During this collaboration students scrutinised the library’s comprehensive catalogue of alba amicorum and created new, compelling narratives that link the friendship books to contemporary urgencies. Text and image contributions by students covered topics like privilege, gender discrimination, colonialism and institutional archiving practices.

A first copy of “How Would You Like To Get Lampooned, My Lord?” was handed over by Niels Schrader (Head of Programme, NLN) and Rianne Koning (Coordinator Public Programming, KB) to Fenna Hup, Deputy-Director of Education of the KABK. Furthermore, the evening programme included short drawing sessions of living alba portraits by Julija Panova, the cutting of a delicious alba cake and a live performance by Kami Million.

Printing of the publication was carried out by Robstolk, Amsterdam.

The following students participated: Lisette Alberti, Lode Dijkers, Leonie Gores, Daniel Gremme, Shouyi He, Alicja Konkol, Eszter Nagy, Camille de Noray, Julija Panova, and Karolina Uskakovych.

The project was supervised by: Linda van Deursen, Mijke van der Drift, Rianne Koning, Katrin Korfmann, Niels Schrader, and Jeroen Vandommele.

Please send an email to the coordinator Hannah Cheney, to order a copy of the book.

The National Library was established in 1798 with the goal to preserve all texts – whether printed, digital or handwritten – that make up the cultural heritage of the Netherlands. It organises events and conferences on a regular basis to make its knowledge and expertise publicly accessible. The collection of alba amicorum is by far the largest in this field.

The projects are funded by Creative Europe – Open Digital Libraries (ODL) consortium. 'Books Make Friends' is a follow-up to the collaboration with I/M/D department and the 'Friends from the Past' collaboration project with IAFD department.