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Dear Mastan and Tony, The easiest place to look for this kind of information is on the "Mapping Asia" web site. Apart from books earlier than 1990, all SOAS's holdings are in the on-line catalogue. Best wishes, Peter Colvin For Turkish see: http://www.asiamap.ac.uk/collections/collection.php?ID=326&Browse=Region&Region=3 Turkish studies Collection Details Turkish studies held at SOAS Library [Institution record] Description of Collection Content description There are about 12,600 monographs in the collection, of which 6000 are in Turkish and 6600 in Western languages on Turkey, the Ottoman Balkans and Cyprus. There are also separate holdings of periodicals, maps, sound recordings, manuscripts, unpublished theses and electronic resources. History and development Turkish in its earlier form of Ottoman Turkish is the third most important classical language of the Middle East, having been the official language of the massive Ottoman Empire which covered Asia Minor, the whole of the Arab Middle East and most of North Africa, and large parts of Eastern Europe, including the Balkans and Greece. In its modern form it is the national language of the Turkish Republic. Strengths The collection had developed in parallel with the School’s research and teaching requirements. As an important part of classical Orientalist studies, Ottoman works on religion, law, history, language and literature have been well represented from the foundation of the collection. Study of all aspects of Modern Turkey and modern Turkish literature are carried on in the School, as well as Ottoman language and literature. The Library specialises in Turkish language material and books on Turkey in Western languages, under the MELCOM specialisation scheme. I am not sure if only Turkish is required, or if the other Turkic languages are required. If so see: http://www.asiamap.ac.uk/collections/collection.php?ID=325&Browse=Region&Region=1 Content description There are about 6,500 monographs in the collection, of which 3,500 are in Turkic languages. There are also separate holdings of periodicals, maps, sound recordings, manuscripts, unpublished theses and electronic resources. History and development For the purposes of this entry Central Asia means the former Soviet Republics of Central Asia and various autonomous regions (Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan). The collection includes material in all the Turkic languages, including the Uighur language. The Iranian languages of the area, which include Pushto, Tajiki, and others, are considered in the section on Iranian studies. Mongolian and Tibetan language materials have separate entries. Western language books cover all of Islamic Central Asia, including Afghanistan, with the exception of the Uighurs and other inhabitants of Eastern Turkestan who are covered in the section on China, and books on Mongolia and Tibet, which are entered as separate sections. Strengths The collection has developed in parallel with the School’s research and teaching requirements. The history of the area and its classic Turkic and Iranian languages have been studied extensively in the School from its foundation. With the emergence of Independent States from the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as the attention attracted by the tribulations of Afghanistan, interest in the area has increased enormously, and the library's holdings have increased accordingly in the areas of politics, economics social developments and modern linguistics -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2009/6/30 Mastan Ebtehaj <[log in to unmask]>: > A query from Tony Gorman, the University of Edinburgh: > > I was wondering if you know what the general situation is in the UK > regarding Turkish language library holdings, particularly regarding works > on Middle Eastern history and politics. Are there any notably strong > collections? Many thanks for any assistance > Tony Gorman > > ************************************** > Mastan Ebtehaj > Librarian > St Antony's College > MEC > 68 Woodstock Road > Oxford, OX2 6JF > U.K > Tel: +44 1865284764 > Fax: 274529 > http://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/mec/middle-east-library.shtml >