Middle East Research Journals (MERJ) Project

Goal Statement

Provide preservation microfilming, article-level indexing, and digital document delivery of over 2,200 selected Middle Eastern journal titles in various languages (including four non-Roman languages: Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, and Turkish) which are housed in the following seven overseas research centers and their nine libraries:

• American Research Institute in Turkey (libraries in Ankara and Istanbul)
• American Institute for Maghrib Studies (libraries in Morocco and Tunisia)
• American Institute for Yemeni Studies
• American Research Center in Egypt
• American Center for Oriental Research in Amman, Jordan
• Albright Institute for Archaeological Research in Jerusalem
• Cyprus-American Archaeological Research Institute

thereby improving access to these "rare, important, and currently seriously underused" scholarly resources by September 30, 2006.

Promised Outcomes and Deliverables

• Union catalog of MARC-format bibliographic records showing the detailed journal holdings of the participating libraries "consolidated with detailed survey data on the degree of availability of each title in libraries outside the region, the existence of microfilm (and coverage of such film), and the extent of existing indexing."
• Microfilm reproductions of high-priority journal titles (as determined by the project's Scholarly Advisory Committee). "Master negatives, duplicating masters, and positive use copies will be deposited at the Center for Research Libraries in Chicago, and made available for interlibrary loan …. One duplicating master of each film will reside in the center library that provided the original hard-copy, and complete sets of use copies of all the MERJ microfilms will be deposited in each of the participating MERJ overseas center libraries."
• Web-based article-level journal indexing database containing full citation, thesaurus-based subject headings, additional subject keywords and "title-gloss fields." "Non-roman title, author, and publisher data will be entered in the standard Library of Congress transliteration." Accessible via the DLIR website.
• Archival TIFF image repositories (located at CAORC, each participating ORC, RMRL, and CRL) along with an online JPEG image repository of the high-use, high-impact digitized journal articles (as determined by the project's Scholarly Advisory Committee) accessible via hyperlinks from the article-level journal indexing database above.
• Limited provision of on-demand document delivery services for those journal articles not yet digitized as part of the online repository above.

Other Criteria for Success

• "The intended outcome of this project is greater use of important resource materials by a larger and more diverse constituency" which will be gauged by participant surveys, DLIR website traffic patterns, increased usage of research center materials, and citations of covered materials in new publications.
• CD-ROM versions of all MERJ content will be distributed to overseas centers for whom web access is problematic.

Project Stakeholders

Administration

• Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC)

Project Managers

• Project Director: Dr. Maria deJ. Ellis
• Project Coordinator: Dr. Mary Ellen Lane
• Library Consultants: Dr. David Magier, Mr. Frank Unlandherm

Project Team Members

• Scholarly Advisory Committee:
• Prof. Joe Seger (Mississippi State University), Chair
• Prof. Peter Sluglett (University of Utah)
• Prof. I. William Zartman (The Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies)
• Prof. Ann Macy Roth (Howard University)
• Prof. G. Kenneth Sams (University of North Carolina)
• Prof. McGuire Gibson (University of Chicago)
• Prof. Everett Rowson (University of Pennsylvania)
• Prof. Christopher Taylor (Drew University)
• Prof. Sylvia Onder (Georgetown University)
• Data Production Specialist: (to be hired)
• Microfilming Agent: (to be hired)
• Digitization Agent: (to be hired)
• Computer Programmer: (to be hired)

Quality Review Board

• Middle East Librarians Association (MELA)
• Middle East Microfilm Project (MEMP)
• Center for Research Libraries (CRL)

Intended Audience

• "CAORC-affiliated libraries as well as a much larger constituency of Middle East studies in academia, K-12 educators, news media, policy-makers and the general public"

Project Status

The complete database of journal holdings (2194 titles) was checked against OCLC and RLIN for holding libraries; if existing indices were noted, this information was added to the MERJ database. This process identified some 500 journal titles in the database that are held by 10 or fewer institutions. It also identified problem titles that needed to be researched and clarified. Titles with copy cataloging were added to the DLIR catalog and holdings were updated in WorldCAT. Titles requiring original cataloging were sent to catalog vendors (in 2005) along with scanned information provided by the participating research centers.

JAKE and Ulrich's were searched to determine which journals and how much of each have already been indexed. All this data has been compiled into a single, master spreadsheet. The project has selected to create electronic indexes for the following journals: Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society, Quarterly of the the Department of Antiqutities in Palestine, and Sumer.

We found it difficult to arrange for preservation quality microfilming in the vicinity of the centers. Therefore we have chosen to follow the hybrid method of digitizing first and microfilming fromthe digital scans. The selected titles for preservation microfilm and digital access follow:

Revue archeologique syrienne, Aleppo, 1931-1938
Epetiris (Cyprus Research Centre), Leukosia, 1970-1995
Archaeologia Cypria (Kypriaki Archaiologia), Nicosia, v. 1 (1985) - v. 4 (2001)
CEDAC Carthage Bulletin (Centre d'Etudes et de Documentation Archeologique de la Conservation de Carthage), Tunis, 1978-1997
Naqd, Algers, 1992-1999
Bogazici University Journal-Beseri Bilimler, Istanbul, 1973-1981
Universitelerde Eski Turk Edebiyati Calismalari, Istanbul, 1993-2000/2001
Arkeoloji Dergisi, Izmir, 1991-1998
Arkeoloji-sanat Tarihi Dergisi, Izmir, 1984-1996

The DLIR project team is coordinating this work with the OACIS and AMEEL projects at Yale University that also index and digitize journals from the Middle East. Send comments about this project to Diane Ryan, the DLIR Project Coordinator.

Last updated: February 8, 2006

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