College and Research Libraries MOHAMMED M. AMAN Bibliographical Services in the Arab Countries INTRODUCTION THE PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE is to as- sist acquisition and reference librarians and bibliographers in identifying spe- cific titles and book production in the Arab world. With the use of basic na- tional and subject bibliographies, the li- brarian will be able to trace titles re- quested by the historian, the social or political scientist, the geographer, the general reader, or any student of Mid- dle Eastern affairs. The aim of this work is to indicate the available bibliographies and to discuss their importance use scope, and arrangement. It als'o in~ tends to point out the feasibility of es- tablishing an Arab bibliographical cen- ter which will be responsible for com- piling and publishing a national bibli- ography for all the Arab states and union lists of serial holdings in all the Arab libraries. These and other biblio- graphical activities would certainly be considered a step forward not only for the Arab nations, but also for interna- tional bibliographic cooperation. The first comprehensive Arabic na- tional bibliography was compiled by Ibn al-Nadim. 1 He assembled the Ara- bic literature of the first four centuries after Hijra by a bio-bibliographical method different from that used in oth- er contemporary sources. In his bibliog- raphy Miftah al-Sa"adah wa Misbah al- Sivadah fi Mafatih al-uUlum, Tashkubra Dr. Aman is a Lecturer at Pratt Institute's Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Brooklyn, N.Y. .Zada (d. 1528) covers the Arabic litera- ture available during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. One century after Zada, Hajji Khalifah (d. 1657) com- piled his bibliography Kashf al-Ohunun "An Asami al-kutub wal Funun. 2 His bibliography was intended as an in- ventory of titles of all books available in Arabic, Turkish, and Persian lan- guages.3 The dawn of the twentieth century marked a new era in the history of Arabic culture and bibliography. After five centuries of mental lethargy, begin- ning with the eruption of the Mongols into the Mus lim world in the thirteenth century, a renewed zeal for learning dispelled the gloom which so long over- shadowed the Arabic speaking coun- tries. For centuries, many factors had been at work to bring about a beneficial change in the Arab bibliographical ac- tivities. The West began to take varied interest in the dormant East by collect- ing, organizing, and studying its long- forgotten literatures. This renaissance added new elements to Arab librarianship and bibliographi- cal control. Legal deposit laws were in- troduced in the Arab countries, book catalogs and national and subject bib- liographies began to be published by research and academic libraries. In the first half of the twentieth cen- tury the Arab world was lagging behind in respect to proper bibliographical control of materials and adequate bib- liographical services in all its aspects. At the time before independence there were a few bibliographies which were compiled and published by Orientalists, I 249 250 I College & Research Libraries • July 1970 Egyptologists, and Middle East Special- ists. The subject limitation of these bib- liographies can be defined as historical, religious, and literary. The most noteworthy example of such contributions is Brockelman's his- torical bibliography of Arabic litera- ture from the earliest times to the twen- tieth century.4 This bibliography is still a valuable source of both available and unavailable Arabic manuscripts and early books in different subjects. Zidan has also listed Arabic titles by subjects using other Arabic bibliographies as sources for his compilation. 5 Although copyright deposit systems were nonexistent in any of the Arab countries before the nineteenth century, Egypt had a Press and Registration of Books Act as early as 1799. However, it was not for depository reasons. The law did not mention any depository librar- ies and all publications were never made available at a single center. In 1881 a "Publication Law" was issued as the first complete or integrated legisla- tion requiring clear identification of pub- lications either written, printed, or pub- lished in modern Egypt. A common feature of the earliest Arab bibliographies is that they are the works of individuals, with little or no outside financial or moral support. It is due entirely to the determination and dedication of Arab scholars like Father Qanawati, Joseph Dagher, Sirkis "Aw- wad and others that the literature of the Arab world has been documented. 