African ʿAjamī Library Project: a ten-year retrospective
Files
Accepted manuscript
Date
2023-11-03
Authors
Castro, Eleni
Version
Accepted manuscript
Embargo Date
Indefinite
OA Version
Citation
E. Castro. "African Ajami Library Project: A Ten-Year Retrospective" Islamic Africa.
Abstract
The summer of 2021 marked the 10th anniversary of the African Ajami Library (AAL) project, founded, and led by Dr. Fallou Ngom (Professor of Anthropology and former Director of the African Studies Center at Boston University), with a mission and vision “to serve as a continental open access public repository of aggregated digitized Ajami texts from non-Europhone Africa ”. The AAL is a collaborative initiative between Boston University and the West African Research Center (WARC) in part funded by the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme and supported by the Boston University African Studies Center and Boston University Libraries.
This article provides an in-depth look at the past ten years of the African ʿAjamī Library project, founded and led by Dr. Fallou Ngom, Professor of Anthropology and former Director of the African Studies Center at Boston University, with the goal to serve as a digital continental open access public repository of aggregated digitized ʿAjamī texts from non-Europhone Africa. With over 31,400 pages of manuscripts – hosted at Boston University’s institutional repository, OpenBU – the African ʿAjamī Library has had over half a million individual views and downloads to-date. The article examines the types of manuscripts digitized; manuscript impact, visibility and usage; fieldwork locations and methodologies; the importance of local project teams and partnerships, and what the next ten years might look like for this project.
This article provides an in-depth look at the past ten years of the African ʿAjamī Library project, founded and led by Dr. Fallou Ngom, Professor of Anthropology and former Director of the African Studies Center at Boston University, with the goal to serve as a digital continental open access public repository of aggregated digitized ʿAjamī texts from non-Europhone Africa. With over 31,400 pages of manuscripts – hosted at Boston University’s institutional repository, OpenBU – the African ʿAjamī Library has had over half a million individual views and downloads to-date. The article examines the types of manuscripts digitized; manuscript impact, visibility and usage; fieldwork locations and methodologies; the importance of local project teams and partnerships, and what the next ten years might look like for this project.