I. Program Information

Middle Eastern studies have been part of the University of Pennsylvania curriculum for more than two hundred years. The first professorship of Arabic in the United States was established here in 1782, and a professorship in Semitics was set up in 1891. By 1907 Penn was offering a rich program, consisting of Arabic, Aramaic, Ethiopic, Hebrew, and Syriac, with Coptic and Egyptian added in 1910, and the Iranian languages and Turkish in 1915. The program of study was largely historical and philological and was centered in the Department of Oriental Studies which later became the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. The details of this history can be found in Cyrus H. Gordon's The Pennsylvania Tradition of Semitics: A Century of Near Eastern and Biblical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986). In 1965 the Middle East Center was established at Penn to promote the study of the modern Middle East, encourage Middle Eastern studies in a larger number of academic departments, and facilitate the flow of information about the Middle East throughout the university community and beyond. More than 30 academic programs and departments at Penn have faculty and students pursuing research related to the study of the Middle East.

II. Collection Description

The Middle East collection consists of materials in both Middle Eastern and Western languages, shelved together by subject and dispersed throughout the library system. In 2001 the vernacular component of the collection comprised approximately 54,500 catalogued volumes in Arabic, 9,000 volumes in Persian, 7000 volumes in Turkish, 1,400 volumes in Armenian, and about a hundred volumes altogether in Azeri, Kazakh, Kurdish, Tajik, Uighur, and Uzbek. The Western-language component cannot be isolated and counted. The most important periodicals in Arabic, Persian and Turkish are collected. Most of the collection, including materials on Islamic and civil law, is housed in Van Pelt; most Western-language materials on art and architecture are in the Fisher Fine Arts Library; materials on anthropology are in the Museum Library. The Middle East Seminar room on the fifth floor of Van Pelt houses a collection of reference materials and basic sources in both Western and Middle Eastern languages. The collection has been built up largely since 1965, but Penn's long commitment to Arabic and Islamic studies is represented by a large number of rare nineteenth- and early twentieth-century works by noted European Orientalists and by the presence of numerous texts in Arabic, Persian and Ottoman Turkish printed during the same period. The Special Collections Department houses 26 Arabic manuscripts and one Persian manuscript. The strength of the collection lies in Islamic scriptures including commentaries on the Koran and prophetic traditions, Islamic law, the medieval and modern history of the Arab world and Iran, and the classical and modern literatures of the Arabic-speaking world (with an emphasis on Egypt and the eastern Arab countries), Iran, and to a lesser degree, Turkey. Holdings on Islamic Central Asia are modest. Since the early 1990s holdings on contemporary political, antropological and sociological aspects of the Middle East have inreased steadily.

III. Guidelines for Collection Development

1. Chronological

   From the rise of Islam to the present day. Particular emphasis is placed on both medieval and contemporary Islam and Middle Eastern societies and on works pertaining to literature and history in the modern period.

2. Formats

   Books, journals, newspapers and digital media. Documentary films and fiction movies are acquired selectively. When necessary, microfilm versions are collected.

3. Geographical

   From North Africa east through Central Asia, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan.

4. Language

   Primarily Arabic, followed by Persian and Turkish. Materials in Turkish dialects are selectively acquired. Materials in English and French published in the geographical areas covered are acquired when consistent with the subject profile.

5. Publication Dates

   The library's acquisition activities focus on recent Middle Eastern imprints. When the opportunity arises, retrospective materials, either in hard copy or on microfilm, are added.

IV. Principal Sources of Supply and major Selection Tools

Until recently the library participated in an approval plan with its vendors. At present, title by title selction is made until profiles are updated.

A.Arabic books and Western-language imprints from the Arabic-speaking world:

The library's longest-standing approval plan was with Sulaiman's Bookshop in Beirut, Lebanon. Through this source, current imprints from Syria, Jordan,Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq were acquired. For imprints from Egypt, the Sudan, and Libya, an approval plan was established with Leila Books in Cairo,Egypt in 1994. Another recent vendor relationship was with Dar Mahjar, located in Watertown, Mass. Books from Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria are acquired through this vendor on both an approval and firm-order basis.

B.Persian books:

An approval plan was in place with Mazda Books in California. Title-by-title selection is also made from lists provided by other vendors.

C.Turkish books:

An approval plan was in place with Isis Books in Istanbul, Turkey, supplemented by title-by-title selection from this and other vendors' catalogs.

Vendors' catalogs and lists are a primary selection tool, supplemented by use of the RLIN database, information gleaned from internet lists related to Middle East studies, faculty and student recommendations, and scholarly publications in the field.

V. Subjects Collected and Levels of Collecting

 

The values below apply to the vernacular-language component of the collection.
However they may also be regarded as general indicators of the strength and
emphasis of the Western-language component.

Subjects Collected                    Levels of Collecting
-------------------------------       --------------------
Anthropology                          3F/3F
Economics                             3E/3F
Education                             2E/2F
History                                    
   Islamic/Medieval                   4F/4F
   Egypt/Lebanon/Syria                4F/4F
   North Africa                       2F/3F/4F
   Iraq and the Gulf States           3F/0/4F
   Iran                               3F/3F/4F
   Modern                             3F/3F/4F
Islam                                 4F/4F
Islamic Art/Architecture              3F/3F/4F
Islamic Law                           4F/4F
Language & Literature
   Arabic (Modern)                    3F/3F/4F
   Arabic (Classical)                 4F/4F
   Armenian                           2Y/1Y
   Central Asian                      2Y/1Y
   Persian                            3Y/3Y/4Y
   Turkish                            3Y/3Y
Law (Civil)                           2F/2F
Political Science                     3F/3F
Sociology                             3F/3F

VI. Subjects Excluded

The library does not routinely collect the following subject areas and types of material: children's literature, popular religious material, technology, business/finance, applied sciences, cookbooks, translations into Arabic, Persian or Turkish from Western languages, general encyclopedias, agriculture, geography, civil law, medicine, and reprints of earlier editions without significant added materials.

VII. Cooperative Arrangements and Related Collections

Penn is located near several large Middle East studies collections, most notably those of Princeton, New York University, Columbia University, Yale and the New York Public Library. Works from the Columbia and Yale University Libraries may be borrowed through Borrow Direct, if not held at Penn.