University of Groningen Library celebrates its 405th birthday

Half a year after the foundation of the Academia in Groningen in 1614, a library was also founded. The foundation took place on 28 February 1615. Over half a year after the anniversary celebrations of the UG, the University Library (UB) is now also celebrating its 405th birthday. We will celebrate this anniversary with several festivities at the UB City Centre (Broerstraat 4), which will be open for our students and staff, and for the residents of the city of Groningen.

Thursday 27 February: UBstairs music and comedy festival

The entire UB City Centre will turn into a festival ground from 6 p.m. till midnight on this Thursday! On the staircases, in the coffee corners, in the lecture hall and even in the elevators: you will hear music, laugh with comedians, listen to poets and be surprised by special acts all over the building on this evening.

Friday 6 March: Open Day

Did you know that the UB City Centre has a big repository of around 2.5 million books in total, spanning two storeys? Or that we have a Special Collections department, where the treasures of the University Library are stored? Have you always wanted to see how returned books are transported to their correct locations via an automated filing system?

Visit the Open Day from 12 – 5 p.m. and take a look behind the scenes! Besides guided tours in Dutch and in English, there will also be lectures, activities for kids, a “hat-on-hat-off” quiz and so-called layperson talks, in which PhD students explain their theses to an audience of laypeople in 15 minutes.

And...
There will be a lot on display in the UB City Centre during the whole period of anniversary celebration

Exhibition: ‘Beacons in the countryside’

• Fifty years of campaigning for old churches in Groningen. In the display cases on the third floor and in all coffee corners

Exhibition: ‘UB405: historical images’

• Photographs and objects from the UB’s history. Staircases, fourth floor

‘Lost & Found 2020: is this yours…?’

• A selection from the hundreds of objects that were left in UB City Centre during 2019. Ground floor

More information

UB City Centre
Broerstraat 4
9712 CP Groningen
Email: communicatie-bibliotheek rug.nl