Last July Robbert Dijkgraaf, Minister of Education, Culture and Science and Annetje Ottow, President of Leiden University's Executive Board, opened the new front office of the Leiden University office in Jakarta. The office - located on the grounds of the Dutch embassy - has a dual role. Firstly, it functions as a support centre for the Leiden University Libraries (UBL), where local staff purchase, catalogue and sometimes digitise new publications before they are sent to Leiden. In addition, the office also represents Leiden University in Indonesia, collaborates with our Indonesian partners and supports both student recruitment and Leiden researchers.
After a thorough renovation, part of the office was transformed into a representative reception room and now also houses the library of the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV).
At the opening, Director Marrik Bellen gave a short presentation about the activities of the office with regard to the library acquisition and representation for Leiden University. After the presentation, Annetje Ottow signed an agreement with the head of the Indonesian National Archives for cooperation in the field of staff training, digitisation of collections and the joint submission of Memory of the World applications. This was followed by the official opening of the front office by signing of a plaque by Dijkgraaf and Ottow.
The Indonesian media paid a lot of attention to the opening: "With the inauguration of the KITLV-Jakarta Front Office and the Leiden University Office in Indonesia, now visitors can visit to obtain information about Leiden University Library collections, several collections of resources stored at KITLV-Jakarta, and also about Leiden University and the study programs offered." (Kaldera News).
