Religion Collections in Libraries and Archives: A Guide to Resources in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia Table of Contents - Preface/Acknowledgements - Abbreviations Lists of Entries: District of Columbia - Maryland - Virginia

Middle East Institute Library

Access Policies

Reference Policy:

Telephone and mail reference questions are accepted if they can be answered quickly by the ready reference collection.

Borrowing Privileges:

Only members of the Middle East Institute may borrow and use interlibrary loan through the library. Members pay a yearly fee of $60.00 or $35.00 for students.

Networks/Consortia:

OCLC. About one half the collection is available on OCLC. OCLC searches can be done for members.

Background Note:

Founded 1946.

Description of Collections

Books and monographs:

The collection holds approximately 1,000 books, most published during the 19th and 20th centuries. The book collection is primarily in the English language. The strongest subject emphasis is in Islam, its history, civilization, law, religion philosophy, and politics. Books cover the Hadith and Qur'an, as well as Sufism, Shi'ah, the religions of the ancient Near East, and some Judaism. The George Camp Keiser Library maintains the largest Middle East collection outside the Library of Congress.

The card catalog covers all volumes through September 1996. The computer catalog covers the OCLC holdings (about half the collection) beginning with books cataloged from 1985 to the present.

Periodicals and newspapers:

The Library contains approximately 80 current subscriptions and 100 titles most published in the 20th century. The focus of this collection reflects the Islamic focus of the book collection along with some materials pertaining to Judaism. Most journals are academic.

These journals can be found on the computer catalog as well as on an alphabetic list in the Library.

Maps:

Approximately 200 maps pertain to the politics, history and religion of the Islamic world. Most are 20th century. The maps are organized by region within drawers.

Subject Headings