripts (18 May 2023),{{Cite web |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/hikayat-aceh-three-manuscripts-life-aceh-indonesia-15th-17th-century?hub=1081 |title=The Hikayat Aceh - Three manuscripts on life in Aceh, Indonesia, in the 15th-17th century |publisher=UNESCO |website=unesco.org |first= |last= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240701022209/https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/hikayat-aceh-three-manuscripts-life-aceh-indonesia-15th-17th-century?hub=1081 |archive-date=2024-07-01 |url-status=live |access-date=13 March 2025 |location= |language=}}manuscript Or. 1954{{Cite web |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:3218405 |title=Hikayat Aceh Or. 1954 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries Digital Collections |website=hdl.handle.net |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=13 March 2025 |location= |language=}} Digital version of Or. 1983 and Or. 1983.{{Cite web |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:3218276 |title=Collective volume with texts in Malay : Hikayat Aceh ; Tariq al-Salikin wa-Sabil al-Musayirin Or. 1983 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries Digital Collections |website=hdl.handle.net |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=13 March 2025 |location= |language=}} Digital version of Or. 1983.

• Kartini Letters and Archive (11 April 2025).[https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/news/2025/04/letters-and-archive-of-womens-emancipation-advocate-kartini-unesco-world-heritage World Heritage Status for Letters from Indonesian Women's Rights Advocate Kartini], News item from Leiden University Libraries, 11 April 2025. From the KITLV-collection. [https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/kartiniletters Digital version of the Kartini Letters], 11 April 2025.

• De Ondergedoken Camera (17 April 2025). The photographs from a group of Amsterdam photographers who carried out resistance work during World War II by documenting the German occupation of the Netherlands. Includes photographs by Emmy Andriesse.[https://www.unesco.nl/nl/nl-memory-world-register/de-ondergedoken-camera De Ondergedoken Camera], News item from the Dutch UNESCO Committee, 17 April 2025. [https://www.bibliotheek.universiteitleiden.nl/in-de-media/2025/04/illegaal-fotografisch-verzet-tweede-wereldoorlog-de-ondergedoken-camera-erkend-als-unesco-erfgoed Illegaal fotografisch verzet Tweede Wereldoorlog ‘De Ondergedoken Camera’ erkend als UNESCO erfgoed], News item from Leiden University Libraries, 17 April 2025.