6 Arab libraries have only recently be- come aware of the part that they should play in the production of bibliographic reference tools. In almost all of the Arab states (with the exception of Saudi Arabia), national libraries are now en- titled to receive locally published ma- terial under the terms of their legal de- posit act. NATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES The individual Arab national libraries have advanced rapidly in carrying their responsibilities as their nation's biblio- graphical centers and depository librar- ies. Almost all the Arab national librar- ies, where they exist, issue national bib- liographies that vary in coverage and frequency. Lack of effective legal deposit laws, and lack of effective or automated methods in compiling Arabic bibliogra- phies have contributed to the inade- quacy in coverage, irregularity in pub- lication, and to inefficiency in issuing their national bibliographies. In Algeria the National Library issues its Bibliographie de l' Algerie. The first issue appeared October 1, 1963, and list- ed more than 100 periodical titles in either Arabic or French, which had been deposited in the National Library from July 1962 through September 1963 in compliance with the legal deposit act. The second issue of the bibliography was published in 1964 and listed books and theses received through legal de- posit from July 1962 through June 1964. The arrangement of the bibliography is by the Universal Decimal Classification ( UDC) with author or corporate, and title indexes. Retrospective bibliogra- phies for Algeria are represented by works of Fiori and Sir Robert Playfair.7 In Iraq the Central Library of the University of Baghdad has been pub- lishing its accessions list which covers materials received by legal deposit. Its Fihris Mwdu"i, Majamt' al-Kutub al- "Arabiyyah al-Mawfudah fil-Maktaba al- Markaziyyah is a subject list of Arabic holdings of the Central Library and was first published in three volumes in 1966 covering the years 1959-1965. A retro- spective bibliography of Iraq was com- piled by S. C. Dodd and was pub- lished by the American University of Beirut. 8 In Jordan the University of Jordan Library, which acts also as a national library, receives one or two copies of any publication (books and government publications) printed or published by Jordanians. However, there is no print- ed national bibliography available for Jordan. One has to depend on the in- dividual subject bibliographies which are issued by the Libraries Section at the Ministry of Education and on the bibliographical lists published by the University of Jordan Library. Some se- lect Jordanian publications are listed in the Arab publishers' record «al-Maktaba'' which is published in Baghdad and lists trade books from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Dodd's retrospective bibliog- raphy covers Trans-Jordan and Pales- tine as well. Kuwait has no national bibliography, but annual subject bibliographies on the history and geography of the state are published in the general periodical Kuwait Today. A source of bibliograph- ical importance is also the book list published in Al-«Arabi, which is a monthly magazine published in the State of Kuwait. In Lebanon there exists a law for legal deposit. According to a 1952 law four copies of each new publication are sent to the Ministry of Information, of which one is for the Ministry of In- formation, one for the Ministry of Edu- cation, and two for the National Li- brary. The National Library is solely re- sponsible for editing and publishing the Lebanese National Bibliography which first appeared in 1965 covering the year 1964. The bibliography includes books written or translated by Lebanese and books published in Lebanon regardless of language or nationality of the au- thor. The Lebanese National Bibliogra- phy is arranged in approximate Dewey Decimal Classification but without dec- imal numbers. In Libya the government libraries in Tripoli and Benghazi act as a national library and acquire copies of printed material (other than periodicals and semiperiodicals) in compliance with Article 47 of Act no. 11 of 1959. How- ever, neither of these two libraries is- Arab Bibliographical Services I 251 sues a national bibliography or a list of deposited material. The best available retrospective bib- liographies for Libya are Hill's work and the Archivio Bibliografico Coloni- ale, which was published by the Societa Italiana per lo Studio della Libia e delle altre Colonie. 9 The Bibliotheque Generale et Ar- chives du Maroc, in spite of technical and administrative difficulties, has been able to carry on its responsibility as the nation's bibliographic center. Paramount on the list of its bibliographical activ- ities is the continued publication of the Bibliographie nationale marocaine which is issued monthly and is arranged by UDC. Retrospective national bibli- ographies are represented by the series Liste des Publications d' esposees a la bibliotheque generale et archives au titre du depot legale au cours de l'an- nee . ... The bibliography is published in two parts which vary in their cover- age. The 1948-59 cumulation was di- vided into (a) official publications, and (b) other publications. The two parts for 1960- 66 include: (a) works in Ara- bic, French, and foreign languages, and (b) Dewey Decimal Classification. Other retrospective bibliographies have also been issued by the library. The Informations bibliographiques mar- ocaines 1931-62 describes books and magazine articles concerning Morocco. The arrangement is classified