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Our collections
Collections
The University Library offers a wide range of paper and electronic collections:
- physical collections of printed books and journals, CD's and CD-roms, video's and DVD's, maps, musical scores, microfilms, etc.;
- databases, e-books and e-journals;
- books and articles in Lirias, the digital repository of scientific publications from K.U.Leuven staff;
- electronic publications indexed in Primo Central, an index of hundreds of millions of articles and (chapters from) e-books based on data from publishers and providers and uploaded from open-access repositories.
These collections are principally aimed at the scientific domains taught and researched at the university. For a more concrete overview of the collection content, please visit the respective (campus and faculty) library websites.
The University Library has concerned attention regarding the conservation, metadata and digitization of the legacy collections it keeps.
Lirias is also used for the Open Access policy within the University.
Searching our collections
LIMO
LIMO is the search platform through which you can query all the above mentioned K.U.Leuven collections, plus the collections of other LIBISnet-libraries. With one query you can search for and in a variety of document materials: printed and electronic books and journals, audiovisual materials, digital files and other types of sources. Alle search results are presented in one integrated list, as a default ordered by relevance. Via the filter facets on the left hand column you can refine your search results (e.g. limit to K.U.Leuven libraries).
The Primo Central-index at the moment already covers numerous e-journal collections and databases to which the University Library has a subscription or license, or which are freely available. Primo Central is still a work in progress, though: content quantity increases monthly. An up-to-date overview of alle indexed sources, as well as a selection of important sources not yet searchable in Primo Central (and thus Limo), is available here.
Link resolver (LibriLinks)
Searching in Limo or on a publishers online platform you may encounter a link to our link resolver LibriLinks, by way of the 
-button or for example the linked text "KULeuven LibriLinks". A link resolver leads you from a bibliographic reference to the full text version of an article. If that is not possible (because K.U.Leuven has no access), it tries to lead you to information on the printed version.
With the CitationLinker you can enter a reference yourself to check whether full text is available within K.U.Leuven.
With the LibriLinks A to Z list you can search or browse (e.g. by subject) for e-journals available with K.U.Leuven.
Cd-rom databases
A selection of databases on cd-rom has been networked via a NetMan server and is available exclusively on the K.U.Leuven intranet. When consulting a database of this type for the first time, you need to install a web clien. See: installation procedure Netman RDP web client (not on Mac or Linux, no remote access).
Search help
Within the University Library a fair amount of Tutorials/FAQ's/manuals are offered.
For K.U.Leuven staff there are regular info sessions on the use of e-sources.
You can always contact the library staff for help in your search queries.
Some libraries offer customized toolbars, enabling you to launch a search at any time during your internet browsing session, and offering up-to-date news from the library.