• 'Leyden Manuscript'. Fragment (Latin, Breton/Cornish): Medical recipes, MS VLF 96 A, late 8th century/9th century.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:3218234 |title=Digital version of Fragment (Latin, Breton/Cornish): Medical recipes - VLF 96 A |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• 'Leiden Glossary'. MS VLQ 69, 800.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:4154089 |title=Digital version of Composite manuscript, six parts (Latin) - VLQ 69 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2025-01-17}}
• 'Leiden Aratea'. Aratus, Phaenomena interprete Claudio Germanico Caesare, MS VLQ 79, 813-840.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:4152891 |title=Digital version of Phaenomena / Aratus - VLQ 79 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2025-01-17}}
• Lucretius, De rerum natura, MS VLF 30, 825.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:4127827 |title=Digital version of De rerum natura / Lucretius - VLF 30 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2025-01-17}}
• Lucretius, De rerum natura, MS VLQ 94, first half 9th century.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:4151064 |title=Digital version of De rerum natura / Lucretius - VLQ 94 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2025-01-17}}
• Cicero, Opera philosophica - MS VLF 84, second quarter 9th century.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:4112532 |title=Digital version of Opera philosophic / Cicero - VLF 84 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2025-01-23}}
• Cicero, Opera philosophica - MS VLF 86, 9th century.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:4111984 |title=Digital version of Opera philosophic / Cicero - VLF 86 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2025-01-23}}
• 'Anonymus Leidensis', De situ orbis, MS VLF 113 p.II, 850-875.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:4134213 |title=Digital version of Composite manuscript, two parts (Latin) - VLF 113 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2025-01-17}}
• Composite manuscript, two parts (Latin): 1. (ff. 1r-65v) Old Testament: 1 Maccabees, and other text(s). - 2. (ff. 150-211) Index and vocabulary on Vegetius' Epitoma rei militaris, and other text(s), MS PER F 17, 10th century.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:850585 |title=Digital version of Composite manuscript, two parts (Latin): 1. (ff. 1r-65v) Old Testament: 1 Maccabees, and other text(s). - 2. (ff. 150-211) Index and vocabulary on Vegetius' Epitoma rei militaris, and other text(s), PER F 17 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-11}}
• Ibn Hazm, Ṭawq al-ḥamāma fī 'al-ulfa wa-al-ullīf, MS Or. 927, 1002.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1567570 |title=Digital version of Ṭawq al-ḥamāma fī 'al-ulfa wa-al-ullīf - Or. 927 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-11}}
• Liber manualis or notebooks of Ademar of Chabannes, MS VLO 15, 1023-1025.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1943535 |title=Digital version of Notebooks of Ademar of Chabannes - VLO 15 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2025-01-17}}
• 'Leiden Dioscorides'. Dioscorides, Kitāb al-Ḥašāʾiš fī hāyūlā al-ʿilāg ̌al-ṭibbī, MS Or. 289, 1083.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:3641201 |title=Digital version of Kitāb al-Ḥašāʾiš fī hāyūlā al-ʿilāg ̌al-ṭibbī - Or. 289 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• 'Leiden Willeram, MS BPL 130, 1090-1110?.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:881139 |title=Digital version of Composite manuscript, two parts (Latin, Dutch): 1. (ff. 1v-100v) Expositio in Cantica Canticorum / Williram of Ebersberg, and other text(s). - 2. (ff. 101r-214v) Stromata in Cantica Canticorum / Angelomus of Luxeuil, and other text(s), BPL 130 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-12}}
• 'Saint Louis Psalter', MS BPL 76 A, 1190.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1611715 |title=Digital version of Saint Louis Psalter - BPL 76 A |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhahammad al-Farisi al-Istakhri, مختصر كتاب المسالك والممالك لابي اسحاق ابراهيم بن محمد الاصطخري / World map in a summary of Kitab al-masalik wa'l mamalik, MS Or. 3101, 1193.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1577846 |title=Digital version of An abridgement of Kitāb al-masālik wa-al-mamālik by Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad al-Iṣṭaḵrī - Or. 3101 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Rashi, Peirush, MS Or. 4718, 13th century.{{Cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:2027720 |title=Digital version of Peirush Rashi - Or. 4718 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-06-28}}
• 'Leiden Jerusalem Talmud', MS Or. 4720, 1289.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:937041 |title=Digital version of Talmūd Yerūšalmī : or Jerusalem Talmud - Or. 4720 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Roman van Ferguut, MS LTK 191, c. 1325. {{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1598537 |title=Digital version of Composite manuscript, six parts (Dutch): 1. (ff. 1-32) Roman van Ferguut. - 2. (ff. 33-58) Floris ende Blancefloer / Diederik van Assenede. - And other part(s), LTK 191 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2025-04-01}}
• Vincent of Beauvais, Miroir historial, MS VGG F 3 A, 1332-1335.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1520785 |title=Digital version of Miroir historial / Vincent of Beauvais; translation by Jean de Vignay, VGG F 3 A |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-11}}
• Diederic van Assenede, Floris and Blancheflour, MS LTK 191 , 1325-1350. {{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1598537 |title=Digital version of Composite manuscript, six parts (Dutch): 1. (ff. 1-32) Roman van Ferguut. - 2. (ff. 33-58) Floris ende Blancefloer / Diederik van Assenede. - And other part(s), LTK 191 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2025-04-01}}