in alpha- betical order under five main head- ings: administrative, political, economic and social questions, agriculture, pure sciences, human sciences. The Catalogue des manuscripts arabes des Rabat was compiled in the Bibliotheque Generale and was published in two volumes. Oth- er retrospective bibliographies were published by different authors under the title Bibliographie marocaine covering the years 1923- 35 and 1957. In Saudi Arabia, although the Na- tional Library in Riyadh obtains works by Saudi Arabian authors who send 252 I College & Research Libraries • July 1970 sample copies for purchase considera- tion, there has been no attempt to publish a national bibliography. No ef- fort has been made to issue a copy- right legal deposit act. In Syria the Bibliotheque N ationale Zahiriyeh receives two copies of each new publication in compliance with the legal deposit act. Some titles are also re- ceived and listed by the University of Damascus which issues its monthly ac- quisition bulletin, Bulletin mensuel des publications re9ues. The official national bibliography of the United Arab Republic was formal- ly initiated in 1955 as the result of the recommendations of the Egyptian N a- tiona! Bibliography Committee. The Committee aims at "complete registra- tion of the Arabic book, since the inven- tion of printing to the present." The Legal Deposit Acts of 1954 and 1968 enforced the requirement for each print- er or publisher to furnish ten copies up- on publication. Th~ National Library is considered the obvious body to under- take the task of compiling the Egyptian National bibliography, since it receives these deposit copies for almost every- thing published in the country, and as far as the retrospective bibliography is concerned, it has copies of most of the material printed in the country from the earliest times. The Egyptian Publications Bulletin, known in Arabic as "al-Nashrah al-mis- riyyah lil-matbu" at, was first issued three times a year 1955- 1959. The first cumu- lation for the issues of the Bulletin for the five years 1956-1961 was pub- lished in 1962. Since 1961 the Bul- letin has been published annually with biennial cumulation. The annual issues are divided into a classified list of print- ed works, excluding textbooks and chil- dren's books, which are listed in the second part. A separate volume is de- voted to materials printed locally in foreign languages. The modified Dewey Decimal Classification is used for sys- tematic arrangement of the titles with- out the classification number. Under each subject the main entry is by title of the book printed in heavy type on a separate line. The second print line gives the author's full name, place of publication, publisher's name, date of publication, number of pages, size, price, series (if any), and call number. Each page is divided into two columns, and the entries are given a serial num- ber. Each volume has author, title, and subject indexes. Fast bibliographical service covering trade books is offered in the quarterly issues of the Arab periodical «Alam al- Maktabat (Library World).10 The pe- riodical includes, among other library news and articles, classified listings of new publications, reviews, and publish- er's announcements both from the U.A.R. and other Arab publishers. An- other bibliographical coverage mostly by subject is included in the quarterly, Mijallat al-Kitab aZCCArabi, which is pub- lished by al-Mu'assasah al-Misriyyah lil- Matbu"at. Egyptian retrospective bibliographies are too numerous to list here. However, brief mention should be made of the Cultural Record ( al-Sijil al-thaqafi) for 1947-1948; the annual bulletin of ad- ditions to the National Library, and its printed catalogs covering the period from 1892 to 1949. Recently a study and bibliography of Arabic books printed in Egypt during 1926-1940 was compiled as part of a master's study at Cairo Uni- versity.l1 In the current national bibliographies of Arab states one will find a general characteristic of compilation common to most of them. These bibliographies are divided systematically according to subject with the necessary alphabetical indexes-usually author, title, and ver- bal subjects. The main entries under subjects are usually arranged by titles. The frequency of some of these bib- liographies vary. Some are issue~ an- nually ( U.A.R.) while others are issued quarterly, and virtually none on a monthly basis. In most cases, however, the bibliography is issued about a year later than its coverage; for example the 1967 issue covers material deposited during 1966. GovERNl\1ENT DocuMENTs The importance of obtaining Arabic government documents and the infor- mation included in them need not be argued. They contain invaluable source material, and their importance to the general public, scholars, businessmen, and scientists cannot be fully estimated. However, Arab government publica- tions do not always £nd their way into the right hands. Unfortunately, old documents are often destroyed before thought is given to keeping these ma- terials in the proper manner by a re- sponsible agency. What