Librarians Utilization of the Comprehensive Online Union Catalogue of Serials from and about the Middle East: Online Access for Consolidated Information on Serials (OACIS) Middle East Medievalists Middle East Studies Association November 17, 2007 Montreal Canada Presentation by Simon Samoeil OACIS Project Manager, Yale University

Project Details Collaborative database project for Middle Eastern serials. Three-year project ( ); U.S. Dept. of Education Title VI grant under the “Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information Access” with matching funds from Yale University Library.

Review of goals To create a freely available, publicly accessible web site featuring a continuously updated union list of Middle Eastern serials –In all formats (including live web links) –From 24 countries (ME as defined by LC) To lay foundations for the future, delivering widest possible information access –Expanded cooperation and participation –Document delivery/ILL –Digitization and preservation To create a Union List of Middle East Serials Interns

Atef al-Jundi, Jordan University, Amman, Jordan. April 30, July 30, 2004 Adib Khoury, Tishreen University, Latakia, Syria July 30, October 29, 2004 Mohammed Ismail El-Halosy, Alexandrina Library, Alexandria, Egypt April 29, June 3, 2005 Shenoda Guirguis, Alexandrina Library, Alexandria, Egypt May 31, June 30, 2005 Randa al-Chidiac, Balamand University, Balamand, Lebanon June 29, July 29, 2005

OACIS Advisory Board Alexandrina Library, Alexandria, Egypt Cornell University Ohio State University Universitaets-und Landesbibliothek of Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle, Germany University of Pennsylvania University of Michigan University of Texas University of Washington Yale University

Universities Participating in OACIS New York Public Library New York University Princeton University Stanford University University of Arizona, Tucson University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Harvard University Library University of Utah University of California, Los Angeles Yale Law School American University of Beirut Tishreen University, Latakia, Syria Jordan University, Amman, Jordan American University in Cairo School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK University of Balamand, Lebanon

OACIS for the Middle East Mirror Sites

Basic Search by Title

Search By Title

Libraries ’ Holdings of the Title

Brief Record

Long View

Library View

Advanced Search (1)

Advanced Search (2)

Search by Different Languages Option

Search in Arabic Language (1)

Search in Arabic Language (2) by Title

Search in Arabic Language (3) Results

Search in Arabic Language (4) Results

Search in Arabic Language (5) Results Library View

Place of Publication by Selected Library Search

Additional Benefits of OACIS for Librarians and Researchers Collection development. Librarians can evaluate the ME serials collection in their own libraries: what they have and what they don’t in comparison to other libraries Making sound acquisition decisions Knowing of certain serials are current or have ceased publication Cataloging using the “Library View Format”

Place of Publication by Selected Library Result

Al- ’ Usur al-Wusta

Libraries ’ Holdings of the Title

Brief Record

OACIS Data Delivery Activity August 2007 LibraryTitles 1 Holdings 2 Last Activity 1American University of Beirut /24/2006 2Bibliotheca Alexandriana /20/2007 3Cornell /4/2007 4Harvard Univerity /22/2007 5Michigan /12/2007 6New York Public Library /19/2006 7New York University /9/2007 8Ohio State /3/2007 9Pennsylvania /31/ Princeton /15/ SOAS /1/ = count of 245 fields; 2 = count of 852 fields

OACIS Data Delivery Activity August 2007 (continued) LibraryTitlesHoldingsLast Activity 12Stanford University /13/ Texas at Austin /28/ Tishreen University /1/ Tuebingen5 16UCLA ULB Sachsen-Anhalt Halle /22/ University of Arizona815011/17/ University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign /11/ University of Jordan /1/ University of Utah /30/ Washington /9/ Yale /13/ Yale Law School12 5/15/2007 Total

AMEEL (Arabic and Middle Eastern Electronic Library Middle East Medievalists Middle East Studies Association November 17, 2007 Montreal Canada Presentation by Simon Samoeil Project Outreach Director

Arabic and Middle Eastern Electronic Library (AMEEL ) Project AMEEL is a four-year cost-sharing project funded by the Department of Education and Yale University Library. The project will create a web-based portal and electronic library for Middle Eastern Studies. Project AMEEL plans to be free and accessible to all patrons.

