Middle Eastern Resources in American Research Libraries

Extract

This paper does not purport to deal with western language publications about the Middle East, and the reason for excluding them from our analysis is because they are bibliographically well identifiable and controllable and physically both available and easily accessible. By contrast, publications in Arabic, Persian and Turkish are on the whole relatively unknown even to the scholars, let alone the students, and, when available, are not easily accessible. Thus, a differentiating characteristic of western language materials on the Middle East is their “knowability.” They are known to us through a variety of bibliographical sources, national and otherwise, as well as through library catalogs. Furthermore, they are not only well organized but also easily organizable. Bibliographers and other librarians who can work with them and process them are available, and more are being trained every year.