comes from gov- ernment departments are books and monographic material, not the impor- tant documents and limited distributed publications. This situation reflects upon Arab librarianship in the sense that there is as yet no investigation as to the problems of cataloging, distributing, and using Arabic government publications. The situation is severely aggravated by the lack of obligatory laws which make government documents subject to legal deposit in the national library, and perhaps also in city libraries. Very few government publications £nd their way to the depository libraries, and therefore many documents are missing from Arab national bibliographies. J or- dan can be considered the only excep- tion since the University Library re- ceives government documents as de- pository items. Unfortunately there is no available bibliography of material deposited in the Library. The Moroccan national bibliographv lists official publications in section "A" of its Bibliographie Nationale Mora- caine. Arab Bibliographical Services I 253 In Syria the government documents of a few departments are listed in bib- liographies issued by the sections of li- braries in these departments. The Edu- cational Archives Service of the Minis- try of Education issues its Bulletin d'Archives Pedagogiques listing official publications of the Ministry. The Di- rection des Bibliotheques in the Minis- try of Culture, Tourism and National Guidance publishes its Bulletin Tri- mestriel des Publications du Ministere. A retrospective bibliography of Tu- nisian official periodical publications, Recapitulations des Periodique Officiels Parus en Tunisie de 1881 a 1955, was published by the Tunisian National Li- brary in 1956. Official publications of the U.A.R. Ministry of Education are listed by the Documentation Center in the Ministry. The £rst cumulative list of these publi- cations was published by the Center in 1961 covering the periods 1950-1960.12 Another important subject bibliography was £rst issued by the Center in 1961 containing all texts of laws, decrees, and public orders issued by the Ministry during 1959.13 The new Arab Political Encyclopedia, published by the Egyptian Documenta- tion Research Center includes legisla- tion, texts of constitution, acts, Presi- dent's speeches, and other related of- ficial documents. Other sources, such as al-Nashrah al-Tashri"iyyah, Mawsu"at al-"Amal Wal-Ta'minat, and al-Waga'i" al-Misriyyah, should be consulted as sources of legal publications and official acts and decrees. The only available example of a sep- arate retrospective listing of Egyptian offidal publications is the one which was issued in 1959 by the U .A.R. National Library covering select Egyptian offi- cial publications issued in the U.A.R. during the years 1952-58 and available in the National Library. The Bibliogra- phy lists Arabic, English, and French documents. 1 4 254 I College & Research Libraries • July 1970 SERIAL PUBLICATIONS For up-to-date details regarding pe- riodicals published in the Arab coun- tries research workers and scholars would do well to turn to the classified Directory of Current Periodicals Pub- lished in the Arab World. The Directory was published in 1965 in cooperation with UNESCO which sponsored this and other bibliographical projects in the Arab states; the Directory does not, however, serve as a union list of the locations of the listed periodicals. The bibliographic description includes titles, publisher, frequency, price, address, year of first publication, and termina- tion (if the title has ceased publica- tion). The National Library of Algeria has issued in three volumes its Liste des Periodiques franr;ais et etrangers en cours conserves dans les bibliotheques et centres de documentation des de- partements. In Morocco the new Moroccan peri- odicals are listed in the retrospective volumes of the Bibliographie Nationale Marocaine. In 1964 the French and foreign language section of the Periodi- cals Service of the Bibliotheque Gen- erale et Archives du Maroc issued a list of current periodicals published in Morocco. The leading example of a compre- hensive listing of serial holdings of one Arab library is that of the U.A.R. Na- tional Library's two-volume List of Pe- riodical Holdings. 15 The bibliographical information includes title, year first pub- lished, frequency, price, publisher, ad- dress, name, and capital of the Arab country where the publication originat- ed, and the call number in the National Library. Volume 1 contains a list of 2,144 periodicals with titles arranged in alphabetical order. Volume 2 is an in- dex by place and frequency of publica- tion. It also includes chronological ar- rangement for entries, and an index by subjects. A tool to be used in conjunction with the above two lists of Arabic serials is the Analytical Index to Arabic News- papers and Periodicals. 