Sunday, March 31, 2013

Open Access Journal: Islamic Sciences

Islamic Sciences
ISSN (Print): 1929-9435
ISSN (Online): 1929-9443
The Center for Islamic Sciences (CIS) is dedicated to the promotion of research and diffusion of knowledge on all aspects of Islam. CIS encourages a creative exploration of natural and human sciences from the Islamic worldview, critical integration of contemporary disciplines into the framework of traditional Islamic thought and learning, and a renewed and rigorous link with the intellectual tradition of Islam. CIS supports activities aimed at enhancing our religious and scientific understanding of nature and the human condition. The Center recognizes an underlying unity of all branches of knowledge as stemming from and anchored in Unicity of God (tawhid), the most fundamental principle of Islamic ontology and epistemology. Seen from this perspective, the entire manifest world, from the lowest to the highest levels, is recognized as an integrated and interconnected system. CIS recognizes this cosmic hierarchical structure, with its underlying unifying principle of tawhid, and operates within the epistemological framework of the Qur’an.

CIS publishes a semi-annual journal Islamic Sciences (JIS).  JIS is a journal of Islamic perspectives on science, civilization and intellectual history. It is dedicated to a creative exploration of the natural and human sciences. The journal publishes articles which critically evaluate contemporary knowledge as seen from within the framework of traditional Islamic thought and learning. It explores ways to renew rigorous and productive links with the intellectual tradition of Islam in order to enhance our understanding of God, life, the cosmos and the human condition.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Open Access Journal: Türk Coğrafya Dergisi

Türk Coğrafya Dergisi
ISSN (Print):  1302-5856
ISSN (Electronic): 1308-9773

Türk Coğrafya Dergisi 1943 yılında Türk Coğrafyacıların bilimsel çalışmalarını uluslararası bilim dünyasına duyurmak üzere çıkarılmaya başlanmıştır.

1974 yılında basılan 26. sayısına kadar bazen sürekli, bazen aralıklarla yayın hayatına devam eden dergimizi, bu tarihten sonra 18 yıl süre ile yayınlamak mümkün olmamıştır. 1992 yılında 27. sayısı ile tekrar yayın hayatına dönen Türk Coğrafya Dergisi, 1999 yılından itibaren hakemli dergiye dönüştürülmüş, 2001 yılından itibaren ise yılda iki kez yayınlanmaya başlamıştır.

Türk Coğrafya Kurumu günün koşullarına uyum ve erişilebilirliği arttırma adına Türk Coğrafya Dergisi'nin 2009 yılından itibaren elektronik dergi olarak da yayınlanmasına da karar vermiştir. Yayın dönemleri Haziran ve Aralıktır.

Baskısı tükenmiş dergiler öncelikli olmak üzere, daha önce basılmış olan sayıların da elektronik ortama aktarılması işlemleri devam etmektedir. 

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Digital Library: Rare Books and Special Collections - American University in Cairo



Rare Books and Special Collections Digital Library - American University in Cairo

"The Rare Books and Special Collections Digital Library (RBSCDL), established in Fall 2011, provides a platform for Rare Books and Special Collections Library and Archives collection managers to publish born digital and digital surrogates of cultural heritage materials. Resources from the University Archives, Rare and Special Books, Archives and Manuscripts Collections, Oral History Interviews, Regional Architecture Collections, and Photography Collections may be included in the Rare Books and Special Collections Digital Library. Further, the digital library supports collaborative digitization and digital collection projects. The library’s collection policies and content are managed by the Rare Books and Special Collections Library and technical support is supplied by University Academic Computing Technologies."


Topics



Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Digital Library: The Mahmoud Salih [Sudan] Collection


The Mahmoud Salih Collection

[Digitized publications relating to Sudan served from Digitalt, the Bergen University Library Institutional Repository]