• Penninc en Pieter Vostaert, Roman van Walewein, MS LTK 195, 1350.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1595077 |title=Digital version of Composite manuscript, two parts (Dutch): 1. (ff. 1-120) Roman van Heinric ende Margriete van Limborch / Heinric van Aken. - 2. (ff. 121-182) Roman van Walewein / Penninc and Pieter Vostaert, LTK 195 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Heinric van Aken, Roman van Heinric ende Margriete van Limborch, MS LTK 195, 1350.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1595077 |title=Digital version of Composite manuscript, two parts (Dutch): 1. (ff. 1-120) Roman van Heinric ende Margriete van Limborch / Heinric van Aken. - 2. (ff. 121-182) Roman van Walewein / Penninc and Pieter Vostaert, LTK 195 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Jacob van Maerlant Der naturen bloeme, MS BPL 14 A, 1366?.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1602664 |title=Digital version of Der naturen bloeme / Jacob van Maerlant, and other text(s), BPL 14 A |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-11}}
• Esopet, MS LTK 191, c. 1350. {{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1598537 |title=Digital version of Composite manuscript, six parts (Dutch): 1. (ff. 1-32) Roman van Ferguut. - 2. (ff. 33-58) Floris ende Blancefloer / Diederik van Assenede. - And other part(s), LTK 191 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2025-04-01}}
• Wirnt von Gravenberg, Wigalois, MS LTK 537, 1372.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1615443 |title=Digital version of Wigalois / Wirnt von Gravenberg, LTK 537 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Shahnama, MS Or. 494, 1437.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:2034887 |title=Digital version of Shahnama Or. 494 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-11}}
• Jan Gossaert, The Spinario, PK-T-AW-1041, 15??-1532.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1277611 |title=Digital version of The Spinario, boots, helmets and lion's heads (verso: Helmet) PK-T-AW-1041 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Pseudo-Albertus Magnus, Alchemical miscellany (German, Latin): De lapidibus and other text(s), MS VCF 29, 1522-1566.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1521895 |title=Digital version of Alchemical miscellany (German, Latin): De lapidibus / Pseudo-Albertus Magnus, and other text(s), VCF 29 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-11}}
• Melchior Lorck, Prospect of Constantinople, BPL 1758, 1559.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:2026523 |title=Digital version of Prospect of Constantinople - BPL 1758 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Zakariya al-Qazwini, Aja'ib al-Makhluqat, MS Or. 8907, 1602.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1951437 |title=Digital version of Kitāb ʿajā'ib al-makhlūqāt va gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt - Or. 8907 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-06-28}}
• Rembrandt, Adam and Eve (Study for Bartsch 28), PK-T-AW-1097, 1638.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1277585 |title=Digital version of Adam and Eve (Study for Bartsch 28), PK-T-AW-1097 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Willem Piso, Georg Marcgraf and Johannes de Laet, Historia Naturalis Brasiliae, 1407 B 3, 1648.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1535938 |title=Digital version of Historia Naturalis Brasiliae - 1407 B 3 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Christiaan Huygens, Scientific archive 'Codices Hugeniani', 17th century.{{cite web|url=https://collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl/resources/ubl058 |title=Collection Guide: Christiaan Huygens Archive |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Georg Eberhard Rumphius, Amboinsch Kruidboek, MS BPL 314, 1692-1701.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:2704636 |title=Digital version of G.E. Rumphius, Amboinsch Kruidboek, boeken I-XII, met het Auctuarium of Toegift - BPL 314 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Raden Adjeng Kartini, Kartini Letters, 1900-1926.{{cite web|url=https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/kartiniletters |title=Digital version of the Kartini Letters |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-13}}{{cite web|url= https://collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl/resources/ubl249 |title=Collection guide of the Jacques Henry Abendanon archive, Kartini Letters |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-13}}
• Frank Scholten, Travel and street photography made in Europe and Palestine, 1921-1923. {{cite web|url=https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/view/collection/frankscholten |title=Digital version of Frank Scholten's Photographs, Negatives and Photo Albums |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2025-04-07}}
• Paul Citroen, Metropolis, PK-F-57.337, 1923.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1660306 |title=Digital version of Metropolis - PK-F-57.337 |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Emmy Andriesse, Photographs, 1930-1953.{{cite web|url=https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/emmyandriesse |title=Digitale version photographs Emmy Andriesse |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Jan Wolkers, Archive, 1930-2007.{{cite web|url=https://collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl/resources/ubl669 |title=Collection Guide: Jan Wolkers Archive |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Frans Kellendonk, Archive, 1971-1991.{{cite web|url=https://collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl/resources/ubl106 |title=Collection Guide: Frans Kellendonk Archive |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Hendrik Kerstens, Paula photograph series, 1992- .{{cite web|url=https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/hendrikkerstens |title=Digital version of Hendrik & Paula Kerstens: Paula |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}
• Erwin Olaf, Liberty: Plague and Hunger during the Siege of Leiden, PK-F-2011-0036, 2011.{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1993763 |title=Digital version of Liberty: Plague and Hunger during the Siege of Leiden|publisher=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=2024-04-10}}

