Present: R. Dougherty (absent), M. Gaston, D. Hirsch, M. Hopper, C. Murphy, J. Rodgers, M. St. Germain, J. Simon, J. Weinberger

10:00 AM: Call to order

I. Local updates from members

• D. Hirsch: UCLA manuscripts catalogue is in the works, including Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Armenian, etc.
• M. St. Germain: University of Washington plans a project for filming newspapers from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, although funding is not yet in place. It is planned that a copy be deposited at CRL or MEMP; cf. Norman Ross Central Asian newspapers project.
• J. Rodgers: Univ. of Michigan preservation activities have shifted away from microform to exclusively digital. The Near East Division is working on a project to complete the cataloguing of and digitize the Islamic manuscripts collection, although funding sources have yet to be identified. The library has hired an Africana bibliographer. Rodgers’s translation of Fischer’s Grammatik des klassischen arabisch has been published by Yale Univ. Press.
• M. Hopper: Harvard’s Widener Library renovation project phase II is under way: climate control wiring, staff space reorganization. A ½ time arabic cataloguer position has been posted in conjunction with an older arabic materials cataloguing project grant; Assyrian American Federation materials
• For the absent Robin Dougherty, M. Hopper announced and solicited suggestions for candidates for open MELA officer positions: president, vice-president, secretary-treasurer, and editor.
• The MEMP Fall meeting will convene Friday, 16 Nov. 2001 at MESA in San Francisco. Refer to the MESA or MELA web site for details. MEMP Executive Board meeting: 9:00 a.m.-noon and MEMP membership meeting: 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
• D. Hirsch, V-P. and Program Chair reminded the board of the call for papers for the fall MELA meeting and announced that two papers have already been accepted on the program: D. Hirsch on European buying trip and M. St. Germain on a buying trip to Central Asia. Additionally, it is hoped that a Moroccan librarian will speak on an as yet unannounced topic, and from Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle, Lutz Wiederhold will describe the digital library project and its web site (Middle East Virtual Library).

II. CRL reports (2 handouts distributed):

• Budget, commitments, spending: cataloguing expenses have risen a bit
• The new President of CRL, Bernard F. Reilly, Jr., who has an interest in Area and international studies, etc., holds much promise for MEMP and other such projects
• CRL, and JSTOR: CRL is the print archive for digitized materials
• CAMP project: Timbuktu mss. on slavery in Arabic digitized through Northwestern with a vendor
• An update on the status of dissertation cataloguing: Cataloguing online of current receipts is current, but 800K[??] backlog are included in a project.
• M. Hopper suggested that MEMP undertake a project to acquire Arab world dissertation
• CRL can acquire any foreign dissertation by special request

III. LC Reports:

• Handout on Preservation Reformatting Plan distributed.  List is current for 2000-2001; Question: English language newspapers from Arab world also included? Answer: Yes; all acquired will be filmed. Thus, the project does not include Israeli or European newspapers nor does it include Near Eastern law. Persian newspapers are filmed in New Delhi. Refer to the list of titles on the LC New Delhi web site.
• Hezbollah materials transferred to LC from unknown source and include news print from Syria and Lebanon (Bekaa)
• LC web site for microfilmed newspapers, etc., might appear in November
• News on the LC Photo-duplication department: downsized to near-term reduced capacity.
• Nevertheless, those titles already on the list will be filmed
• All MEMP Arabic pamphlets sent to CRL for filming, but without the diskette index(?)
• Arabic Manuscripts in The British Library has been acquired from IDC by LC, but there is as yet no guide or handlist. The guide is finished and will be shipped according to the BL.
• It is the intention of LC to acquire as much as possible in the way of mss. on film or fiche

IV. Other Business

• Hopper requests that all members of MEMP/MELA send him their cataloguing and acquisitions statistics for central compilation and distribution.
• Minutes of the last MEMP Executive Board meeting are reviewed, corrected, and approved
• LC cannot acquire materials from Iraq because of US sanctions
• Various proposals: status and updates:
• M. Hopper: al-Samir: Robert Madey needs an appraisal for IRS and it might be undertaken by Fawzi Abdulrazak
• The Chaqeri collection of Iranian left-wing materials is now being processed along with pamphlets from NYPL
• Ahali newspapers files: MEMP membership should be polled by CRL to determine the desired access means to the files, e.g., pdf and MS-Word files for distribution on CD or other means.
• CRL received 12 boxes of Arabic pamphlets from LC for filming and a printout of contents. $3000 is budgeted already and should cover it. The Board gives its approval to go ahead with the project and spend up to $5000
• D. Hirsch: update progress on items on list (see updated handout): Iraq al-Hurr and Barid al-Janub. LC is not filming these titles. Board approves small estimate cost
• Sahwah and Subh -i Iran will wait for LC word about holdings and filming possibilities
• Discussion of ethnic newspapers and filming them. This will be covered in the MEMP White Paper discussion this afternoon
• D. Hirsch: Summary of trip to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Berlin where he collected Arabic and materials from those communities. He will post bibliography of titles: title language country

Afternoon Session

• Middle East in Microfilm: should/can this made accessible online? Technical problems exist with diacritics, etc. It might be converted to an online database within the CRL/MEMP context.
• D. Hirsch: What is really needed is an on-line database of all ME vernacular and non-vernacular newspaper holdings, a union catalogue to compile all the various web sites and make these accessible via links available to MELA libraries
• There was discussion of who will do the work. M. St Germain and D. Hirsch volunteered to begin a pilot in consultation with C. Murphy of LC which is also working on a similar project of union list of online newspapers

White Paper: Review and Discussion

• Files of minutes early meetings, first meeting 1987, are needed. There was further discussion of Middle East in Microfilm in arabic script.
• Durham University Project was mentioned as a model. Further information is needed.
• Discussion of MEMP’s mission
  • Is it desirable to poll members to determine holdings and what needs to be included in the collection policy? No broad but seemingly ad hoc policy of collection exists, yet it relates to collection policies of member libraries
  • The topic of a list of NGO’s mentioned by Laila Mulgaokar at the last MELA meeting was brought up. Will post this be eventually posted?
  • The board repeated its call for coordination and communication among LC and MEMP members on which library is undertaking the filming of which titles.
  • Before adjournment: J. Simon requested with respect to the MEMP White paper that the list of MEMP Questions appearing on last page of the handout be divided up among the board members who are asked to review them and submit suggestions and ideas for clarifying the activities and redirecting the endeavors of MEMP so that a coherent document of MEMP’s mission, etc., be codified.
  • There are three categories (see marked up text) for assignment:
    M. Gaston, external no. 2
    M. Hopper and D. Hirsch, Future no. 3
    J. Weinberger and J. Rodgers, no. 1 internal
  • Ideas and suggestions formed cooperatively or individually can be share among those on these committees and packaged to send to J. Simon

15:30: Meeting adjourned

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