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| Source: Gale website. |
"Our focus is on creating research products that incorporate content with global relevance and appeal," said Paul Gazzolo, Senior VP and GM, Gale. "This programme is a game-changer. Not only will it help preserve Arabic heritage in the Middle East and Islamic Studies, it will transform the historical and cultural study of the Middle East."
Gale's global product development team is working with an advisory board of expert researchers of Middle Eastern studies, including experts from the UAE, Canada, Saudi Arabia and the UK, to bring together this multi-year initiative.
The first collection, Early Arabic Printed Books from the British Library, will be available in December and will be the first major searchable online archive of pre-20th century Arabic printed books available anywhere. Two subsequent parts of the collection will be released in 2016 and 2017. This full-text searchable collection will cover content from the fifteenth through the nineteenth centuries and will allow scholars to explore the interaction between East and West through Arabic texts, early European translations of Arabic texts, and Christian texts in Arabic.
Simon Bell, Head of Publisher Relations at the British Library said, "The British Library is delighted to continue its longstanding partnership with Gale by providing access to its unique collection of Early Arabic Printed Books based on AG Ellis' catalogue. Ranging across a wealth of topics – from Islamic literature to law and the sciences – the collection will contribute significantly to a deeper and multi-faceted understanding of the Arab world. This is without doubt a major publishing event that represents the first large-scale digitisation of searchable early Arabic books for scholars worldwide."
Scholars can search full text items in Arabic, English, French, German, Latin, Italian, Dutch and Spanish, as well as discover content in Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Ottoman Turkish, Persian, Syriac and 17 other languages. Interfaces in Arabic and European languages, right-to-left-read navigation of Arabic texts, an embedded Arabic keyboard and newly-developed optical character recognition software for early Arabic printed script have been introduced to ensure scholars in Arabic-speaking countries and those across the world can equally cross-search and research the range of texts.
Click here for more information on Gale's Arabic programme.
Simon Bell, Head of Publisher Relations at the British Library said, "The British Library is delighted to continue its longstanding partnership with Gale by providing access to its unique collection of Early Arabic Printed Books based on AG Ellis' catalogue. Ranging across a wealth of topics – from Islamic literature to law and the sciences – the collection will contribute significantly to a deeper and multi-faceted understanding of the Arab world. This is without doubt a major publishing event that represents the first large-scale digitisation of searchable early Arabic books for scholars worldwide."
Scholars can search full text items in Arabic, English, French, German, Latin, Italian, Dutch and Spanish, as well as discover content in Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Ottoman Turkish, Persian, Syriac and 17 other languages. Interfaces in Arabic and European languages, right-to-left-read navigation of Arabic texts, an embedded Arabic keyboard and newly-developed optical character recognition software for early Arabic printed script have been introduced to ensure scholars in Arabic-speaking countries and those across the world can equally cross-search and research the range of texts.
Click here for more information on Gale's Arabic programme.