Since the founding of the university in 1575 there have been 25 Librarians of Leiden University:{{sfn|Berkvens-Stevelinck|2012}}

File:Portret van Johan van der Does, RP-P-OB-27.421.jpg and Pieter Soutman: Portrait of Johan van der Does (Janus Dousa), first Librarian of Leiden University (1585–1593), 1649.]]

• University Library (Main site), Witte Singel 27, Leiden. Architect: Bart van Kasteel.
• Academic Historical Museum, Rapenburg 73, Leiden.
• African Library, Witte Singel 27A, Leiden (African Studies Centre, Leiden).
• Asian Library, Witte Singel 27, Leiden. Architect: Katja Hogenboom studio with FELSCH Architecten.
• Law Library, Steenschuur 25, Leiden.
• Middle Eastern Library, Witte Singel 27A, Leiden.
• Science Library, Einsteinweg 55, Leiden.
• Social and Behavioral Sciences Library, Wassenaarseweg 52, Leiden.
• Walaeus Library (LUMC), Albinusdreef 2, Leiden.

• Wijnhaven Library, Campus The Hague, Turfmarkt 99, The Hague.

• KITLV-Jakarta, Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said Kav S-3, Jakarta, Indonesia.

1587–1595: {{interlanguage link|Academiegebouw|nl|Academiegebouw (Leiden)}}, Rapenburg 73, Leiden.

1595–1983: Faliede Bagijnkerk, Old University Library, now Leiden University Board, Rapenburg 70, Leiden.

File:Gewelven kamer - Leiden - 20135437 - RCE.jpg|Vault room at Rapenburg 73, the library location in 1587–1595, 1940.

File:Leiden 1610.jpg|Jan Cornelisz. van 't Woudt: Rapenburg 73, 1610. Print from Stedeboeck der Nederlanden, Amsterdam: Willem Blaeu, 1649.

File:Leiden 1694.jpg|Rapenburg 70, 1694. "La nouvelle bibliothèque" (The new library), from Les delices de Leide, une des célèbres villes de l'Europe, Leiden: P. van der Aa, 1712.

File:ErfgoedLeiden LEI001017058 Rijks Universiteits Bibliotheek.jpg|Jan Goedeljee (1824–1905): Interior of the University Library. Glass negative, circa 1880.

File:ErfgoedLeiden LEI001017057 Rijks Universiteits Bibliotheek.jpg|Jan Goedeljee: Reading room, University Library. Glass negative, circa 1880.

File:ErfgoedLeiden LEI001017056 Rijks Universiteits Bibliotheek.jpg|Jan Goedeljee: Reading room, University Library. Glass negative, circa 1880.

File:Goedeljee University Library.jpg|Jan Goedeljee: Rapenburg 70, around 1890.

File:ErfgoedLeiden LEI001015641 Depot van de universiteitsbibliotheek aan het Rapenburg in Leiden.jpg|Depot of the Leiden University Library, around 1900.

File:Gevels - Leiden - 20137291 - RCE.jpg|Rapenburg 70, 1963.

File:Leiden-Universiteitsbibliotheek.jpg|Current location: Witte Singel 27, 2006.

File:Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden (2023).jpg|Leiden University Library on the Witte Singel, 2023.

• Dutch author Frans Kellendonk (1951–1990) located his novel Letter en Geest. Een spookverhaal. (1982) in Leiden University Libraries. The main character in the novel Frits Mandaat replaces a sick colleague in the library. Kellendonk worked briefly in 1979 as a subject specialist for English literature at Leiden University Libraries.{{cite web|url=http://www.dbnl.nl/auteurs/auteur.php?id=kell001 |title=Information about Frans Kellendonk (in Dutch) |publisher=Dbnl.nl |access-date=23 January 2014}}

Leiden University Libraries participates in:

• UKB, Cooperating Dutch University Libraries and National Library (Dutch: Universiteitsbibliotheken & Koninklijke Bibliotheek, UKB), a Dutch consortium.{{Cite web |url=https://ukb.nl/en/about-ukb/participating-members/ |title=Members |publisher=UKB. Joint venture of the 13 Dutch University Libraries and the National Library of the Netherlands (KB) |website=ukb.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location= |language=}}

