The RWI library holds one of Europe’s largest and most current collections of international law with a focus on human rights, which consists of 30,000 titles, mainly in English and Swedish, and a vast number of electronic resources.
The library is part of Lund University Libraries, which offer a wide range of systems and tools. The library also carries out, in collaboration with the Faculty of Law, training for students in how to best use special and relevant databases related to human rights.
It is a reference library with 27 study places and five computers. It also features a study room for conversation and discussion.
NEW LIBRARIAN! Meet our new Librarian Victoria!
Our library is the only library in Sweden that focuses on human rights, which also puts it in a unique position when it comes to the collection’s breadth and depth. The collection has been built up over more than three decades, so there is also a large amount of unique material at the library. This material is hard to find in the rest of Europe and even more rare in the Nordic countries.
The library also fulfills a role as a national resource for human rights research and dissemination by sending interlibrary loans to libraries in Sweden and other Nordic countries and receiving questions from all over the country.
By focusing on one subject, the staff also has had the opportunity to acquire the specialised expertise in this particular field of study, with in-depth knowledge of current publications and open and commercial databases in the field.
The library is the only library in Sweden, and the library in the Nordic region with by far the longest experience in, conducting international library support work. The library is at the crossing point between practice and research. This brings about a high level of understanding of the system of human rights and how they are implemented in developing countries, as well as an expertise in how the teaching about human rights material can be conducted in the most efficient manner.
The Library’s Mission
The Raoul Wallenberg Institute’s human rights library’s mission is to facilitate research and to disseminate knowledge of human rights by providing access to up-to-date and relevant information and literature within the field of human rights and humanitarian law.
Developing Human Rights Libraries
RWI has found library support activities of high importance to achieve greater effects of and sustain other capacity development initiatives. Under the scope of RWI’s international programmes the library supports the development of human rights libraries around the world.
Together with local actors we have helped develop human rights libraries in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Laos, and Belarus and more.
RWI’s experiences in this respect have been collected in the publication ‘Developing a Human Rights Library’. This 130-page resource covers a vast amount of material, from an introduction to basic human rights and the role the human rights library can play to more detailed chapters on how to search for human rights material, acquire materials for the library and use open source resources to the benefit of users.
Read more here: Developing a Human Rights Library and Library Support note
What We Wish To Achieve at the Library
- Create an academic environment that is stimulating, motivating and enriching
- Promote the use of the Library as a research and learning tool
- Create an outward-looking, user-friendly range of services
- Identify and provide access to all forms of information and literature for researchers, teachers, course participants, students, and staff at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute
- Ensure that the books and periodicals selected and managed by the Library are relevant, support the course curricula and meet users’ need
- Play an active role in teaching and research activities and facilitate learning, equipping users with information retrieval skills and providing a supportive library environment
- Develop good working relations with other libraries
- Support to Libraries
The library depends on continued support to keep the specialised collection updated, to develop and share new digital material, to host staff to support students and researchers, as well as keeping a physical library in Lund, Sweden. Learn more and get involved.