*Please excuse cross-posting*

Dear Colleagues,

Earlier this year, we at the University of Michigan Library concluded
a collaborative project to realize the cataloguing of our Islamic
Manuscripts Collection.

883 new catalogue records were created in the course of the project
representing 1447 titles in 877 volumes, 2 rolls, and 3 single leaves.
Another 21 manuscript descriptions were significantly enhanced.

While in the end most of the cataloguing was done by the project
cataloguer, we are grateful to all who contributed remotely and
locally, especially our local project staff who worked on manuscripts
not yet digitized (http://www.lib.umich.edu/islamic/progress).

We are pleased to report that the entire collection is thus fully
catalogued with detailed, searchable descriptions for each manuscript
appearing in the online Library catalogue, Mirlyn
(http://mirlyn.lib.umich.edu/). The catalogue records should also
appear soon in OCLC’s WorldCat.

Further, descriptions and complete digital surrogates for 912
manuscripts from the collection appear in the online catalogue of the
HathiTrust Digital Library (http://hathitrust.org/).

To assist with navigating the collection and descriptive data, a
research guide has been created with details on the collection
history, size, and scope, as well as strategies for locating
manuscripts of interest, instructions for viewing manuscripts in the
Library, and advice on locating, viewing and downloading digitized
manuscripts:

http://guides.lib.umich.edu/islamicmss

This guide will be enhanced and updated periodically as we continue to
develop the collection.

In addition, a research guide on Islamic Manuscript Studies has been
created with more general advice on identifying and locating
manuscripts, an introduction to palaeography and manuscript
description, bibliographical resources and reading lists, as well as
listings of digitized manuscripts and online catalogues with links and
descriptions, a selection of the largest collections of Islamic
manuscripts held in North America having some sort of web presence,
and links to other relevant research guides and associations,
institutes and research initiatives:

http://guides.lib.umich.edu/islamicmsstudies

This guide will also continue to evolve and we welcome any feedback on it.

We also continue to welcome any comments you might have on the
manuscripts or their descriptions posted to the collection project
site:

http://lib.umich.edu/islamic

Just keep in mind that not all manuscripts from the collection
currently appear there. In order to search all manuscripts from the
collection, it is best to search Mirlyn.

As always, feel free to be in touch with any questions or requests for
assistance with navigating the collection.

With all best wishes,
Evyn Kropf
_______________________________________
Evyn Kropf
Librarian for Near Eastern and Religious Studies
Curator, Islamic Manuscripts Collection
University Library Area Programs
M117B Hatcher Graduate Library North
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1190
(734) 764-1220 | [log in to unmask]