16 This venture was started under the editorship of Mahmud al-Shiniti in 1962. The Index does not cover every journal or period- ical in the Arab world. Only the most significant or generally useful are in- cluded. Scholarly journals and in par- ticular those in scientific and techno- logical fields, are not covered in the In- dex, and the more general and popu- lar magazines are most fully indexed. Other subject indexes to articles in a given subject area have been published by different Egyptian organizations. The National Institute of Management has issued guides to periodical literature published in Arabic dealing with so- cial and economic planning. 17 A more recent attempt to index sci- entific literature during the year 1968 was published by Abul Futuh "Udah, in the Egyptian quarterly, Mijallat al- kitab al-"Arabi. THESES Arab students and scholars are unfor- tunate in not having at their disposal a comprehensive bibliography of master's or doctoral theses which have been pre- sented at Arab universities since their establishment. In 1963 the first attempt to compile a list of theses submitted to Cairo University was completed and published in the Arab Library Journal "al-Maktaba al-"Arabiyyah."18 The list was compiled by Egyptian students in the master's program in the Department of Archives and Librarianship at Cairo University. It is a subject list with au- thor and title index. The subject matter of each thesis is determined by the ti- tie. The entry includes the author's name, the title of the thesis, the de- partment to which it was presented, and the year it was submitted. The Universities of Alexandria and Ein Shams also issue lists of theses sub- mitted to their departments. 19 The Na- tional Research Center in Cairo has been publishing annual listings of its theses in science. The titles in the list are translated into English.20 Al-Azhar University has also published its list of academic dissertations submitted to the faculties of Shari"ah U sui al-Din and Arabic Language.21 Although Egyp- tian students abroad ·are submitting more theses to academic institutions than the Egyptian students at home, there has b een no attempt to compile a list of theses submitted by those Egyp- tian students who are con1pleting their graduate studies in foreign countries. The great majority of these students are on government scholarships and are re- quired by law to deposit three copies of the Ph.D. thesis and two copies of the master's thesis with the Cultural and Educational Bureau of the U.A.R. embassy in the country where they sub- mitted their thes es. The present writer has suggested that the U .A.R. Cultural and Educational Bureau in Washington should take the lead in compiling lists of the theses it obtains from Egyptian students, and serve as a leading ex- ample to what the other U.A.R. edu- cational bureaus overseas should fol- low. 22 The American University Library in Beirut makes regular mention in its monthly acquisition bulletin of theses and dissertations presented by students of the various faculties for final exam- inations. SUBJECT BIBLIOGRAPHY The number of subject bibliogra- phies has been increasing copiously dur- ing recent years. Nlany subjects have been covered by the national libraries. The Bibliographical Series of the Egyp- tian National Library is an example of the type of work being carried out. The Libraries Section in the Jordanian Min- istry of Education prepares occasional bibliographies on different subjects of Arab Bibliographical Services I 255 interest to teachers, schools, and teach- er-training colleges. The bibliographies deal with children's literature, textbooks, etc. The Library of the University of Jordan issues regularly a bibliography of books on psychology in both Arabic and English. The only tool which listed Arabic bibliographies by country and subject is the Bibliography of Arabic Bibliographies which was compiled by by Ahman "abdel Halim as part of his studies at the London School of Librari- anship in 1961. This bibliography was never published and no attempt was made to supplement such an important work. A brief mention could be made of the Egyptian National Library's subject bibliographies on the Arab world, Egypt, Arabic incunabula, Arabic man- uscripts, Persian manuscripts, and other important subject bibliographies. The Middle East Science Cooperation Office of UNESCO has issued the Mid- dle East Social Science Bibliography which is a classified list of books and articles on the social sciences pub- lished in the Arab countries in 1955- 1960. AccESSION LISTS Accession lists and library catalogs are issued by different Arab libraries. These lists of additions are also valuable sources for finding new publications, particularly those published by other Arab countries. The most active libraries are those of the Universities of Cairo, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. 