YouTube video by CERL – Consortium of European Research Libraries

By Tomás de Brito, Ampersand In June 2025, Ediciones Ampersand became the first special member from South America to join the CERL community. We seize this opportunity to introduce ourselves through this blog entry by delving into the heart of our library: its founding collections. Fig. 1 Main window of the library. © photo, Pablo Cosgaya Before we discuss these matters, it is important to highlight our publishing activities, since the library is inseparable from them.

Dat de academische vrijheid onder druk staat, komt niet door de ‘linkse cancelcultuur’, betogen universitair docent Dick Zijp en universitair hoofddocent Mirko Tobias Schäfer. Zij hekelen de beeldvorm...

By Tomáš Klimek, National Library of the Czech Republic This year marks the 900th anniversary of the death of the first Czech chronicler, Cosmas, who served as dean of the Prague chapter and died in 1125. His life’s work, the Chronicle of the Czechs, written towards the end of his long life, is the earliest known account of Czech history. And without exaggeration, we can say that Cosmas didn’t merely record history – he helped shape it.

Dr Sarah M. Griffin, Curator of Unfolding Time: The Medieval Pocket Calendar From February to May 2025, Lambeth Palace Library hosted Unfolding Time: The Medieval Pocket Calendar.[1] The exhibition brought together a rare and remarkable type of medieval folded book for the first time—the concertina-fold almanac—and set them alongside treasures from Lambeth’s own collection. Folded in a zigzag pattern to form a neat, easily transportable packet of information, their playful form is emphasised by their colourful and almost entirely pictorial content, all of which relates to time.

By Louise Amazan, Daryl Green & Garrelt Verhoeven (IFLA RBSC) Introduction On April 24th 2025 the Standing Committee for Rare Books & Special Collections (RBSC) of IFLA and CERL’s Bookbinding group joined together for a seminar at the Bibliothèque National de France. With the title Médiations du patrimoine en bibliothèque: enjeux et perspectives / Meditations on Libraries and Heritage Collections…

Join us for this celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Sustainable Heritage MSc programme at UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage.

Access electronic legal deposit at partner libraries

By Charlotte Denoël, Head of the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Service, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Manuscripts Department Fig. 1 Fabrique de l'art - home page of the database A new database has recently been put online, "Fabrique de l'art. Couleurs et matériaux de l'enluminure". This database has been produced as part of the research program "La couleur: artefacts, matière et cognition", conducted from 2021 to 2023 with funding from the four-year research plan at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), in partnership with the Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA).

26th February 2025

British Library, Professional Development Programme, Leadership, Strategy and Vision The International Library Leaders Programme as a Networking Platform for Information Specialists By Matthias Reif, Senior Librarian, Bavarian State Library, Munich From 9th to 16th July 2025, the British Library will once again host its acclaimed International Library Leaders Programme.[1] Featuring lectures, group discussions, breakout sessions, and tours, it represents one of the numerous initiatives through which the British Library, as a leading global memory institution, actively promotes knowledge exchange and advances international librarianship.

The News Letter was first published in September 1737.