Kuwait - Sunday, April 24th 2016 [ME NewsWire]Gale Publishing (part of Cengage Learning) chose the GULF SLA (Kuwait) Conference to launch an entire module of Early Arabic Books, the digitized version of printed books from the British Library. The initiative includes sources covering sciences, History and Geography, follows on the launch in December 2015 of the first module on Religion and Law.
The initial module, introduced by Gale in Dubai, was well received by key libraries in the Middle East, and is currently benefiting The Egyptian Presidential Council and American University of Beirut, amongst others.
To mark the latest module launch, Seth Cayley, Director of Research Publishing at Gale Publishing, spoke on the second day of the SLA conference about the important contribution it will make to the hisorical academic resource collections of learning institutions across the Middle East region. He impressed how Early Arabic Books will drive more original research in the region, enabling 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 second module featured works on a wealth of topics including Medicine and Physiology; Astrology; Politics; Chemistry; Travel and Geography and Topography amonsgt others. Specifically, scientific texts in the module include over 300 works on Medicine and Physiognomy; over 200 works on Astronomy, Astrology, Mathematics and Alchemy and 500 works on Philosophy and Ethics. Scientists such as al-Haytham, al-Farabi and al-Battani all feature, and scholars can explore major works of Geography and Travel that provide insight into the economic and intellectual orbut of the inhabitants of the Islamic world.
Seth Cayley comments: “Through the digitizaion of Early Arabic Printed Books, we are bringing heritage collections to digital life supporting the scientific, intellectual and cultural achievements of countries in the Middle East. We are very excited about unveiling this latest module which forms part of a collection on which we have focused significant investment and resources, and which we will continue to introduce to academic instituions in a phased approach.
“We are expecting a great deal of interest from visitors at the event because up until now these authentic collections of ancient periodicals, pamphlets and scholastic papers and reference sources have only been acccessible via the British Library.”
Kamel Al abdulijalel, President for SLA-AGC Conference 2016 comments: “It’s most encourging that Gale has chosen the Gulf SLA platform to launch this innovative and pioneering product which is destined to attract huge interest. We are very much looking forward to hearing more about Early Arabic Books and seeing the response of the delegates to it, who will be able to see at first hand what the module entails and the huge contribution it will make to academic learning in the region.”
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Editors’ Notes:
Cengage Learning is a leading educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education and K-12, professional and library markets worldwide. Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, is a global provider of research resources for libraries and businesses for over 60 years. Gale is passionate about supporting innovation and evolution of libraries by providing the tools, and services libraries need to promote information discovery, enable learning, and support economic, cultural, and intellectual growth in their communities. For more information, visit http://www.cengage.co.uk/ or http://gale.cengage.co.uk/
Contacts
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lisa@ibuz.ae
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