Digitisation of Islamic studies resources
The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) digitisation programme is undertaking a £350,000 programme of work to digitise Islamic studies theses, catalogues and manuscripts as part of our work to support Islamic studies as a strategically important subject.
The digitisation of these resources will make the resources available for use in Islamic studies teaching and research, and supports the implementation of the UK Islamic studies network led by the Higher Education Academy. The work is based upon recommendations in Exeter University's 2008 'Review of User Requirements for Digitised Resources in Islamic Studies' (Adobe PDF).
Islamic studies theses
The Exeter report identified 860 PhD theses published between 1997 and 2006 which were within the subject area of Islamic studies. JISC's work makes all these theses available electronically through the EthOS service which, managed by the British Library, provides electronic access to PhD theses published in UK universities. The project completed in 2009.
Islamic studies catalogues and manuscripts
The collections of UK higher education institutions hold numerous manuscripts, and catalogues of manuscripts, relating to Islamic studies. JISC awarded funding to two projects, which will finish in 2011, to digitise these manuscripts and catalogues, in order to make them freely available on the internet.
- Wellcome Arabic manuscript cataloguing partnership
The Wellcome Trust with the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt will digitise Islamic manuscripts related to science and medicine, and undertake software development for future digitisation programmes. - Oxford & Cambridge Islamic manuscripts catalogue online
The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge are collaborating to digitise their hard copy catalogues which relate to Islamic studies resources.
More information on JISC's work to digitise Islamic studies resources
Last updated 22 April 2010