West Asian Collections
The Collections
The National Librarys West Asian collections cover Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. Works collected are mostly in English and include books, some current serial and newspaper titles, atlases and maps. The strength of the collection lies mainly in older works of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries where a selection of standard works is held, including many contemporary accounts of travel.
The Library currently collects a selection of significant English language books and periodicals about West Asia covering statistical, political, economic and cultural topics. A small selection of material is acquired from the region, and a larger number from the large publishing centres of Great Britain and the United States.
Newspapers received from the region include the Kabul New Times, HaArets (Tel Aviv) and the Jerusalem Post. Online newspapers from the region may be accessed through http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/
Iran. The Library has a small collection of Farsi language material received by the Library in the 1960s and the 1970s. A booklet in Farsi is available which lists the collection of nearly 800 items, and is arranged in subjects such as history, literature, religion, law, medicine, etc. Copies of the booklet are available from The Principal Librarian, Asian Collections at the contact details given below.
Services
Readers visiting the National Library may discuss their requirements with the staff in the Asian Collections Reading Room on the Third floor of the National Library which is open to readers from 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday. All material pertaining to West Asian countries is accessible through the Main Reading Room.
The Library's online catalogue is available and includes records for West Asian holdings in English.
Bibliographies such as Current Awareness Bulletins are available from Asian Collections.
Links
- Asian
Studies WWW Virtual Library Middle East
Online scholarly resources relevant to West Asian Studies
Further enquires about the collections should be addressed to
Principal Librarian, Asian Collections
National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600
Telephone: (02) 6262 1519
Facsimile: (02) 6273 4327
E-mail: asiancol@nla.gov.au
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