Since the end of January 2018 the Law Library of the Leiden Law School holds one of the largest collections on insolvency (bankruptcy) law in Europe. A large portion of it contains the private library that I have been building up in over thirty years, since the early 1980s till 2016. From 2007 to 2014 I was a professor of international insolvency law at the University of Leiden. I have donated a large part of my privately held library (around 30 meters of books, reports, etc.) to the Stichting (Foundation) Bob Wessels Insolvency Law Collection.
The statutory object of the Foundation is to promote the interest and knowledge of international and comparative restructuring and insolvency law and to maintain and manage the library and to promote worldwide access to it. The Foundation aims among other things, to hold public meetings and lectures, to organise courses, initiating initiatives and publishing and distributing publications. In addition, it strives to make the collection available via easy accessible, openly licensed text and other digital assets that are useful for teaching, learning, and assessing for research purposes.
Donations and contributions from third parties will support the Foundation in reaching its goals. For Dutch tax purposes the Foundation is a public benefit institution (in the meaning of Dutch ANBI legislation).
Its board members are
- Prof. Matthias Haentjens, Professor of Financial Law, Leiden Law School, chair
- Prof. Eric Dirix, Leuven, Judge Supreme Court; Professor of Private law, University of Leuven, Belgium
- Prof. Ian F. Fletcher, Q.C. (hon.), Em. Professor of International Commercial Law, University College London, United Kingdom
- Prof. Stephan Madaus, Professor of Civil Law, Civil Procedure and Insolvency Law, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany
- Prof. Reinout D. Vriesendorp, Professor of Insolvency Law, Law Leiden Law School, secretary/treasurer.
In turn, the greater part of the collection has been entrusted by the Foundation to the Leiden Law School Library. The latter will act as a prudent custodian, including activities such as conservation, having the collection catalogued, and making it available for consultation and research for the users of the Law School’s library.
On 26 January 2018 the official opening (symbolical, by un-flagging a show glass) of the insolvency law collection took place, by Law School dean professor Joanna van der Leun and the chairman of the Foundation, professor Matthias Haentjens. With gratitude I was able to say some words of thanks for all the effots made by everyone to have to insolvency law collection now professionaly availabe in one of the top libraries in Europe.
The Foundation can be reached via its secretary/treasurer professor Vriesendorp, r.d.vriesendorp@law.leidenuniv.nl.