As a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step, so a collection of books must begin with a single book.
Early in March 1997, Lady Elizabeth Bingham, a very dear friend and colleague at SOS Sahel UK (a charity that helps the people of the Sahel to fight poverty through better management of their environment) was passing through Cairo from Sudan where she was inspecting some of SOS Sahel’s projects. I happened to mention to her that I have been searching for a book for the last ten years without success. The book was “Capital Investment in Africa – Its Course And Effects”, by S Herbert Frankel, Professor of Economics and Economic History at University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The book was published by Oxford University Press in 1938. Sir Hubert Huddleston, Governor-General of the Sudan (1940-47) had quoted a passage from it in his 1941 annual report. The quotation was:
“There can be doubt that the economic development of the Sudan in the twentieth century has been a remarkable achievement and one which, in many respects, can be regarded as a model for other African Countries”.
That quotation intrigued me, and I wanted to read everything he had written about Sudan in that book.
Within days of Lady Elizabeth’s departure from Cairo to London, I received a copy in the post of the book. In her accompanying letter she informed me that her book seller had put her in touch with a certain Paul Wilson, an antiquarian book dealer who specialised in African and Middle-Eastern books. He not only had the book, but he informed her that he also had a large collection of books about Sudan for which he was seeking a buyer. I telephoned her immediately, thanked her for her efforts and requested her to contact Paul Wilson and inform him that I am interested in his collection, and that he should not sell it until I had had a chance of seeing him and it. A couple of weeks later I flew to London, took the train to Shrewsbury, met Paul and within a couple of hours we had shaken hands on a deal.
Paul’s collection, at the time, amounted to about 850 books. I requested of him that he continue looking to add books, documents, maps and paintings to the collection, He has been doing that for me for the last ten years, with the collection now boasting approximately 2,000 books, double that number of historical documents, pamphlets and maps, paintings and photographs.
The idea was to move the whole collection to Sudan after securing an appropriate home for it there. But after five years of fruitless search and broken promises from the authorities there, I decided to instead loan the Collection to a University that provides courses in Sudanese Studies, so that as many scholars can benefit from it as possible, rather that for it to remain in boxes in a warehouse in England. The obvious choice was the University of Bergen, because of their extensive Sudanese courses and its long and close co-operation with Sudanese Universities, especially the University of Khartoum.
On the last day of the conference on Sudanese Studies, which was successfully hosted by the University of Bergen in April 2006, I informed my friend Professor Anders Bjorkelo, the Director of The Centre for Middle-Eastern and Islamic Studies, of my intention. He was thrilled with the idea and obtained the approval of the University within days. Early in June 2006, Paul and I flew to Bergen on the same day that the books arrived by truck from Shrewsbury, England.
The Collection was received with great enthusiasm and appreciation by everybody at the University, from the Rector down to the under-graduate students. The books were unpacked and arranged on to their shelves in a room provided for their housing at the Centre. The books were made available for study, and the University has kindly provided funds for the scanning and digitalising of the books which appear on this website, completely free of charge.
I wish to express my appreciation and gratitude to everyone at the University who helped and participated in this worthwhile endeavour.

 




Chronology of Palestinian cinema (1927-1999)



UPDATE: A Chronology of Palestinian Cinema (2000-2012) is now available.
"[The] second part continues with an audiovisual inventory of the traces that history has left, a manifestation of Palestine in this century. This second part includes the original titles (transliterated if in Arabic) and translations into English and Spanish of 631 pieces of work (films and video-art) made by Palestinian filmmakers and artists (on-going research)."

Chronology of Palestinian Cinema (1927-1999) compiled by Dr. Noemí Artal from Centro de Documentación sobre Cine Palestino & Center for Palestine Studies, Columbia University.

"This chronology of films made by Palestinian filmmakers is part of an audiovisual inventory of the traces that history has left in the 20th century. It consists of the (transliterated) original title and a translation into English and Spanish of 281 films (on-going research)."



Friday, March 8, 2013

Digital Library: Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi

Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi: KÜTÜPHANE VE DOKÜMANTASYON MÜDÜRLÜĞÜ has released hundreds of Ottoman-Turkish books spanning a plethora of subjects.






KÜTÜPHANE VE DOKÜMANTASYON MÜDÜRLÜĞÜ

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Archives Ouvertes de l'Institut français du Proche-Orient

Archives Ouvertes de l'Institut français du Proche-Orient
http://static.archives-ouvertes.fr/images/LogoIfpo2011-halshs3.png
L'Institut français du Proche-Orient (Ifpo) sert aujourd'hui, dans toutes les disciplines des sciences humaines et sociales, de l'Antiquité jusqu'à nos jours, la connaissance du Proche-Orient en général et celle de la Syrie, du Liban, de la Jordanie, des Territoires palestiniens et de l'Irak en particulier.
Fort de ses trois départements scientifiques (Études contemporaines, Études médiévales, arabes et modernes, Archéologie et histoire de l'antiquité), l'Ifpo développe aujourd'hui, dans un spectre scientifique très large, des partenariats grâce auxquels ses chercheurs entendent, avec les sociétés dont ils sont les hôtes, comme avec le reste de la communauté scientifique, construire ensemble des savoirs scientifiques partagés.
De la mise en libre accès sur le site Hal-SHS des travaux de ses chercheurs l'Ifpo attend notamment un accroissement de leur visibilité régionale et internationale : la diffusion aussi systématique que possible de résumés (ou d'articles) en langue anglaise, mais également en langue arabe, (désormais acceptée sur cette archive ouverte) doit permettre à l'institut d'accroître la « transparence » de ses missions dans son environnement régional et favoriser une interaction plus systématique avec l'ensemble de la communauté scientifique mondiale.

The French Institute for the Near East (Ifpo) is today at the service of all the disciplines of humanities and social sciences, from Antiquity to our times, and at the understanding of the Near East in general and that of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Iraq in particular.
Strong with its three scientific departments (Contemporary Studies, Medieval and Modern Arab Studies and Archaeology and Ancient History), today Ifpo develops on a large academic spectre, thanks to collaborations by which its researchers are appreciated by the societies that host them, as well as with the rest of the academic community, to collectively build its shared scientific knowledge.
By putting up the works of its researchers online and open access on the HAL-SHS website, Ifpo achieves in particular an increase in their regional and international visibility. As much as possible, a systematic diffusion of abstracts (or articles) in English as well as Arabic (henceforth accepted on this open archive) should allow the Institute to augment the ‘transparency’ of its missions in its regional environment and favour a more systematic interaction with the international academic community as a whole.