College and Research Libraries


Arabic Resources in American 
Research Libraries and PL 480 

IN THE UNITED STATES there are sixty-
eight libraries that have noteworthy col-
lections of Arabic publications. Of these, 
thirty-four libraries possess more than 
one hundred forty thousand Arabic print-
ed books. 1 The larger Arabic collections 
in the United States, according to Mo-
hamed El-Hadi2 in his recently completed 
survey, are to be found in the following 
thirteen libraries : 

Library of Congress 15,575 Vols. 
New York Public Library 15,000 " 
Princeton University 

Library . 15,000 " 
University of California 

(Los Angeles) Library 15,000 " 
Harvard University 

Library . 10,000 " 
University of Utah 

Library . 10,000 " 
Hoover Institution on War, 

Revolution, and Peace 9,000 " 
Yale University Library 7,000 " 
Columbia University 

Library . 6,000 " 
Hartford Seminary 

Foundation . 6,000 " 
University of Michigan 

Library . 6,000 " 
University of California 

(Berkeley) Library . 5,000 " 
University of Chicago 

Library . 5,000 " 

The thirteen libraries mentioned above 
now acquire thousands of Arabic publi-

1 Mohamed M. El-Hadi, "Arabic Library Resources 
in the United States ; an Investigation of Their Evo-
lution, Status, and Technical Problems" (PhD 
thesis, Urbana, Ill., 1964). 

2 Ibid., p. 48. 

BY SEOUD MATTA 

Mr. Matta is a member of the Documen-
tation Center for Education, Cairo, UAR, 
and is a doctoral student in the School of 
Library Service, Columbia University. 

cations annually. "Organizing and serving 
Arabic publications is still the major prob-
lem facing American librarianship. The 
personnel problem is an important phase 
of the dilemma. . . . The major bulk of 
Arabic resources in the above mentioned 
institutions is not yet cataloged. The back-
log in cataloging and the lack of organi-
zation of materials hinder the usefulness 
of such collections. " 3 

It is the purpose of the following dis-
cussion to describe conditions resulting 
from the current administrative practices 
of PL 480 regarding cataloging of Arabic 
materials, and to offer a proposal for per-
forming the task of processing these ma-
terials in the United Arab Republic as 
the best possible solution to this serious 
problem. 

PL 480 

Perhaps the most significant single de-
velopment for the United States in the 
acquisition of Arabic materials since the 
mid-nineteenth century is the United 
States Public Law 480. This law is aimed 
at financing programs outside the United 
States for the following reasons: 4 

1. The analysis and evaluation of foreign 
books, periodicals, and other materials. 

2. The registry, indexing, binding, repro-
3 Ibid .• p. 124. 
~Library of Congress, Information Bulletin, XVII 

(October 27, 1958), 609-10. 

472 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



duction, cataloging, abstracting, trans-
lating, and dissemination of books, 
periodicals, and related materials de-
termined to have much significance. 

3. The acquisition of such books, pe-
riodicals, and other materials and the 
deposit thereof in libraries and re-
search centers in the United States. 

The program started with twelve li-
braries receiving materials from the 
United Arab Republic and was extended 
later to include twenty libraries. "Each of 
the libraries receiving publications from 
the DAR is sent the current issues of ten 
major newspapers, and of some one hun-
dred twenty periodicals. In addition each 
participant receives commercially pub-
lished monographs at the rate of twelve 
to fourteen hundred titles per year and a 
virtually complete set of current govern-
ment publications. As of January 1963, 
after a year of actual operation, the Cairo 
office had shipped more than one hundred 
twenty thousand items to participant li-
braries .... " 5 

CENTRALIZED OR COOPERATIVE 

CATALOGING OF ARABIC MATERIALS 

To overcome the difficulties in technical 
processing of Arabic materials, Harry W. 
Hazzard6 and David Wilder7 proposed 
the establishment of a fully centralized 
national cataloging system for Arabic or 
Middle Eastern publications. This would 
be done in a separate bibliographic center 
of Near Eastern materials for the use of 
libraries. Most of the librarians inter-

5 Robert D. Stevens, "The Library of Congress 
Public Law 480 Programs," Library Resources and 
Technical Services, VII (Spring 1963), 180-82. 

6 Harry W. Hazzard, Bibliographical Resources and 
Needs in the Social !Sciences Relating to the Near 
and Middle East; a Workimg Paper Based on a Report 
Submitted to the Committee on the Near and Middle 
East Social Science Research Council (New York, 
March 1957). 

