Welcome to our reading room
Up to 150 people per day
In our reading room, visitors can consult collection pieces, explore digital databases and apply for reproductions. Normally, during our busiest times, we receive up to 150 visitors per day. Each one with their own wishes and projects. Marie-Charlotte and the reading room team are available to help everyone whilst keeping the silence in the reading room.
Consulting vulnerable works
Physically consulting an item from our collection is not the same as lending a book from your local public library. Our collection is very fragile, that is why we help the visitors in the reading room to request works from the warehouse and to consult them carefully. We give protective, supportive cushions to those who want to consult older works to avoid the possibility of damage.
Leading people to the collection
Searching in the catalogues
Visitors can find the right information through our catalogues. These have existed much longer than Google, so searches feel less intuitive. That is why we help people familiarise themselves with our tools and to determine the right research strategy. Especially for those for whom it is the first time, advice is not a luxury.
Ongoing optimisation
Popular search engines have made us look for information differently. Our systems are not yet equipped for this new way of searching. Because of that, we keep developing and optimising so that the catalogues are easier and more intuitive to look through.
Workshops and introductions
We offer custom-made workshops for students and instructors of colleges and universities, ranging from introductory visits for first-years to show & tells, in which the collection and research are constantly connected. Our experts will look for the right collection pieces for your study orientation that also correspond to the wishes of the lecturer. Marie-Charlotte coordinates the offers of this format.
Our collection inspires
Our collection is invaluable for a lot of authors and creative minds. They conduct research with us to shape their books. Think of Geert Buelens for his climate book Wat we toen al wisten or Regula Ysewijn for her baking book called Van Wafel tot Koek. But how do you start researching? What makes your research original and relevant? The Heritage Library helps her members further develop their research skills. Marie-Charlotte and her team are your first points of contact and will help you through your search in our collection.
Online services
Questions via mail
More and more researchers are finding their way to the Heritage Library. Each day, we get questions via mail (consciencebibliotheek@antwerpen.be). These range from member registrations to requests to scan works and even small or large research projects. With her ample experience within the Heritage Library Hendrik Conscience, Marie-Charlotte manages the general mailbox along with the team. This way questions of readers, researchers and other users can quickly be answered by the right colleagues.
Online reader services
We continue to work on the further optimisation of the online reader services. The Heritage Library has on average 3.600 active members (primarily students), and that number keeps growing with every year. Since 2020, there is a free scan service exclusively for our members if they need a magazine article or a chapter from a book.
Interest in old news
Our highlights are the historical newspapers
We have enormous newspaper collections. The preservation and management of newspapers require a specific expertise, because the material of our newspapers is so thin and vulnerable. That is why the big media corporations reject their own archives. In the Heritage Library Hendrik Conscience, they are preserved in ideal circumstances.
Contact our reader services
The Heritage Library is always at your service. Ask Marie-Charlotte and the team all your question about reader services, public and research, they are happy to help.
Marie-Charlotte Le Bailly
- Has worked here since January 2019
- She studied and wrote her PhD on mediaeval history
- Specialisation: old prints, history of the Low Countries, legal history (15th-18th century)
- Expert in the usage of juridical sources for historical research
- Fluently speaks French, English and Italian
- Contact: marie-charlotte.lebailly@antwerpen.be | 03/338.87.62 | LinkedIn