• Dutch Foundation for Academic Heritage (Dutch: Stichting Academisch Erfgoed, SAE).{{Cite web |url=https://www.academischerfgoed.nl/over-sae/ |title=Over SAE |trans-title=About SAE |publisher=Stichting Academisch Erfgoed |website=academischerfgoed.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location= |language=nl}}

• Association of European Research Libraries (LIBER).{{Cite web |url=https://libereurope.eu/liber-participants/ |website=libereurope.eu/liber-participants |access-date=22 March 2025 |publisher=Liber |title=Leiden University Libraries, INS 790086}}

• International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).{{Cite web |url=https://www.ifla.org/wp-content/uploads/ifla-members-and-association-affiliates_2025-04-01.pdf |format=PDF |title=IFLA Members including Institution and Association Affiliates |date=1 April 2025 |publisher=International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions |website=ifla.org |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location= |language=}}
• International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF, 'Triple I F'). Founding member.{{Cite web |url=https://iiif.io/community/consortium/members/ |title=Full Members |publisher=International Image Interoperability Framework |website=iiif.io |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location= |language=}}
• Open Access Publishing in European Networks (OAPEN), funded by, e.g., European Research Council and Dutch Research Council.{{Cite web |url=https://www.oapen.org/oapen/4812624-our-supporters |title=Our Supporters (The Netherlands) |publisher=OAPEN Online library of open access books |website=oapen.org |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location= |language=}}

Leiden University Libraries hosts public presentations on various topics related to its collections and publishes podcasts. These programmes are mostly in Dutch.

• UBL Boekensalon (UBL Book Café).{{YouTube |playlist=PL-vTxWFyVBpF2Hc9Z1JBl6WAwR-uhX08v |title=Boekensalons van de UBL}} 22 videos. Uploader UBLeiden. Consulted on 22 March 2025. In Dutch. Interview programme on books with authors discussing their work and library specialists showing relevant collection items. Featured authors include: Nadine Akkerman, Abdelkader Benali, Louise Fresco, Arnon Grunberg, Wilt Idema, Gert Oostindie, Frits van Oostrom, and Jean-Marc van Tol.
• UBL Podcast.{{Cite web |url=https://open.spotify.com/show/5K6HS8v1dVUwYPZ485TVvE?si=0jblBellRo6r53Zlt8XGvw |website=open.spotify.com |title=UBLpodcast, UBLCast |access-date=22 March 2025}} 26 casts, in Dutch and English. Conversations with researchers about specific topics illustrated by items from the Leiden special collections, such as Kakera Akotie, cuneiform tablets, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Christiaan Huygens, decolonisation, freedom of religion, Hugo Grotius, indentured servitude, Herta Mohr, piracy in the Caribbean, prosecution of homosexual Leiden students, Caspar Reuvens, Shahnameh The Book of Kings, slavery, Sranan Tongo, and student revolt.
• Van kluis naar kussen (From Safe to Presentation Cushion).{{YouTube |playlist=PL-vTxWFyVBpEkqBQzXuBaQ9pViWWNTCMQ |title=Van kluis naar kussen}} 20 videos. Uploader UBLeiden. Consulted on 22 March 2025. In Dutch. Conversations with researchers, students, curators and other experts and on Leiden collections: anatomical drawings, Bibliotheca Thysiana, Charles Baudelaire, Chinese collections, Collection of the Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde, conservation and restoration, Dutch Caribbean and Suriname literature, letters, maps and atlases, Medieval manuscripts, photography, portraits, prints and drawings, song collection, and women artists.

