Organisation and structure of NINO

Structure of NINO: components

Library and library collections

The NINO Near Eastern Library is curated by Leiden University Libraries (UBL). Our two Subject Librarians and one Document Processing & Metadata Staff Member are permanent UBL staff. Our library collections function as part of UBL’s Middle Eastern Library (MEL), which has its reading room in the Herta Mohr building.

The NINO library collections are given on loan to Leiden University Libraries. As of 2018, new acquisitions are shared property between NINO and UBL.

Research centre with collections and archives

The NINO Research Centre is part of the Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS), Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University. Our Director is a staff member of LIAS; the directorship is a rotating position. Our Secretary and Publications Officer is a permanent staff member; we regularly employ post docs, student assistants and volunteers for specified periods.

We offer several funding opportunities for students and scholars in studies of the Near East incl. Egypt. Applications are reviewed by our Academic Committee, a dedicated search committee (post doc positions) or jury (Thesis Prizes, Jaarprijs Cuijpers-Opdenakker), and/or the Director. As staff members of the NINO Research Centre, the Director and Secretary execute the decisions taken by the Committee; they have an advisory role in the meetings. In addition to evaluating applications, the Academic Committee may advise on matters of scientific policy of the NINO Research Centre.

The Centre is the editorial office for all NINO publications, which are published by Peeters, Leuven. Authors may contact the various Editorial Boards directly or through Editorial Secretary Carolien van Zoest. Sales, subscriptions, and online access is handled by Peeters.

NINO’s collection of cuneiform inscriptions and related antiquities, the Böhl Collection, is curated in cooperation with the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO). A number of highlights from the collection is on display in its permanent exhibition. The cuneiform tablets and seals are on loan to UBL, and are available for research and study in the UBL Special Collections Reading Room.

NINO’s archives (including Böhl papers, Institute archives, De Buck Archive) and collections (including Böhl Collection, glass slides collection) have been given on loan to UBL, and are available for research in the UBL Special Collections Reading Room.

Foundation NINO

The owner of NINO’s collections (library, antiquities, and archival collections) and publications is the Foundation NINO. The Foundation, established 1939, is governed by a Board of Governors which acts as advisory board to the Research Centre.

The Foundation NINO is a “Public Benefit Organisation” (ANBI) under Dutch law. View information relevant to the foundation's ANBI status.

History

The Netherlands Institute for the Near East was founded in 1939. It created its subsidiary institute The Netherlands Institute in Turkey (in Istanbul) in 1958.

As of January 2018 the Foundation NINO entered into a close cooperation agreement with Leiden University and the National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden. As a consequence,

• the NINO Research Centre started functioning as a part of LIAS at LU’s Faculty of Humanities, located in the Herta Mohr Building,
• the NINO Library collections were given on permanent loan and integrated into UBL’s Middle Eastern Library, located in the Herta Mohr Building,
• NINO’s collections and archives were given on permanent loan to UBL and RMO for improved accessibility,
• NIT was separately embedded into LIAS at LU’s Faculty of Humanities, continuing its activities in Istanbul.

More on the history of NINO can be read in our jubilee publication “Waar de geschiedenis begon” (2014), pp. 3-29.