23 Other gov- ernment and research libraries also pub- lish their own accession lists. CuRRENT STATE OF AND PROPOSED SoLUTIONs FOR ARAB BIBLIO- GRAPHICAL CONTROL It is to be regretted that the indi- vidual Arab states that publish national bibliographies are not publishing them soon enough after the time of publica- tion of the books included. All too fre- 256 I College & Research Libraries • july 1970 quently the printed bibliography is is- sued so much later that the biblio- graphic information itself becomes some- what of an academic matter. There is a need for a comprehensive periodical and general cataloging and indexing service for Arabic government docu- ments. Any of the available Arabic lists of serials need to be brought up to date by issuing the necessary supplements within short periods of time to achieve continuity of coverage. A union list of Arabic periodicals indicating exact hold- ings for each major library in the re- gion would serve as a valuable research tool. There is a need also for an Arabic p eriodical and newspaper directory, to be issued annually and to include all continuations, whatever their frequency and publishers, whether government, association, business corporation, or any other. Complete information should in- clude history, indexes (if any), and special features. The Arab states need a current listing of material about them- selves. There is need for a single, com- preh ensive, frequent publication which would index by subject, and at least an- notate, or preferably abstract, all ma- terial relating to the Arab world, wher- ever published, in whatever form .. Of equal importance to compiling a national bibliography for the Arab world is the identification of the pur- poses and objectives of a national bib- liography which seems now to be lack- ing in the Arab library community. An Arab national bibliography should serve at least two definite purposes. The first would be commercial, in the sense of serving the needs of the book trade, by issuing lists of all new publications. The secondary function is of a more lasting nature, supplying a complete and per- manent record of all printed matter for the research worker. The foundation of the scheme for bib- liographic control in the Arab states must be a comprehensive list, issued frequently and cumulated regularly, of everything produced in the Arab na- tion. National production includes trade publications, both books and pan1phlets; privately printed materials; government publications, including separate serials, printed and otherwise processed; uni- versity theses, completed and in prog- ress; periodicals and newspapers. This implies the est ablish1nent of an Arab central agency whose immediate duty would be to devise means of bring- ing material promptly to the Arab bib- liographic centers for listing. The co- operation of publishers would be en- listed, first on the basis of goodwill, and second on that of self-interest, since a listing will constitute a fr ee advertise- ment. In addition copyright laws n1ust be revised and enforced in such a way as to ensure the deposit of copies in the Arab national libraries. As far as the Arab national coverage is concerned, there is a real need for a union catalog of works published in or on the Arab world and forming part of the collection of libraries of the Arab states. A union catalog of Arabic docu- mentation available in libraries of all types in the Arab world will facilitate an Arab national coverage. Also needed is a list of official publications printed in the Arab countries or relating to them. A national union catalog of periodicals and newspapers published in or on the Arab countries should b e published in a loose-leaf form which is easy to up- date. A regular listing of theses submit- t ed to Arab universities or by Arab stu- dents abroad is needed in order to pro- mote research activity in the Arab world. To complete the bibliographical control in the Arab nation , a bibliogra- phy of sound recordings produced in the Arab world or relating to it can either be published separately or appended to the proposed Arab national bibliogra- phy. The same might also include films, filmstrips, and slides produced in or re- lated to the Arab world. These activities can be organized through the league of Arab states with the cooperation of UNESCO and through establishing a federation of Arab library associations. The collabora- tion of all the libraries is essential if the various needs of bibliographical control in the Arab world are to be achieved. Obviously any such cooperative effort implies agreement on bibliographical standards. The Arab League and UNESCO could provide the facilities for national representatives to work to- gether to produce an Arab code. Each cooperating state should contribute fi- nancially to the compilation and assume responsibility for analyzing its own na- tional production and forward the anal- yses to the Arab national compilers. The main purpose of publishing a cmnprehensive current regional bibliog- raphy for the Arab world is to develop an effective means of achieving wider bibliographic coverage on a more cur- rent and broader basis. The emphasis at the present time should be on cur- rently published materials of the Arab countries. This in itself would also as- sure prompt acquisition by interested librarians and individuals within the Arab world and abroad. The first attempts at regional cover- age of Arab library resources and ac- tivities are to be considered steps to- ward meeting the appeal