World libraries: Online boost for Islamic studies

Researchers and librarians working in Islamic Studies will now for the first time have online access to nearly 1000 Ph.D theses in the subject, spanning over ten years. JISC, The Academy and The British Library have combined their resources to bring together Islamic Studies theses from universities across the UK and Ireland.

Up until now this wealth of knowledge has been dispersed across 97 universities and has only been accessible through individual academic libraries and archives. The collection represents nearly half of the 2000 Islamic Studies Ph.Ds written between 1997 and 2006.

This diverse collection, which has been put online by the British Library via its EThOS electronic theses service, covers fields such as Islamic law, history, politics, finance, anthropology, sociology and gender studies. There are also theses which examine Muslim communities in the UK.

Putting these resources online supports the government's drive to develop Islamic studies as a strategically important subject which includes providing access to a range of Islamic resources. Other resources to be digitised include manuscripts, catalogues and dictionaries, thus providing further crucial tools for those working within Islamic studies.