Forbidden areas on campus: the special collections in the library

Do you think you know the campus well? Think again! It’s full of hidden and forbidden places no student ever visits. In part one of this new series: the climate-controlled part of the library that houses rare and fragile books.

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A noticeable drop in temperature and the light sound of air conditioning: this is the first impression when entering the room hidden in the university library that holds the special collections of books. While hundreds of students study in the library every day, only a few know about its existence on campus. The special collections hold thousands of historically relevant, rare, and fragile books that all have a connection to the Netherlands, its citizens, or the city of Rotterdam.

Roman Koot is in charge of the library’s special collection. He is not only responsible for maintaining the collection and one of the few people who have access to it, but he also has significant influence in selecting the books that make it into it.

Supervised reading

One of his favourites is a book about the travels of Dutch painter Cornelis de Bruijn from 1689. He leafs through the book to show a panoramic print of the author’s depiction of the city of Jerusalem: “Jerusalem was part of the Ottoman Empire, and at that time it was forbidden to capture the city. He did so anyway and fortunately returned to the Netherlands with it. It’s a fine example of historical accuracy, but also of artistic quality.”

While the thousands of books are securely stored within the hidden part of the library, there are ways for students to access them. It is not allowed to take books home, but there is a reading room where people can view specific books under supervision, after prior agreement with the library. All of the books are catalogued, which is a continuous process. Koot: “We are still collecting, so there is no end to that!”