Université Libre de Bruxelles - département des Archives

The creation of the Archives Service in 1967 inaugurated the first service of its kind in a Belgian university. The service gathers the administrative documentation of the university and any document likely to shed light on the history of the institution, from any aspect whatsoever. As a research centre for the history of the ULB, the service was set up with a Scientific Commission for the archives, composed of the Rector, delegates from the various faculties, schools and institutes, the Director of Libraries and the University Archivist. As André Uyttebrouck writes, the service's beginnings were heroic... without troops and without premises. It was not until 1970 that the department had offices, shops and a reading room. However, with only 1,500 linear metres of storage space, the lack of space was quickly felt and in 1979, new premises with a capacity of 3,000 linear metres were opened.

In addition to the sources on the history of the University, the Archives also have a library containing everything that is written on the history of the University, but also on other universities in Belgium and around the world. The Archives Service also publishes various publications on the history of the University and participates in or organises exhibitions at the ULB or elsewhere.

After the Université libre de Bruxelles acquired a scanning book scanner (Digibook) in 2005, the Libraries embarked on a programme to digitise some of the books in their collections. The Fonds Jeanne Pierre has provided financial support for this project.

The aim of the Digibook is to digitise works from the ULB libraries, most of which are free of copyright, degraded, still widely consulted and/or of great intellectual value, and which are no longer published; since 16 November 2005, digital copies of these works have been progressively made available to users free of charge via the ULB catalogue and the Digibook website.

This project allows old works that have become inaccessible to be consulted again while preserving the originals. In order to improve the accessibility of documentary resources for teaching and research, the digital copies can be read online, freely and without charge.

Since July 2013, following the acquisition of a scanner (Fujitsu), the Digitale has undertaken a larger project (approximately 10,000 volumes): the digitisation of theses defended at the ULB since its foundation and kept in the libraries.

The objectives of this digitisation are multiple: to free up storage space and, by a communicating effect, to offer more working space for library users and to improve the accessibility and visibility of ULB's scientific research.

To date, the theses have been almost completely digitised and digitised, which makes it possible to search the text by keyword. They are accessible in DI-fusion, the ULB's institutional repository, in compliance with copyright law.

The Archives of the Free University of Brussels collect and preserve all official, administrative and historical records of the University, the personal archives of members of the university as well as those of student movements.

The online Catalog of the archive provides access to descriptions of the collections of the Archives of the ULB. http://www.pallas.be/pls/opac/plsp.getplsdoc?lan=F&htdoc=general/opac_ulb.htm