Institute for Globally Engaged Librarianship

Through sustainable and mutually beneficial partnerships with academic libraries worldwide, KU's Institute for Globally Engaged Librarianship (IGEL) promotes knowledge exchange, professional development, innovation, and collaborative research. These efforts enhance academic libraries' collective ability to address global challenges.

Mission

The KU Institute for Globally Engaged Librarianship (IGEL) creates trusted and equitable international relationships among libraries and librarians. We advance university internationalization goals by strengthening KU Libraries' role in discovery, research, and service across cultures and geopolitical borders. Through engagement in the global librarianship community, we empower librarians and institutions to build worldwide academic networks.

Vision

We envision librarianship as a globally interconnected profession that drives the exchange of knowledge, culture, and ideas. Libraries and librarians are central to a worldwide academic network, supporting students, instructors, and researchers through active international partnerships. Our interdisciplinary influence reaches across the university, promoting global academic exchange across diverse fields and communities.

Quick Links

Contact

Brian Rosenblum, Scholarly Digital Initiatives Librarian; Phone: 785-864-8883; Email: brianrosenblum@ku.edu; Office: Watson, 470

Global knowledge, resources, people, and ideas

International Collections

KU Libraries are a strong supporter of international and language studies. For decades, KU librarians and staff have partnered with KU language departments and area studies programs to assemble diverse and unique materials from all over the world in support of research and learning at KU. The collections consist of over 1.5 million volumes and electronic objects and is known for its regional strengths for Africa, East Asia, Latin America, Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.

International Collections at KU

Special Collections

Spencer Research Library contains a wide range of rare books and manuscripts. Its primary charge is the collection and preservation of original sources for use by students and scholars of the humanities, the history of science, and the history of the book. The department contains around 500,000 items from the antiquity to the present. The major regions covered are Britain, Europe, Latin America, and the U.S. In addition to physical and digital collections, Spencer Research Library hosts regular consul visits, traveling scholars and exhibits.

Spencer Research Library

Digital Humanities

The Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities aims to build a flourishing environment for innovative exploration at the intersection of digital technology and humanities research. The IDRH is a partnership between KU Libraries, The Hall Center for the Humanities, and The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. As a community of researchers, they are dedicated to openness and collaboration across disciplinary and institutional boundaries.

IDRH Home

Connection to the World

The University of Kansas is committed to enhancing global learning opportunities for students. KU is one of only 13 universities in the country to have four or more federally funded centers dedicated to international area studies - Center for East Asian Studies, Kansas African Studies Center, Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. KU supports more than 1,700 international students from 117 countries.

Center for Global & International Studies

KU Libraries will be acting on a global platform. Where the world goes, the University of Kansas goes. Where the University of Kansas goes, KU Libraries must also go ... KU Libraries will be actively cultivating sister academic library relationships with similarly focused research institutions across the globe, and engaging in international library collaborations with them, in support of the world’s grand challenges.

Carol Smith

Dean of KU Libraries

Partner with Us Globally

Connect with the IGEL team at KU Libraries

Email Brian Rosenblum

A link to the global south

If shouting was allowed on Watson Library’s fourth and fifth floors, it’s feasible that Brian Rosenblum in the Institute for Digital Research in Humanities (IDRH) could be hailed from upstairs by Kodjo Atiso in International Collections, yet their first professional collaboration took place nearly 6,000 miles from campus, in Accra, Ghana. The serendipitous connection was the highlight of several KU Libraries’ efforts over the last year to shrink the distance between the U.S. Midwest and West Africa.