Congratulations, Mr Hamid!
Hi friends!
A short news piece released yesterday has announced a joint effort between the Yunus Emre Institute and several Balkan libraries in order to digitize various Turkish manuscript collections.
For those of you inclined to read about the Turkish manuscript holdings of the Vatican Library, take a look Rossi, Ettore. 1953. Elenco dei manoscritti turchi della Biblioteca vaticana: vaticani, barberiniani, borgiani, rossiani, chigiani. Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca apostolica vaticana (Ref. Z6605 T8 R6 ).
For more information on the Vatican’s manuscript collections take a look at St Louis University’s Vatican Film Library subject guide.
Hi friends! Hot off the press is the latest Pew Research Center’s “survey of Muslims around the world.” The survey notes “[i]n all but a handful of the 39 countries surveyed, a majority of Muslims say that Islam is the one true faith leading to eternal life in heaven and that belief in God is necessary to be a moral person.” Continue reading here.
A warm congratulations to Dr. Khalid Medani on his most recent publication:Teaching the “New Middle East”: Beyond Authoritarianism
Khalid Mustafa Medani April 2013
2 years ago the McLennan Library was home to an exhibition on the scholar, al-Ghazālī. The exhibition was well received and was accompanied by postcards and a booklet. The booklet includes articles by current Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies, Dr. J. Ragep, past-Director Dr. R. Wisnovsky, Ghazālī scholar Rev. Dr. Y. Said, and PhD. candidates E. van Lit and E. Tasbihi. It also provides details on the most important and unique leaves and manuscripts that were on display. Recently, this catalogue became available for free thanks in large part to the Digital Team of McGill University Libraries.
Enjoy!
Hi friends! At last night’s gala celebrating the achievements of McGill’s Tehran Branch and the work and dedication of Dr. Mehdi Mohaghegh a new website was unveiled. The Tehran Branch website provides a brief history of the TB and includes some of its publications with more to come…
Check out the current list of freely accessible publications here.
Dear friends:
The Institute will be hosting a luncheon with Dr. Mehdi Mohaghegh who will be representing the Tehran Branch of the Institute. He will be discussing, amongst other topics some of the publications produced by the Tehran Branch. Some of these have been digitized such as:
مجموعه سخنرانيها و مقالهها در باره فلسفه و عرفان اسلامي / Majmūʻah-ʼi sukhanrānīhā va maqālahʹhā dar bārah-ʼi falsafah va ʻirfān-i Islāmī and are freely available via McGill!
Hi friends!
We have a trial with Arab e-Marefa (EBSCO) for the following 30 days.
This is a new database that includes “Arab e-Marefa is the leading Arabic language research database providing full text for 950 academic journals and statistical reports issued by various bodies in the Arabic world including universities, research centers, public statistical departments, central banks, scientific associations and regional organizations. The database provides international standard bibliographic records for almost 70,000 articles plus the access to these articles. Additional content includes thousands of dissertations and over 7,000 book reviews.”
Please take a look at this resource and consider its value to the research you and your students conduct. Is it easy to navigate? Can you find sought after materials?
Any and all feedback is welcome!
Hi friends!
Last Wednesday, the ISL hosted an Ismaili Community event. 65 young people ranging in ages 13-17 came for a tour and discussion. The tour took place in the McLennan Library, specifically on the current exhibition ‘Strokes and Hairlines: Elegant Writing and its Place in Muslim Book Culture’ curated by Adam Gacek and in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Institute of Islamic Studies and the Islamic Studies Library.
The students were then provided with a short lecture on Arabic calligraphy and the different scripts, including an activity in which the students were asked to guess the script while exploring the recently digitized Islamic Calligraphy exhibition. The students went away with a few souvenirs graciously put together by Anna DiPietro and her staff. 
Photos courtesy of Sabrina Hanna.