Biblioislam.net

Biblioislam.net is an online library with indexing and abstracting services as well as full-text and reviews. This project is owned by Al-Balagh Cultural Society in Qatar and is administered by Media International. Biblioislam.net is according to its founder Hani Atiyyah, professor of Library and Information Science at Cairo University, the first and largest academic website to be launched in both Arabic and English in the Muslim world that provides comprehensive informative, academic, intellectual, and interactive services. These services are available for students, researchers, intellects, and thinkers in fields that serve the paradigm of “values and identity” of the contemporary Muslim world.

History

The project initiated within IslamOnline.net under the name of "E-Library" in November 2001. The E-Library was created with the purpose of fulfilling the urgent need of Arabic-speaking researchers in obtaining sources of information in the form of bibliographic data. In July 2003, its service developed through the same website and was given a new name, "Al-Riwaq". At this stage, abstracts, as well as the selective dissemination of information service, was added and made available to registered researchers on the website.

A bibliographic database under the name of "IMAM," for English-speaking researchers was developed, IMAM being the abbreviation of: Islam, Muslims, Arabs, and Middle East. In 2003, the project was planned and registered as an independent website under the name "Biblioislam.net" and booked the domains; .net, .org, .com, .info on the internet.

In May 2006, the Arabic website of Biblioislam.net was launched, adding new sections, including, abstracts, reviews, full text, prizes and awards, site directory, and upcoming conferences.

Biblioislam's English and Arabic websites include the same sections and services, but with different content. Currently, in addition to its Arabic and English websites, Biblioislam.net is working on the release of other multilingual versions of the website in French, German, Turkish, Malawi, Persian and Urdu.

BiblioIslam.net has a network of 70 international organizations, universities, research institutions and academic publishers. To this date, the website provides more than 250,000 searchable materials of bibliographic data in both Arabic and English. This bibliographic data include approximately 90,000 university theses that cover 516 universities, about 80,000 scholarly books that cover 5,653 publishers, about 60,000 articles published by 2,089 academic periodicals and journals, and about 20,000 researches published by 1,139 national and international conferences, symposiums, forums, and seminars. The website also allows browsing more than 20,000 abstracts and about 5,000 full-texts. At present, over 35,000 registered researchers on the website, from 164 countries, benefit from this massive collection^[1]

Mission

The mission of the Biblioislam.net project was originally aimed at preserving the heritage of the Muslim World “Ummah”, covering its vast areas in different languages.

The name “Biblioislam.net” was chosen because the first part of the term, which is “biblio” broadly means: library, a list of books, love for reading, and knowledge. While the meaning of the second part, “Islam”, indicates that the intellectual writings on the website are by, or about the Muslim Ummah. In order to accomplish this mission, the project defined its subject matter and time limits, confining it to the scholarly writings published throughout the twentieth century onwards.

The vision of the project, as described on the website, is to integrate with other projects related to the academic field, with the aim of forming an academic community that interacts through the internet, to serve in the future as an independent institutional research entity, gaining its reliability and credibility through its interactive services and authentic content^[2]

Future plans

BiblioIslam.net is currently training potential academics concerned with academic work through the internet, at the same time spreading “cyber-culture” amongst academia by the transition from paper to digital medium. According to the website, Biblioislam.net is intent on spreading the ethics of the academic community in Islamic spheres by adhering to the morals and regulations of research work in the virtual environment, as well as developing the industry of E-content publishing through different mediums.

Bibliopedia, a future section in BibioIslam.net’s English website is an encyclopedia that will include profiles of scholars, events, organizations and institutions, cities and regions, movements and reforms, systems and constitutions, projects and publications, flags and symbols, stamps and currencies, languages and dialects, and races and ethnic groups. The content will also develop by adding special folders, which aim at presenting contemporary Islamic issues to the academic audience through endeavors, such as; “Muhammad … Life and Message” and “Palestine … The People and the Land”.^[3]

References

External links

1. BiblioIslam.net
2. Alexa