Leiden University Libraries organizes extensive exhibitions in collaboration with museums including:{{Cite web |url=https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/special-collections/whats-on/exhibitions |title=Exhibitions |publisher=Leiden University Libraries |website=library.universiteitleiden.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location=Leiden}}

• Leiden Celebrates - 450 years of Parades. Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, 21 September 2024 - 2 March 2025.{{Cite web |url=https://www.lakenhal.nl/en/story/450-jaar-optochten |title=Leiden Celebrates - 450 Years of Parades |publisher=Museum De Lakenhal |website=lakenhal.nl |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location=Leiden}}
• Hello darkness, my old friend. Kunsthal, Rotterdam, 15 June - 22 September 2024.
• Between the Lines. Prints from Leiden University in Museum Bredius. Museum Bredius, The Hague, 25 April - 30 June 2024.{{Cite web |url=https://museumbredius.nl/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Between-the-Lines-web.pdf |title=Between the Lines. Prints from Leiden University in Museum Bredius. April 25th – June 30th, 2024. At Museum Bredius (The Hague, the Netherlands) |publisher=Museum Bredius |website=museumbredius.nl |format=PDF |first= |last= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=17 April 2025 |location=The Hague}}
• Strijden ga ik – Anton de Kom en de Surinaamse Studenten Unie. Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, 10 November 2023 - 7 July 2024.
• Steef Zoetmulder. Kunsthal, Rotterdam, 2 September 2023 - 7 January 2024.
• Hendrik & Paula Kerstens: Self-Reflective. {{Ill|Museum Hilversum|nl}}, Hilversum, 9 April 2023 - 25 June 2023.
• Kaarten: navigeren en manipuleren. National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, 21 October 2022 – 29 October 2023.
• Books that made History. Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, 22 June 2022 – 4 September 2022.
• Alexine Tinne, photographer – her world view. Haags Historisch Museum, The Hague, 26 January 2022 – 12 Juni 2022.
• Photography Becomes Art. Photo-Secession in Holland 1890–1937. The Hague Museum of Photography, The Hague, 7 September 2019 – 8 December 2019.
• Leiden Celebrates! Highlights of an Academic Collection. Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam, 17 October 2014 – 26 January 2015.
• Straatwerken (drawings by 17th century artist Leonaert Bramer). Westfries Museum, Hoorn, 14 December 2013 – 3 March 2014.
• World Treasures! From Cicero to Erwin Olaf. Discover the Special Collections of Leiden University. Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, 9 March 2013 – 30 June 2013.
• Turcksche boucken (Turkish books) from Levinus Warner. A seventeenth century diplomat and book collector in Istanbul. Museum Meermanno, House of the Book, The Hague, 15 December 2012 – 3 March 2013.
• Sweet&Salt. Water and the Dutch. Kunsthal, Rotterdam, 14 February 2012 – 10 June 2012.
• Erwin Olaf: Relief of Leiden. Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal and Leiden University Libraries, Leiden, 29 September 2011 – 8 January 2012.
• In Atmospheric Light. Picturalism in Dutch Photography 1890–1925. Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam, 1 April 2010 – 20 June 2010.
• Photography! A special collection at Leiden University. The Hague Museum of Photography, The Hague, 23 January 2010 – 18 April 2010.
• On route to the Golden Age – Hendrick Goltzius & Jacob de Gheyn II. Limburg Museum, Venlo, 28 November 2009 – 28 February 2010.
• City of Books. Seven Centuries of Reading in Leiden. Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, 22 February 2008 – 1 June 2008.
• Goed gezien. Tien eeuwen wetenschap in handschrift en druk. Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden. 30 October 1987 – 17 January 1988.{{Cite web |url=https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/view/item/1843463 |title=Goed gezien. Tien eeuwen wetenschap in handschrift en druk (1987) |trans-title=Right on the spot. Ten centuries of science in manuscript and print |hdl=1887.1/item:1843463 |website=Leiden University Libraries |access-date=17 April 2025 |editor-first=Ronald |editor-last=Breugelmans |language=nl}}

Furthermore, Leiden University Libraries often serves as lender to exhibitions by museums in The Netherlands and abroad.

• {{Cite book |first=Christiane |last=Berkvens-Stevelinck |title=Magna commoditas : Leiden University's great asset : 425 years library collections and services |publisher=Leiden University Press |translator=UvA Talen, Amsterdam |location=Leiden |date=2012 |isbn=9789087281656 |oclc=794706996 |quote= |chapter= |editor-first1= |editor-last1= |language= |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887/21412}} Enlarged and updated edition, full-text online.
• {{Cite book |title=Quaestiones leidenses. Twelve studies on Leiden University Library and its holdings published on the occasion of the quarter-centenary of the university |editor-first1=Christiane |editor-last1=Berkvens-Stevelinck |location=Leiden |publisher=University Library |date=1975 |isbn=90-221-9996-7 |oclc=5124440}}
• {{Cite book |chapter=The Library |first=Elfriede |last=Hulshoff Pol |title=Leiden University in the seventeenth century : an exchange of learning |editor-first1=Th. H. |editor-last1=Lunsingh Scheurleer |editor-first2=G.H.M. |editor-last2=Posthumus Meyjes |editor-first3=Alfred Gustave Herbert |editor-last3=Bachrach |date=1975 |isbn=9789004042674 |oclc=1676723 |pages=394-459 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden}} 496 pages.

• {{in lang|en}} Prophets, Poets and Scholars. The Collections of the Middle Eastern Library of Leiden University. Edited by: Arnoud Vrolijk, Kasper van Ommen, Karin Scheper, Tijmen Baarda. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2024, {{ISBN|9789087284077}}
• {{in lang|nl}} Tot Publijcque Dienst der Studie. Boeken uit de Bibliotheca Thysiana. Redactie: Wim van Anrooij & Paul Hoftijzer. Hilversum: Verloren, 2023. {{ISBN|9789464550030}}
• {{in lang|nl|en}} Self-Reflective. Hendrik & Paula Kerstens. Maartje van den Heuvel (ed.). Zwolle: W Books, 2023. {{ISBN|9789462585577}}
• {{in lang|en}} Maps That Made History. 1000 Years of World History in 100 Old Maps. Martijn Storms (ed.). Tielt: Lannoo, 2022. {{ISBN|978-94-014-8530-2}}
• {{in lang|nl}} Kaarten die geschiedenis schreven. 1000 jaar wereldgeschiedenis in 100 oude kaarten. Martijn Storms (ed.). Tielt: Lannoo, 2022. {{ISBN|978-94-014-8529-6}}
• {{in lang|en}} Books That Made History. 25 Books from Leiden That Changed the World. Edited by: Kasper van Ommen and Garrelt Verhoeven. Leiden: Brill, 2022. {{ISBN|978-90-04-52342-5}}
• {{in lang|nl}} Boeken die geschiedenis schreven. Redactie: Kasper van Ommen & Garrelt Verhoeven. Amsterdam: Athenaeum, 2022. {{ISBN|978-90-253-1479-8}}
• {{in lang|nl}} Kester Freriks & Martijn Storms. Grensverkenningen. Langs oude grenzen in Nederland. Amsterdam: Athenaeum, 2022. {{ISBN|978-90-253-1463-7}}
• {{in lang|nl|en}} Fotografie wordt Kunst. Photo-Secession in Holland 1890–1937. Photography Becomes Art. Photo-Secession in Holland 1890–1937. Concept, image editing and text: Maartje van den Heuvel. Zwolle: WBOOKS in collaboration with Leiden University Libraries, 2019. {{ISBN|978-94-6258-358-0}}
• {{in lang|en}} Voyage of Discovery. Exploring the Collections of the Asian Library at Leiden University. Edited by: Alexander Reeuwijk. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2017. {{ISBN|978-90-8728-274-5}} [http://hdl.handle.net/1887/135796 Digital version]
• {{in lang|en}} Luitgard Mols & Arnoud Vrolijk. Western Arabia in the Leiden Collections. Traces of a Colourful Past. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2016. {{ISBN|978-90-8728-259-2}} [http://hdl.handle.net/1887/45216 Digital version]
• {{in lang|en}} For Study and Delight. Drawings and Prints from Leiden University. Edited by: Jef Schaeps, Elmer Kolfin, Edward Grasman, Nelke Bartelings. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2016. {{ISBN|978-90-8728-241-7}}
• {{in lang|nl}} Leiden viert feest. Hoogtepunten uit een academische collectie. Onder redactie van Jef Schaeps en Jaap van der Ven. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2014. {{ISBN|978-90-8728-220-2}}
• {{in lang|nl|en}} Arnoud Vrolijk, Jan Schmidt & Karin Scheper. Turcksche boucken. De oosterse verzameling van Levinus Warner, Nederlands diplomaat in zeventiende-eeuws Istanbul. The Oriental collection of Levinus Warner, Dutch diplomat in seventeenth-century Istanbul. Eindhoven: Lecturis, 2012. {{ISBN|978-90-70108-93-9}}
• {{in lang|en}} Corien J.M. Vuurman. Nineteenth-century Persia in the Photographs of Albert Hotz. Images from the Hotz Photograph Collection of Leiden University Library, the Netherlands. Rotterdam en Gronsveld: Barjesteh van Waalwijk van Doorn & Co's Uitgeversmaatschappij, 2011. {{ISBN|978-90-5613-000-8}}
• {{in lang|nl|en}} Maartje van den Heuvel, Janrense Boonstra & Jan van Dijk. In atmospherisch licht. Picturalisme in de Nederlandse fotografie 1890–1925. In Atmospheric Light. Picturalism in Dutch Photography 1890–1925. Zwolle: Waanders, 2010. {{ISBN|978-90-400-7686-2}}
• {{in lang|en}} Maartje van den Heuvel & Wim van Sinderen. Photography! A Special Collection at Leiden University. Leiden: Leiden University & the Hague Museum of Photography, 2010. {{ISBN|978-90-89101-91-4}}
• {{in lang|nl}} Fotovoorkeuren. 50 auteurs kiezen een foto uit de collectie van het Leids Prentenkabinet. Onder redactie van Joke Pronk & Tineke de Ruiter. Amsterdam: Voetnoot, 2007. {{ISBN|978-90-78068-15-0}}
• {{in lang|nl}} Bronnen van kennis. Wetenschap, kunst en cultuur in de collecties van de Leidse Universiteitsbibliotheek. Onder redactie van Paul Hoftijzer, Kasper van Ommen, Geert Warnar & Jan Just Witkam. Leiden: Primavera Pers, 2006. {{ISBN|978-90-5997-028-1}}
• {{in lang|nl}} Oostersche weelde. De Oriënt in westerse kunst en cultuur. Met een keuze uit de verzameling van de Leidse Universiteitsbibliotheek. Onder redactie van Jef Schaeps, Kasper van Ommen & Arnoud Vrolijk. Leiden: Primavera Pers, 2005. {{ISBN|978-90-5997-023-6}}
• {{in lang|en}} Hora est! On dissertations. Leiden, 2005. [http://hdl.handle.net/1887/17795 Digital version]
• {{in lang|en}} Jan Oort, astronomer, with contrib. by Jet Katgert-Merkelijn & {{Q|58161949}}. Leiden, 2000. [http://hdl.handle.net/1887/77628 Digital version]
• {{in lang|nl}} Goed gezien. Tien eeuwen wetenschap in handschrift en druk. Eindredactie R. Breugelmans. Leiden 1987. {{ISBN|90-6385-141-3}}
• {{in lang|en}} R. Breugelmans: Leiden imprints 1483–1600 in Leiden University Library and Bibliotheca Thysiana. A short-title catalogue. Nieuwkoop, De Graaf, 1974. {{ISBN|90-6004-341-3}}

