Gulf SlA Conference Sees Arabic Treasures Preserved
Gale Publishing (part of Cengage Learning) picked the GULF SLA (Kuwait) Conference to release a whole module of Early Arabic Books, the digitized version of printed books from the British Library. The initiative consists of sources covering sciences, History and Geography, follows on the launch in December 2015 of the first module on Religion and Law.
The initial module, presented by Gale in Dubai, was well received by key libraries in the Middle East, and is presently benefiting The Egyptian Presidential Council and American University of Beirut, among others.
To mark the latest module launch, Seth Cayley, Director of Research Publishing at Gale Publishing, spoke on the 2nd day of the SLA conference about the vital contribution it will make to the hisorical academic resource collections of learning organizations across the Middle East area. He impressed how Early Arabic Books will drive more initial research in the region, making it possible for local scholars to make new discoveries about history, and how it will support collection development programs of Middle East Libraries for growing Arabic heritage collections.
The 2nd module included works on a wealth of subjects consisting of Medicine and Physiology; Astrology; Politics; Chemistry; Travel and Geography and Topography amonsgt others. Specifically, scientific texts in the module include over 300 deal with Medicine and Physiognomy; over 200 works on Astronomy, Astrology, Mathematics and Alchemy and 500 works on Philosophy and Ethics. Researchers such as al-Haytham, al-Farabi and al-Battani all feature, and scholars can explore major works of Geography and Travel that offer insight into the economic and intellectual orbut of the inhabitants of the Islamic world.
Seth Cayley remarks: "Through the digitizaion of Early Arabic Printed Books, we are bringing heritage collections to digital life supporting the clinical, intellectual and cultural accomplishments of nations in the Middle East. We are extremely delighted about revealing this latest module which forms part of a collection on which we have actually focused significant investment and resources, and which we will continue to introduce to academic instituions in a phased approach.
"We are expecting a large deal of interest from visitors at the event due to the fact that up until now these genuine collections of ancient periodicals, pamphlets and scholastic documents and reference sources have just been acccessible by means of the British Library.".
Kamel Al abdulijalel, President for SLA-AGC Conference 2016 comments: "It's most encourging that Gale has actually selected the Gulf SLA platform to release this innovative and pioneering product which is predestined to bring in big interest. We are very much anticipating hearing more about Early Arabic Books and seeing the reaction of the delegates to it, who will have the ability to see in the beginning hand what the module requires and the huge contribution it will make to academic knowing in the area.".