Goals of the project To create an infrastructure for the integration of major Middle Eastern information databases To digitize selected academic journals from and about the Arab world, pending the approval of the copyright holders To develop Interlibrary Loan networks between libraries within the Arab world on a national and regional level To develop Interlibrary Loan networks between American academic libraries and their Arab counterparts

Partners of the Project AMEEL Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Alexandria, Egypt) Universitaets-und-Landesbibliothek of Sachsen- Anhalt (Halle, Germany) JSTOR (New York, USA) Brill Academic Publishers (Leiden, the Netherlands) Oxford University Press (Oxford, United Kingdom) OCAR (American Center of Oriental Research ) Additional Advisory Members: University of Pennsylvania and University of Utah libraries

Challenges of the project Gain permission of copyright holders for digitization of important materials To develop Interlibrary Loan networks between libraries within the Arab world on a national and regional level Reach successful agreements on access to digitized content provided by important commercial publishers Introduce Arabic OCR software and relevant skills into American academic institutions Solve infrastructure and connectivity challenges to: 1.enable the addition of new digital materials to a repository connected to other relevant databases, such as those held by Oxford and Brill 2.make it possible for scholars to search in Arabic and English across many different databases

AMEEL Journal Digitization and Optical Character Recognition Journal TitleCountry 1 al-Abhāth [Researches]. American University of Beirut.Lebanon 2 Dirāsāt. al-‘Ulūm al-Insānīyah wa-al-Ijtimā‘īyah / Research in the Humanities and Social Scienes. University of Jordan. Jordan 3 Études internationals / Dirāsāt Dawlīyah. Association des études internationales Tunisia 4 al-Lughah wa-al-Adab / Language and Literature. Jāmi‘at al-Jazā'ir. Ma‘had al- Lughah al-‘Arabīyah wa-Ādābihā Algeria 5 Majallat Jāmi‘at al-Malik ‘Abd al-‘Azīz / Journal of King ‘Abd al-‘Azīz UniversitySaudi Arabia 6 Majallat Jāmi‘at Dimashq lil-Ādāb wa-al-‘Ulūm al-Insānīyah / Damascus University Journal for the Arts and Human and Educational Sciences Syria

Journal TitleCountry 7Majallat Tārīkh al-‘Ulūm al-‘Arabīyah / Journal for the History of Arabic Science. Institute for the History of Arabic Science, University of Aleppo. Syria 8al-Mu'arrikh al-Misrī / Egyptian Historian. Qism al-Tārīkh, Jāmi‘t al-Qāhirah.Egypt 9 Revue Tunisienne de Sciences Sociales / al-Majallah al-Tu ̄ nisi ̄ yah lil- ʻ Ulum al- Ijtama ̄ʻ i ̄ yah. Centre d’études et de recherches économiques et sociales, Université de Tunis Tunisia 10Research Journal of Aleppo University, Arts and Humanities Sciences Series / Majallat Buḥu ̄ th Ja ̄ mi ʻ at Ḥalab. Silsilat al-Āda ̄ b wa-al- ʻ Ulu ̄ m al-Insa ̄ ni ̄ yah. Syria 11 Awra ̄ q al-Dha ̄ kirah: al-Junu ̄ n wa-al-Mar'ah fi Misr Niha ̄ yat al-Qarn al-Tasi‘ ‘Ashar [Memory Papers Series: Insanity and Woman in Egypt at the End of the Nineteenth Century] / Multaqá al-Mar ʾ ah wa-al-Dha ̄ kirah. Egypt 12 Awra ̄ q al-Dha ̄ kirah: al-Mar'ah wa-al-Haya ̄ h al-Di ̄ ni ̄ yah fi al-‘Usur al-Wusta Bayana al-Isla ̄ m wa-al-Gharb / [Memory Papers Series: Woman and the Religious Life in the Middle Ages] / Multaqá al-Mar ʾ ah wa-al-Dha ̄ kirah. Egypt 13 Awra ̄ q al-Dha ̄ kirah: al-Nisa ̄ ’ wa-Mihnat al-Tibb fi al-Mujtama‘a ̄ t al-Isla ̄ mi ̄ yah / [Memory Papers Series: Women and the Medical Profession in the Islamic Societies] / Multaqá al-Mar ʾ ah wa-al-Dha ̄ kirah. Egypt AMEEL Journal Digitization and Optical Character Recognition (continued)

AMEEL - ILL Interlibrary Loan Workshop University of Jordan Amman, Jordan 5-7 March 2007 Instructors Simon Samoeil Carol L. Jones

AMEEL - ILL Develop an ILL framework for Middle East libraries to foster sharing of scholarly information Introduce ILL concepts to Middle Eastern librarians Consider institutional policies and workflows Discuss how to accommodate differing needs of and constraints on libraries in the Middle East Focus on the provision of journal articles

Digitization Workshop: Bibliotheca Alexandria December 3-7, trainees from US, European and Middle Eastern libraries will participate. Topics include: basic to advanced training in digitizing, OCR (Optical Character Recognition), and workflow techniques for Arabic materials. Participants expected to contribute digitized content to AMEEL.