of UNESCO for an exhaustive national list of cur- rent publications and for a complete record of past publications. These at- tempts have resulted in publishing A Directory of Current Periodicals pub- lished in the Arab world compiled by M. El-Mahdi in 1965. Another one, en- titled Directory of Archives, Libraries, Documentation Centers and Biblio- graphical Institutions in the Arabic States, was compiled by Ahmad Badr and published by the UNESCO office in Cairo in 1965. Another example of the present lim- ited regional bibliographical coverage Arab Bibliographical Services I 257 is the listing of books published in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria in the sen1i- annual periodical Al-Maktaba (The Li- brary). This periodical serves as a se- lect publishers' record for these four Arab countries. The entries are arranged under broad subjects with annotations in Arabic and English translations. The recent publication of the Arab World Index covering 1960-64, and al-Dalil al- Bibliojrafi lil-Qiyam al-Thaqafiyysh al- "Arabiyyah and the American Univer- sity of Beirut's list Selected and Anno- tated Bibliography of Econom,ic Litera- ture on the Arabic Speaking Countries of the Middle East are a few exan1ples of the increasing Arab bibliographical activities to meet the needs of scholars for overall national bibliographical con- trol. An Arab Bibliographical Center such as is here proposed would meet most of the urgent bibliographic needs of scholars, research libraries, government authorities, and others who are con- cerned with the Arab countries. Before such a Center could be established, a number of organizational problems would have to be carefully considered and worked out, such as its location, its relation with other institutions, its budg- et and method of financing. In choosing a location for the Center it would seem evident that immediate proximity to a major national library of the Arab states would be a first priority. Representatives of the Arab Biblio- graphical Center should be chosen from the most active libraries in the states whether they be national, university, or central public libraries. Libraries with legal deposit privileges should be given top priority. The location of such a Center can only be determined by the n1utual agreement of Arab national librarians. This project would also require agree- ment among publishers as to how to provide the Arab Bibliographic Center with copies of new publications. 258 I College & Research Libraries • July 1970 The Cultural Committee of the any language as long as it deals with League of Arab States has taken the the Arab world. initiative to propose what was called The other important activity of the "Markaz Tasjil al-Matbu"at al-"Arabiy- Center would be the establishment and yah" (Center for Registration of Arabic maintenance of an Arab national un- hooks). The recommendations which ion catalog of all materials available in were adopted in the Committee's six- Arabic. The Bibliographic Center could teenth annual session, February 16- 23, assist Arab and foreign librarians in 1963, stated: many essential ways. For certain areas ... That the Cultural Department of the League of Arab States prepare periodical lists of all works issued by Publishing firms in the various Arab States. These lists would be circulated, as they appeared, to the Arab governments, thus helping to strengthen publishing in the Arab coun- tries. That the Arabic Manuscripts Institute of the League of Arab States in conjunction with the Documentation and Publication Cenb·e produce a scheme for a periodical bulletin listing manuscripts in the Arab counb·ies, whose recension and publication had either actually been effected or was projected. That two copies of any work published in an Arab country, whether an original work, a translation or work edited in that counb·y, be lodged through the Govern- ment concerned in the library of the Sec- retariat-General of the League, to provide a central depository of Arab States. 24 Such a bibliographic center would al- so publish a comprehensive annotated bibliography. Its ultimate goal would be to include everything that is pub- lished anywhere in the world and in of knowledge which are especially ger- mane to the area, the Center would also have to function as an international center for Egyptology, Islam, Arab and Middle Eastern sources, by collecting material and publishing abstracts for all related literatures that it would receive. Publishing of printed cards and dis- tributing them to participating libraries of the Arab states would avoid the na- tional waste of hundreds of classifiers and catalogers processing the same title in hundreds of Arab libraries. The Arab national economy will also be secured through a higher order of conformity to standards which will be made possible through a central processing center. Such a mode of national economy is al- ready accomplished in the United States and the Soviet Union, South Af- rica, and other countries. The Center would be the proper agency to take charge of this Arab bib- liographic coordination through its co- operative classification and cataloging. Gradually the Center would make sets of catalog cards available to libraries in the Arab states and abroad. REFERENCES 1. Ibn al-N a dim, Kitab al fihrist; mit an- merkungen hrsq. von Gustav Flugel (Leipzig: F.S.W. Vogel, 1871-72). 