'1 David Wilder, "The Acquisition and Control of 
Publications from the Middle East ; a Report Prepared 
for the Social Science Research Council, Committee 
on the Near and Middle East, May 1958," (mimeo) 
in Association of Research Libraries Farmington Plan 
Survey . . . (final report, 1959), Docket IV -F. 

NOVEMBER 1964 

viewed by Dr. El-Hadi opposed Hazzard's 
and Wilder's proposals, and favored the 
idea of cooperative cataloging described 
below. 

"In January 1962 a questionnaire was 
sent to the libraries participating in the 
PL 480 program, asking about the avail-
ability of library staff combining language 
proficiency with cataloging skill. In the 
case of Arabic, there were a handful of 
catalogers with language knowledge, and 
in all there were something in the neigh-
borhood of four hundred man-hours per 
week of combined Arabic and cataloging 
knowledge available throughout the na-
tion."8 

At the rate of one hour per title, and 
cutting the available man-hours in half 
(to allow for sick and annual leaves, cof-
fee breaks, holidays, etc.) it is estimated 
that it would take all the productive man-
power available in the United States 
twelve years to catch up with the acquisi-
tion of the 120,000 volumes shipped in 
one year from the Cairo office. 

"It was obvious from this survey that 
the research libraries receiving the PL 
480 materials are not presently equipped 
to process them, and that some means of 
pooling talents will have to be found. " 9 

As a result, all libraries participating in 
the PL 480 program have agreed to fi-
nance cataloging programs jointly. "Each 
recipient of a full set of publications from 
the DAR, excepting Princeton University 
library which is furnishing the services of 
a highly skilled cataloger who provides 
cooperative copy for the bulk of receipts 
from the U AR, has contributed $1, 111 
for the first ye.ar of the cataloging pro-
gram."10 

Theoretically, Princeton catalogs about 
forty per cent of PL 480 program's books. 
The remainder is cataloged by the newly 
established Arabic language unit of the 

s Stevens, op. cit., p. 182-83. 
o Ibid., p. 183. 
10 [.bid., p. 181. 

473 



foreign languages section of the descrip-
tive cataloging division of the Library of 
Congress. The cards for Arabic publica-
tions are being printed at the Government 
Printing Office using the existing Arabic 
type fonts. The results of this cooperative 
venture are still far from perfection, and 
the major bulk of Arabic resources is not 
yet cataloged. 

In summing up briefly the state of 
Arabic collections in American research 
libraries as seen by Dr. El-Hadi the fol-
lowing conclusions may be drawn: 

1. Backlogs number in thousands in each 
of the libraries surveyed. 

2. Trade books and government publica-
tions are pouring in thousands through 
PL 480 and are finding their way to 
storage areas. 

3. Skilled catalogers with language pro-
ficiency are scarce in this country, and 
it seems unlikely that this manpower 
will increase proportionately to cope 
with the increased rate of acquisition. 

4. There is definitely, in this country, a 
growing need for faster access to in-
formation in Arabic. 

CARDS-WITH-COPY PROGRAM 
Considering the foregoing problems 

and to enable PL 480 to achieve a greater 
degree of effectiveness, it seems logical 
that one efficient method to deal with 
Arabic books under present circumstances 
would be to establish a center for tech-
nical processing in Cairo. For perhaps a 
dollar a copy this proposed center could 
offer the following: 

1. Cataloging using LC-ALA rules. 
2. Both LC and Dewey classification 

numbers. 
3. LC subject headings. 
4. Offset printing on 100 per cent rag 

card stock. 
5. Full set of catalog cards with each 

copy. 
6. Full set of cross references with each 

copy. 

The following are three valid premises 
upon which this proposed system could 
claim superiority: 

1. That PL 480 provides for "the regis-
try, indexing, binding, reproduction, 
cataloging, abstracting, translating, and 
dissemination of books, periodicals, 
and related materials. . . . " 11 

2. That there are, in Egypt, over four 
hundred young people who have 
majored in library science and who 
have obtained the BA degree from the 
department of iibrarianship and ar-
chives, Cairo University, over the past 
thirteen years of its operation. That 
under proper planning and administra-
tion a few of those young professionals 
could be selected and trained to do the 
job in Cairo. 

3. That cataloging costs over ten times 
as much, on a per unit basis, in the 
United States, and that research li-
braries in this country are not present-
ly equipped to process their materials. 

•• 
11 Library of Congress, op. cit. p. 610. 

Higher Education Facilities 

474 

THE BUREAU OF HIGHER EDUCATION FACILITIES has been established 
by U.S. Commissioner of Education Francis Keppel, who has named 
Peter P. Muirhead as acting associate commissioner to head the new 
unit. The bureau will administer the Higher Education Facilities Act . 

•• 
COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES