Your Life Sciences Library
In Wageningen UR Library you find a large collection of scientific literature, especially in the fields of Wageningen UR: life sciences and natural resources.
You can consult the collection in Wageningen UR Digital Library from your desk, or in one of the libraries.
Forum Library
Since 2007, the major part of the Wageningen UR Library collection is housed in the new Forum Library on the Wageningen Campus. The Forum Library is open in the evening and in the weekends.
Click for Opening hours of the Forum Library
If you have questions, please contact Servicedesk.Library@wur.nl.
Click for information about:
Addresses and opening hours
The Library is situated in locations both within and outside Wageningen. You can find the addresses and opening hours in Wageningen UR Digital Library.
There are several work areas with PCs available in each library.
The Library's Service Desk can also assist you in finding the appropriate library. Tel. 0317 484440.
Collection
In consultation with its users, Wageningen UR Library develops and maintains a substantial scientific collection, especially in the areas of interest of Wageningen UR: life sciences and natural resources.
More specifically:
- agrotechnology and food sciences
- plant and animal sciences
- environmental and climate sciences
- social sciences
- and some basic sciences
Special Collections
You will find historical material (before 1850), garden designs and information on landscape architects, together with a collection of aerial photographs taken by the British Royal Air Force during the Second World War in Special Collections.
Our Service Desk will give you more information. Tel. 0317 484440
Searching and finding
Wageningen Digital Library is the access point to both the collection on paper and the electronic collection.The Portals in the Digital Library help you in searching selectively for information in a specific field of interest.
If you are looking for a particular information source, go to the Search page of the Digital Library to see whether Wageningen UR Library offers that source.
The User info & services part of the Digital Library offers you all services you need while using the library, such as borrowing and requesting of items, and courses and self instruction programs. Wageningen UR students and staff can use all electronic resources and journals from home through My Library.
Please contact our Service Desk for more information. Tel. 0317 484440.
Wageningen UR Publications
If you wish to search for a publication by a Wageningen UR member of staff, you can do this directly using Wageningen Yield (WaY).
WaY is a database that contains articles, dissertations, reports, proceedings and books by 'Wageningen' authors. Whenever possible the publication is full text available. If this is not possible however, a description and possibly an abstract of the publication will be available. Data will be inserted in Metis in cooperation with a network of Wageningen UR Staff.
WaY collaborates with the national project SurfShare to develop the Institutional Repositories and to stimulate Open Access. The aim of this project is the national protection and storage of all scientific publications from Dutch universities and research institutions.
Our Service Desk will gladly provide you with more information. Tel. 0317 484440
Publishing support
Wageningen UR Library offers support when publishing information digitally:
- placing publication archives on the Internet. Look at Veeteelt Archief (Animal Husbandry Archive)
- technical final editing (pre-press) and electronic publishing of reports and books. The series Frontis-publications is one example
- the development and management of digital journals, including editorial support and subscription management. Look at the digital journal NJAS.
Our Service Desk can offer you more information. Tel. 0317 484440.
Management of collections
Would you like your collection to be managed professionally?
We can guarantee that your collection remains well managed and is made accessible professionally. This can be done by digitalising the collection or, for example, by cataloguing the collection on site.
If the material is rare or fragile, we can use specialised techniques for both storage and conservation.
Here are some examples of rare collections:
- material by the garden designer Mien Ruys
- collection of Dutch nursery catalogues that are being transferred to microfilm, digitalised and the text made searchable
- collection of aerial photographs taken by the British Royal Air Force during the Second World War, that are being digitalised and made accessible using a Geographic Information System (GIS).
Contact our Service Desk for additional information. Tel. 0317 484440.
Tailor made information
Would you like to have certain information for a specific target group made accessible? Then we can build your portal or knowledge bank. For this purpose we use the data already collected by the Library, but new information can also be included.
Here are a few examples of knowledge banks:
We can also develop a database, enabling you to manage and access collections yourself, e.g. ISRIC – World Soil Information Database.
The most advanced option is for us to develop your own personal virtual library. If you also wish your colleagues to have access to sources of information that require a licence, then we can mediate on your behalf with the publishers concerned.
Our information specialists can advise you on the most suitable choice.
For an appointment please contact our Service Desk. Tel. 0317 484440
Organisation and policy
Mission
Wageningen UR Library is a scientific library with a recognised national task in the field of life sciences. Both natural sciences and social sciences play a role here. By developing and maintaining an outstanding, partly public, knowledge infrastructure, Wageningen UR Library contributes to the effectiveness of the research done and education provided by Wageningen UR.
In this way the Library helps:
- the staff and students of Wageningen UR to find relevant information as efficiently as possible
- the staff to present their expertise clearly
- Wageningen UR to present itself as an internationally leading education and research organisation.
In the newsletter you can read about the activities and developments of the Library.
Here you will find the annual report 2007.
History
The Library originated from the book collection of the agricultural school, which was established in 1873 as a department of the local High School.
After the changeover in 1876 of the Local Agricultural School to the National Agricultural School the collection increased considerably. The 1877 catalogue recorded more than 1,200 titles, 500 of which were described by the geologist and agriculturalist Dr. W.C.H. Staring.
When the collection was first started, its structure typified the further development of the Library: a relatively limited budget for purchasing, many donations and since 1900 a rapid increase in the exchange of books. Between 1917 and 1923, with the establishment of the Agricultural University, the Library's collection of titles was expanded to 180,000. Statistics show that in 1953 there were more than 161,000 titles plus 111,000 in the various locations outside the Central Library. The present collection contains about 600,000 titles and 12,500 journals.
Housing
In 1873 the Library was housed in the Local High School. In 1922 it was relocated to Duivendaal, a suburb of Wageningen. Beneath the Library was a blacksmith's forge and close by a chemistry laboratory resulting in the librarian, van Dokkum, frequently having to warn the authorities of a serious fire hazard.
In post-war years the collection was distributed throughout the Central Library (at that time located behind the Aula) and in libraries belonging to various University Departments.
In 1981 the Central Library was moved to the Jan Kopshuis building on the Generaal Foulkesweg in Wageningen. In recent years, the collection has been concentrated in a few large libraries on different locations. Since July 2007 there are two large locations in Wageningen, The Forum Library and the Leeuwenborch Library, and one small location, the library of the Biosystematics Group.