2. Hadjdji Khalifah, Kashf al-dhunun ccan asami al-kutub wal funun. 2 vols. (Cairo: Bulaq Press, 18-). 3. For more information on early Arabic bibliographies see the second chapter in the writer's theses: Analysis of Ter- minology, Form and Structure of Sub- ject Headings in Arabic Literature . ... (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pitts- burgh, Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences, 1968). 4. Karl Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen literature (2d ed.; Leiden, 1937-42), 2 vols. and 3 suppls. 5. Jurji Zidan, Tarikh adab al-lugha al- ccarabiyya (Cairo: Dar al-Hilal, 1957). 6. Sirkis "Awwad, comp., Mu "jam al- matbu "at al. "arabiyyah (Dictionary of Arabic books) (Cairo: Matba "at Sar- kis, 1928-31). 7. Herman Fiori, ... Bibliographie des ouvrages imprimes a Alger de 1830 a 1850 ... preface de G. Esquer ... (Blica, Alger: !'auteur, 1938); Sir Rob- ert Lambert Playfair, A bibliography of Algeria, from the expedition of Charles V. in 1541 to 1887 (Royal Geographical Soc. Suppl. papers. Lon- don, 1889). Also by the same author: Supplement to the bibliography of Al- geria from the earliest times to 1895. Supplement. From the earliest times, to 1895, published in London, 1898. (Part 2 of his bibliography of the Bar- bary States.) 8. Stuart Carter Dodd, A Post-war Bib- liography of the Near Eastern Man- .dates: A preliminary survey of pub- lications on the social sciences dealing with Iraq, Palestine, and Trans-Jor- dan, and the Syrian States, from Nov. 1, 1918 to Dec. 31, 1929, arranged in an alphabetical list by authors, with a limited index by subject matter. (Beirut: American Press, 1933-36). (Social Science Publication Series 1-4, 6-8). 9. Roy Wells Hill, A Bibliography of Libya (Durham University, Durham Colleges. Geography, Dept. of Re- search Papers, series no. 1. Durham, 1959.) Archivio bibliografico coloniale (Libya) Anno 1-42. (Maggio, 1914- July 1921, Firenze, 1915-21). 10. "Alam al-maktabat, v.1- , no. 1- 1957- (bimonthly). 11. "Aydah Ibrahim Nusayr. al-Kutub al- "Arabiyyah allati nushirat fil- ]umhur- iyyah al-"Arabyyah bayn "Amy 1926- 1940; dirasah wa bibliujrafia. (Cairo: University of Cairo, 1966). (Master's Thesis , Department of Archives and Librarianship, Cairo University, 1966.) 12. U.A.R. Wizarat al-tarbiyah wal-ta"lim, al-dalil al-bibliijrafi li-matbu" at wiz- arat al-tarbiyah wal-ta "lim 1950- 1960. (Cairo, 1961). 13. U.A.R. Wizarat al-tarbiyah wal-t a"lim. Markaz al-wath'iq wal-buhuth al-tar- bawiyyah. al-Fihris al-abjadi al-maw- du" i lil-qawa" in wal-qaarat al-ium- huriyyah wal-wizariyyah wal-manshu- rat al-"Ammah wal-kutub al-dawriy- yah al-muta" alliqah bi-a"mal wiza- rat al-tarbiyah wal-ta"lim . . . (Cairo, 1961- ) (annual). 14. U.A.R. Dar al-kutub. Qa'imah bi ba"d al-matbu" at al-humkumiyyah allati sadarat fil-iqlim al-misri fi ~cahd al- Arab Bibliographical Services I 259 thawrah fil-fatrah min 1952-58. (Cai- ro: National Library Press, 1959.) 15. U.A.R. National Library and Archives . Fihris al-dawriyyat al-"Arabiyya allati- taqtaqtaniha al-dar, compiled by M a- hmud Isma"il "Abdullah (Cairo, 1961, 1963) v.1, 1961; v.2, 1963. 16. al-Kashahaf al-tahlili lil-suhus wal-mi- jallat al-"Arabiyyah (Cairo: The Arab Library Public. 1961-date). 17. U.A.R. Ma"had al-Takhtit al-Qawmi. al- Dawriyyat al" Arabiyyah allati tasil li-markaz al-watha' iq fi majal-al-tak- htit al-iqtisadi. Cairo Institute of Na- tional Planning. (Annual). Also by the same Institute: Ta"rif bil-matbu" at al- ihsa'iyyah al-dawriyyah ma"a biblio- jrafia mawdu" iyyah lil-maoalat al" Arabiyyaq fi-majal, al-takhtit al-ijti- ma" i wal-iqtisadi li" am. ( 1964) Cairo, 1965-. 18. "Bibliujrafia al-Rasa'il al-jami"iyyah al-"Arabiyya", Mijallat Al Maktaba al "Arabiyyah (Arab Library) 1 ( 4), 1964, 44-128. 19. University of Alexandria, Si:jill al-ra- sa' il. (Alexandria, 1957 -date) . 20. U.A.R. al-Markaz al-Qawmi lil-Bu- huth. Qa'imah bil-risalat al-''ilmiyyah allati ujriyat buhuthuha bil-markaz. (Cairo: National Research Center, 1965.) 21. al-Azhar University. Qa'imat tawthig maktabi lil-rasa'il al-jami"iyyha al-mu- jazah bil-.dirasat al-'·'ulia li-kulliyyat usul al-din wal-shari"ah wal-lughah al-"Arabiyyah. . . . (Cairo: the U ni- versity, 1967.) 22. Mohammed M. Aman, "al-Utruhat al- jam"iyyah: kayfiyyat hifdhaha wa tu- ruq al-ta"rif biha", Zamili, 2:16- 18, 1965. 23. Cairo University, Central Library, Nash rat al-magtanayat al-hadithah. Cairo, 1961- ; University of Baghdad , Central Library, Fihris mawdu"i maj- ami" al-kutub al-"arabiyyah. 1959- ; American University (Beirut) Librar- ies. Kutub udifat hadithan ila makta- bat al-jami" ah ma" ada maktabat al"- tibbiyyah; University of Damascus, Li- brary, Bulletin mensuel .des publica- tions rec;ues. 24. Bibliography, Documentation, T ermi- nology. 3 ( 4): July 1963.