• List of libraries in the Netherlands

{{reflist|33em}}

{{commons category}}

• {{Official website |https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/}}

• {{Cite web |url=http://catalogue.leidenuniv.nl/ |title=Leiden University Libraries Catalogue |access-date=22 March 2025 |publisher=Leiden University Library}}
• {{Cite web |url=https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/ |title=Leiden University Libraries Digital Collections |website=digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl |access-date=22 March 2025 |publisher=Leiden University Library}}
• {{Cite web |url=https://collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl/ |title=Leiden University Libraries Collection Guides |website=collectionguides.universiteitleiden.nl/ |access-date=22 March 2025 |publisher=Leiden University Library}}
• {{Cite web |url=https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl |title=Leiden University Scholarly Publications (Repository) |website=scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl |access-date=22 March 2025 |publisher=Leiden University Library}}
• {{Cite web |url=https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/special-collections/scaliger-institute |title=Scaliger Institute |website=library.universiteitleiden.nl |access-date=22 March 2025 |publisher=Leiden University Library}}

• {{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/ubleiden/ |title=Videos from and about Leiden University Libraries |website=youtube.com |access-date=22 March 2025 |publisher=Leiden University Library}}

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{{Leiden University}}

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Category:Leiden University

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Category:Archives in the Netherlands

Category:1587 establishments in Europe

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Category:1575 in literature

Category:Educational organizations established in the 1570s

Category:Libraries established in the 16th century