Library Services

The NIAS library (B3.02B, next to the Collaborative Room) is freely accessible for fellows and KNAW staff members during the opening hours of the building. The library houses a collection of works by NIAS alums. A large reading table with (digital) newspapers is at your disposal.

NIAS fellows can borrow books from both the NIAS library, as well as from other university and public libraries through interlibrary loan. Interlibrary loans are not free, but NIAS covers the costs incurred directly, within reasonable limits.

Our librarian (Erwin) is present on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 09.00 to 12.30 and is looking forward to seeing and assisting you.

• You can request as many physical books or articles as you need.
• The librarian will arrange for the materials to be made available on location.
• If you want to return a book and no one is in, please leave the book(s) on his desk.
• It is also possible to make requests for e-books, or specific chapters of e-books.
• Please feel free to use the library as a place to relax when you need a change of scenery!

For all your questions about library resources, including requests for publications which cannot be found in our own library collection, please send an email to library@nias.knaw.nl.

The NIAS library collection is searchable through https://bibliotheek.meertens.knaw.nl/.

If you want to search in all Dutch (university) library catalogues at once, please use https://picarta.on.worldcat.org/discovery.

Please send an email to library@nias.knaw.nl when you want to make a request for a publication you need.

Interlibrary loan books can be picked up in the library (on the shelf near the exit of the library). If you make a request for an article or book chapter, you will receive a pdf.

The NIAS library collection mainly covers the humanities and social sciences and is made up of publications by NIAS fellows, written as part of their project at NIAS. The librarian works part-time, but will handle your requests as soon as he is available.

Books available in open access may be found through JSTOR, Project Muse, OAPEN, Open Research Library and the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB).

Your NIAS-KNAW account offers you full access to a growing number of scientific journals from (among others) Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Sage, Taylor & Francis, Wiley. Please inquire with our staff about the complete publisher and title list. All relevant titles are accessible by logging in with your NIAS-KNAW credentials.

To check if there is a free version of a specific journal article, you can install Unpaywall. Unpaywall is a free browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that helps you read research papers for free. Whenever you visit a journal article’s landing page, Unpaywall automatically searches for open access versions of the article. A little tab appears on the right side of your screen to let you know Unpaywall is working. If this tab is green, an open version is available. If you click on the tab, you immediately access the article.

Journals available in open access can be found in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).