ORC Library Resources
The Overseas Research Centers have so many different ways that they help scholars and researchers and a main one is their library resources. Oftentimes, the centers are one of few libraries that have rare books and have an online catalogue of their libraries. These types of resources are so amazing, especially for those who wish to travel to our centers for research either through CAORC fellowships [insert link to CAORC fellowships], or through the centers' fellowships [insert link to the ORCs grants page].
Below we have listed the online library resources that some of our centers currently have. We work to keep this page as up to date as possible, but if you have specific questions about these resources or want to see if a center [insert link to centers] that is not listed here has online library resources, then you should reach out to them....
OBVIOUSLY this is a rough draft, but the idea is that that there can be two short sections to begin this page. One describing online library resources in general and why they are so helpful and the second is to let people know what the situation is for this page specifically...
Afghanistan - Algeria - The Americas - Bangladesh - Cambodia - Cyprus - Egypt - Greece - Indonesia - India - Iraq - Iran - Italy - Jerusalem - Jordan - Mongolia - Morocco - Myanmar - Nepal - Pakistan - Palestine - Senegal - South Caucasus - Sri Lanka - Tunisia - Turkey - Yemen
Cambodia
The CKS library is a living Buddhist monastery in the heart of Siem Reap and is the largest public academic library in Cambodia outside of Phnom Penh, and the second most important for the social sciences and humanities in the whole country. The library holds specialized collections on various topics in Southeast Asia, including unique resources such as a rare book collection of the French protectorate in Indochina and a collection of Cambodia’s earliest academic journal, Kampuja Soriya, on Cambodia literature, Buddhism, and culture. The library currently has over 19,000 titles and you can view the catalog online and even reach out to the library staff via the ‘Ask a Librarian’ option on their catalog. The library also offers JSTOR access for senior fellows. Learn more about the library and the resources available here.
Cyprus
The CAARI Library includes a growing collection of more than 9,000 monographs, 4,600 bound off-prints, 4,000 papers on Cypriot archaeology, and 100 periodical titles as well as comprehensive map and artifact collections and archival material. One unique holding is the personal library of the late Claude F.A. Schaeffer, a French scholar with extensive archaeological experience in Cyprus and the Near East. Schaeffer’s collection comprised of some 500 volumes of periodicals and 2,500 books and monographs of which 90% were out of print. The main focus of the library is on archaeology, art and art history. Learn more about the library and its resources here.
Indonesia
The AIFIS library and reading room in Yogyakarta has a diverse and expansive collection of hundreds of books and journals. Due to its size and variety, no such collection has previously existed in Jakarta or anywhere else in Indonesia. AIFIS is currently collaborating with the Library of Congress representative in Jakarta, to further expand their collection of print offerings. In terms of special collections, AIFIS helped in the establishment of Ben and Nafsiah Mboi Library located at one of their institutional partners the Atmajaya Catholic University in Jakarta. The library boasts collections not only of books, but also many rare and important documents from the Dutch colonial period and from the New Order dictatorship era. The library also has JSTOR access for those who visit the library in person.
Mongolia
The American Center of Mongolian Studies (ACMS)
The ACMS Library website includes visitor information about the library in Ulaanbaatar, access to the online library catalog, a collection of online databases and digital archives, and research guides on a variety of topics related to the study of Mongolia. The ACMS library collection is one of the best in Mongolia, containing over 5,000 volumes of books related to Mongolian Studies and disciplines with an active presence in the region such as anthropology, archaeology, economics, public health, political science, and biology, and includes hundreds of rare and important books that span from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Most of the items in the collection are written in English, but also includes items written in Mongolian Cyrillic, Mongol Script, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, French, German, and other languages. The library in Ulaanbaatar also has JSTOR access for those who visit the library in person. Learn more about the ACMS library and their resources here.
Myanmar (Burma)
The library offers access to scholarly works on Myanmar Studies published overseas that are not readily available in the country, this includes original works published on neighboring Southeast Asian countries and textbooks on various fields of social sciences and humanities. INYA also has a digital archive of a collection of endangered Shan Buddhist artifacts identified throughout successive field research projects in eastern Myanmar where Shan communities, together representing one of Myanmar’s largest ethnic groups, reside. The library is open to anyone conducting research or interested in fostering their research and methodological skills and offers free internet. Learn more about the library here.
Pakistan
The AIPS Resource Library (ARL) houses open-source resources created by scholars of Pakistan Studies, including AIPS fellows and other grantees, and can be accessed via the AIPS website. For in person attendees, the library offers JSTOR access.
Senegal
The WARC library holds many publications on current African issues, African history, environmental, and development issues as well as a collection of rare African films. WARC also holds an African Language Materials Archive (ALMA), which is a collaborative project initiated by WARC, WARA, UNESCO, and Columbia University. The ALMS project includes a web-based archive of original materials published in African languages including e-books in Wolof, Pulaar, and Mandinka, collected from authors in Senegal and the Gambia.
South Caucasus
JSTOR access via the ARISC libraries is available in all three countries in Baku, Tbilisi, and Yerevan for the scholarly community through the support and cooperation of the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC), American Center (Baku), American Corners (Yerevan), Center for Social Sciences (Tbilisi), as well as of Ilia State University (Tbilisi). ARISC also has a ‘Resources’ page with multiple sections including, ‘Libraries’, which is dedicated to displaying new information on library resources related to the Caucasus region, ‘Online Journals’, which is a list of online journals specializing in the South Caucasus, and others including ‘Online Publications’, ‘Research Links’, 'Bibliographies’, and ‘Maps’. This list of extensive resources also includes a ‘Publications’ page which hosts papers, reports and presentations from ARISC Fellows.
Sri Lanka
The AISLS library includes more than 1,500 books and a research guide on research libraries in Sri Lanka. The resources include works on Sri Lanka in the humanities and social sciences as well as theoretical works and comparative studies, particularly from other parts of the South Asian and Indian Ocean regions. Its coverage is most comprehensive in History, Anthropology, Religious Studies and Politics and a large majority of the holdings are in English, but there are some works in other languages, especially Sinhala. The collection also includes dictionaries, reference books and language instruction materials for Tamil, Sinhala and Pali. The library offers JSTOR access for those who visit in person. AISLS staff maintain an up-to-date guide to specialist humanities libraries in Sri Lanka and arrange for visiting fellows to get access to these libraries.