The collection of lecture notes of KU Leuven Libraries contains more than 200 volumes at the moment. The majority of the manuscripts belongs to Special Collections (almost 200). They constitute one of the most important collections of manuscripts owned by KU Leuven Libraries and are a rich source of information on the history of the University of Leuven, of Leuven and Brabant and of science in the Southern Netherlands. 

The lecture notes give a clear idea on the curricula at the Old University of Leuven. Most of the lecture notes contain subject matter of the Faculty of Arts, where students were enrolled in a preparatory programme for the higher faculties. Next to the forty-something volumes which are not related to a specific institution, there are notes of the four different pedagogies where the Arts curriculum was taught, and also of the higher faculties of Law, Theology and Medicine.

The texts of this exhibition are mainly based on the Ex Cathedra publication (Leuven 2012).