DLIR Digital Archive

The DLIR Archive was established as part of the Cooperative Digitization of International Research Materials (CDIRM) project. CDIRM utilized participating American overseas research centers’ (AORCs) connections to collaborate with foreign archives and special collections that hold unique and rare research materials. Selected materials from Guatemala, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Yemen, and Mongolia, aand numerous other countries where AORCs are located are made easily and freely available over the Internet to American and international scholars and students. Not only are most of these materials uncataloged, unavailable, or unknown to scholars, most are extremely difficult to access (because of location, unsettled political conditions, privacy issues, or bureaucratic procedures). The Coordinator of the Digital Library for International Research, located at the Center for Research Libraries, acts as program manager. As were the creation of the DLIR union catalog and the LALORC program, this CDIRM is funded by a 4-year matching grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information Access (TICFIA) program.

African Language Materials Archive (ALMA)

The African Language Materials Archive (ALMA) is an initiative of The West African Research Association (WARA), the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC), Columbia University Libraries--African Studies, and the Information Society Division of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This initiative aims at increasing dissemination of, and access to materials published in indigenous African languages through digital formats.

Photo Archives of AIIS

The Center for Art and Archaeology, is one of two research centers of the American Institute of Indian Studies (Gurgaon, India). The Photo-Archives contains a unique collection of more than 140,000 photographs and slides of South Asian art and architecture. Plans of temples, mosques, tombs, and secular buildings, supplement the Center’s outstanding photographic collection. Approximately 50,000 images of a total of 140, 000 have been digitized and are available through the Digital South Asian Project and the DLIR.

Mapping Mediterranean Lands (MEDMAPS)

Mapping Mediterranean Lands (MEDMAPS) showcases sixteen important early maps and related information from the collections of ten American overseas research center libraries in the Mediterranean region. This three-year project, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of State, Education and Cultural Affairs (ECA), 2002-2005, completed a comprehensive survey of maps in the collections of American research centers in the Mediterranean area and created bibliographic records that are accessible through the DLIR catalog.

Middle East Research Journals (MERJ)

The Middle East Research Journals (MERJ) project, funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (2002-2006), provided digital access to five complete journals held at American Overseas Research Centers in the Middle East in the CAORC consortium. Additional materials created for this project are bibliographic records for 1,900 journals held at seven centers in the Middle East, a searchable index of three research journals, preservation microfilm for five research journals.

Digitalized Legal Texts of Outer Mongolia and MPR

The American Center for Mongolian Studies (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) developed this collection of nearly 1,600 digital scans of laws and regulations written in Mongol script. It covers an interesting array of topics from the Mongolian People's Republic constitution to regulations about harvesting pine cone seeds. The project received support from the US Department of Education TICFIA program under the Local Archives and Libraries at Overseas Research Centers (LALORC) project.

Tod Nomin Gerel Collection

This collection contains Oirat religious, historical and literary documents scanned from collections in Khovd and Bayan Ulgii Provinces in Mongolia. These texts are written in Clear Script Oirat, Tibetan and Classical Mongolian Script. The materials range from large, ‘oversize’ sutras to small, pocket sized sutras designed for Buddhist Lamas to carry. The original materials are hand-made copies of originals created prior to the advent of photoduplicating machines, in a ritual that was performed up until the Socialist period [1920-1990]. These ritual practices were abolished during the Socialist period and subsequent duplicating technology has made these rituals for the most part obsolete. The materials were scanned in cooperation with the American Center for Mongolian Studies and Tod Nomyn Gerel Center with a grant from the Department of Education TICFIA program.

Khmer Language Books

The Center for Khmer Studies (Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, Cambodia) Cambodian books project, funded by the US Department of Education's TICFIA program, consists of digital versions novels, textbooks, and educational journals from the National Library of Camodia's extensive colonial and pre-1975 era collection. Most of these materials, in Khmer, French and English, have never been digitized, and are not available in collections outside Cambodia. A Khmer search engine was developed to facilitate searching of the texts in Khmer.

Furniture and Decorative Arts of Sri Lanka

This digital project, sponsored by the American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies (Colombo, Sri Lanka), documents furniture and other decorative arts from the Portuguese, Dutch and British Periods (17th - 19th centuries) in the collections of the National Museums of Sri Lanka and in local private collections.

Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting (WSLSP)

This digital presentation of photographic slides shows a representative sample of women as depicted in early Sri Lankan sculpture and painting. It is the outcome of a research study sponsored by the International Center for Ethnic Studies and funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Corporation (NORAD) during January 1986 to May 1987. Additional support was provided by the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of Archaeology; the Director General and Directors of the Cultural Triangle Project; the Director of the National Museum; and the Chief incumbents of the numerous temples and devalayas, who granted permission to photograph art objects under their custody.

The International Center for Ethnic Studies retains full copyright of all slides, digital reproductions, and other materials produced by this project. These items may not be copied or reproduced in any form whatsoever without the written consent of the International Center for Ethnic Studies (www.ices.lk) and of the researchers, Harsha Seneviratna and Sirima Kiribamune. Photography is provided by Mr. I.S. Madanayake.

Mustapha Bouchoucha Photograph Collection

The private library Beit El Bennani, owned and operated by Mohamed Bennani, partnered with CAORC member Centre d’Etudes Maghrèbines á Tunis (CEMAT) to organize and digitize the Mustapha Bouchoucha photograph collection. The collection, held at the Beit El Bennani, contains 8155 images that depict people, events, views and objects primarily relating to Tunisia. Photographs of people include images of Tunisian political and cultural figures as well as people involved in the daily activities of life.

The collection was digitized by CEMAT for the Local Archives and Libraries at Overseas Research Centers (LALORC) project organized by the American Institute of Yemeni Studies and the Council of the American Overseas Research Centers with funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s TICFIA program.

American Board Pamphlet Collection

The American Board pamphlet collection was incorporated into the American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT) Istanbul Library in January 2011. It contains roughly 1000 brochures, booklets, leaflets, flyers, and off-prints that date from the mid-1800s to the present, with close to one-third from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Approximately 85% of the materials focus on the operations, institutions, or affiliate organizations of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) that were located in Turkey and the Balkans.

American Board Periodical Collection

A collection of major periodicals housed in the ARIT Istanbul Library’s American Board collection. Other serials in the Board holdings, especially single-issue items, are included in the American Board Pamphlet Collection.

American Board Personnel Card Collection

In 1935, the Near East Mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) undertook preparation of a memorial book to commemorate and honor those who had served the Board in Turkey, the Middle East, and the Balkans from the early 1800s through the early twentieth century. The American Research Institute in Turkey, the current caretaker of the American Board’s archival collection, these resources to its digital library (2012), to make them more readily and widely available to the scholarly community and general public. This collection is a series of more than 1,800 index cards that provide basic information about each individual, such as birth and death dates, educational and employment history, and dates and places of work assignments, along with accompanying photographs for some cards.

American Board Archives

A collection of records of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, affiliates and successor organizations. Turkey and the Balkans, 1825-1999. As co-owner of the collection, ARIT is responsible for its management, principally to implement an official policy to catalogue, digitize, and make the resource publicly available for research on the worldwide web. The archives are presently housed in Istanbul, at the SALT Research Center and Library; besides storage, SALT is scanning the collection and providing the venue for its online display. Access to the physical archives is currently restricted, in accordance with the plan to make the materials accessible entirely via the Internet.

Maps of the Ottoman Empire

The W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research (AIAR) in Jerusalem in cooperation with the Center for Ancient Middle Eastern Landscapes (CAMEL) at the University of Chicago scanned and geo-referenced a series of topographical maps of Eastern Turkey and the lands of the broader Ottoman Empire with a grant from the US Department of Education TICFIA program. The bulk of the collection contains topographical maps compiled at the British Intelligence Division War Office in 1915 derived from map and survey data collected during multiple expeditions 1839-1906. The collection contains high resolution copies of the original maps held by AIAR, and geo-referenced versions can be requested by contacting This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Area Studies Bibliography Database

American Overseas Research Centers (AORCs) offer unique access to local expertise and resources. Library staff and scholars at AORCs compile bibliographies of Area Studies literature for inclusion in the DLIR online resources. AORCs operate in host countries, providing them access to unpublished gray literature or materials published locally in limited numbers in addition to more widely available materials.

Local Archives and Libraries Directory

The Local Archives and Libraries Directory is an initiative of the American Institute for Yemeni Studies and the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. The directory provides information about libraries and archives in various international locations, and allows libraries to create or update profiles for collections that might be of interest to students, scholars, and professionals working in the area of international studies.

Much of the current content of the directory has been provided by members of the Digital Library for International Research and the Center for South Asian Libraries. Libraries and archives with entries are encouraged to keep them up-to-date and those without entries are encouraged to create a profile for the directory.