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Building Collections
through Partnerships: Global Islamic Studies at Lehigh
 LTS
librarians are collaborating with faculty to identify
and purchase library resources as part of a $1.4 million
grant from
The Andrew
W. Mellon Foundation. This interdisciplinary initiative
supports Lehigh’s
Center for Global Islamic Studies which “promotes interdisciplinary
teaching and research designed to take Islamic Studies into
and beyond the classroom by offering students, faculty and
the broader community a variety of forums for dialogue,
debate and experiential learning.”
As part of its proposal, the grant writers, including
Professor Robert Rozehnal, Director of the Center,
specifically requested funds to develop a library collection
that would serve as an extensive window to Islamic culture,
history and contributions. The Center’s website describes
its purpose as supporting “the academic exploration of the
diverse cultures and rich historical legacy of the Muslim
world: from its roots in Abrahamic prophecy and Greek
philosophy, to its long interaction with the West and
profound impact on global culture, trade, art and
architecture, literature, politics, philosophy, science and
religious life.” Professor Rozehnal described the grant
process: “It seemed obvious to everyone all along that
library materials were crucial.” Since libraries function as
the “laboratories” for the humanities and social sciences,
it is reasonable to expect that the Mellon grant, in
addition to its support for faculty and curricular
development, would include library funding. The award
includes more than $170,000 for the purchase of library
materials over four years.
Now in its third year, the library has purchased nearly
1,500 items including books, media content, and online
resources to support the diverse landscape of Islamic
civilization. Working from faculty-provided bibliographies,
LTS has purchased all available works by approximately fifty
important contemporary Islamic scholars and created an
approval plan that automatically ships relevant works from
university presses and specialized publishers.
Courses offered though the Center benefit from this infusion
of new library materials. Visiting professors have recounted
to Professor Rozehnal that students who are writing research
papers are now finding impressive numbers of sources in our
library. When asked about the impetus to include library
funding in the grant proposal, Rozehnal stated, “I can’t
imagine how you wouldn’t or couldn’t include library
acquisitions as a central part of the grant. Visiting
faculty scholars in the humanities and social sciences would
be coming here and continuing their own work. They have
basic expectations that their discipline was well
represented and the resources would be available. You have
to provide library materials that are useful for their
research and also for their classroom teaching.”
LTS views its experience with the Mellon Global Islamic
Studies grant as a model for future grant work at Lehigh. As
it is increasingly challenging for libraries to build
collections to support new programs in tight budgets, Lehigh
has been able to accomplish this goal solely because of the
Mellon grant and the recognition by the Center for Global
Islamic Studies that the library is central to campus
scholarship.
Roseann Bowerman
rb04@lehigh.edu
Helen Mack
hpm0@lehigh.edu
Article posted December,
2011
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