Wednesday, April 28, 2010
USA's Endless Bookshelf on Iran:
The Library of Congress is looking for a few thousand good Persian books.
What's already one of the largest collections of Iranian-related and Persian-language materials in the world - 60,000 books in Persian alone, part of the world's largest library - has been growing steadily in recent years. That's in part because of one of the few exchange programs between the United States and Iran, which have no diplomatic relations: The National Library of Iran sends the Library of Congress a list of books and scholarly papers - as many as 4,000 titles, every few months - while the Library of Congress does the same with its surplus, and the librarians on each side pick the ones they want. The arrangement began in 2004, following the librarian of Congress's visit to Iran.
But Hirad Dinavari, reference librarian for the Library of Congress's Iranian World section, said the titles that come to Washington through the official exchange program are only a start. After all, he said, the Library of Congress' mission is more comprehensive. So it goes shopping for more.
It has a large market in which to shop. "There is quite a bit of publishing. Iran's publishing industry has really boomed," Dinavari said.
Of the 54,000-plus books that the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance said were published in Iran last year, he said, more than 20,000 were translations, which the library doesn't collect. "We tend to collect things that are native to that culture, in the vernacular language and published for the first time by people in that country," he said. Nor will it acquire Persian-language textbooks or books on medicine or agriculture, unless the subject is "something unique to that country."
"So of the rest, 7,000 to 10,000 are academic and worthy of collecting," he said, mostly in the social sciences and humanities. And with the help of a vendor in Tehran - and with the knowledge of the U.S. and Iranian governments - the library buys 6,000 to 8,000 of those books each year.
But that's not all.
Dinavari said he realized a few years ago that the library was missing out on many of the scholarly books published by the Iranian diaspora. "A lot of our educated and best and brightest have left," he said. "They're in Europe; they're in America and Canada." And they're writing about their homeland.
Some books come in automatically. Since the 1800s, authors who want copyright protection in the United States have been required to send copies of their works to the Library of Congress to register them. That requirement built most of the library's collections of materials published in the United States.
But Dinavari said some small publishers fail to deposit copies of their works at the copyright office, and so the library is sometimes obliged to track down what it needs. A vendor in Los Angeles sends the library Persian books and other materials published in North America, as well as titles in Kurdish, Pashto, Assyrian, Aramaic and Azerbaijani, and books on topics related to Iran.
In Europe, Dinavari said, the Iranian, Afghan, Kurdish and Assyrian communities are "more active in publishing versus the folks here," in part because so many regime critics settled there, and in part because of European government programs that support writers.
"We have a vendor in Sweden ... who is getting for us Persian, Kurdish, Afghan - the whole gamut of the diaspora that's there. He got us quite a bit of the Assyrian material," Dinavari said.
Another vendor specializes in materials from the central Asian republics, which for Dinavari means especially from Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.
For Afghan material, a Library of Congress office in Islamabad, Pakistan, works with vendors in Kandahar and Kabul. Dinavari lamented the quality of the paper used by Afghan publishers, but said, "The publishing in Afghanistan has boomed."
"The Islamabad office also looks for the small amount of Persian material that is still being published in the subcontinent, in India and Pakistan, which are mostly academic, poetry, anthologies and things like that," he said.
Add to that the Pashto publications from Pakistan and Afghanistan, and "a significant amount of Baluchi."
Historians also will find a treasure trove of Iranian newspapers at the Library of Congress - including banned newspapers. "Of the 120 major [banned newspapers], we have been able to locate 60 of them, the full run, anything from six months to a year," Dinavari said.
"We're not getting all of it. I wish we could get all of it," he added.
The library also has built a collection of Iranian and Afghan music. On Dinavari's first shopping trip to an Afghan market in nearby Alexandria, Virginia, "I think they sold us some 500 CDs right there. We got all the CDs we could." The Iranian music, purchased in Los Angeles, includes broadcasts of the popular Golha radio shows from the 1950s, '60s and '70s with classical poetry and music; but Dinavari credits Jane Lewisohn, an American and a longtime resident in Iran, with collecting a superior Golha archive for the British Library.
Then there are films. "I went ahead and recommended a good sampling of the award-winning films from the Iranian cinema after the revolution that have become world-famous now, on DVD, and all the films we could buy, 200 of them, from the shah's time that are banned now in Iran," he said.
A project begun about two years ago with Stanford University has been archiving a sampling of 600 Iranian blogs, a tiny percentage of what has been published, Dinavari said. Some follow the daily lives of ordinary Iranians; some focus on topics of particular interest to the writers, such as poetry; and some reflect Iran's political unrest.
Also included in the collections are a number of oral history projects, including one from the Iranian Jewish community in Los Angeles and another from an Iranian archivist based in Germany on Iranian opposition groups.
All of the material is available to anyone, at no charge. Although the Library of Congress provides services to federal agencies and members of Congress, most users are researchers not connected to government.
The outreach effort to collect material is substantial, Dinavari said, but necessary: "That's what you have to do, especially with the changes in the last 10 years, the amount of publishing that is happening in all these places. ... It is crucial not to miss out."
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Sunday, January 27, 2008
A Day in Malaysia
A Malaysian Day is not to be conceived as a day famous by Malaysians to symbolize any particular event. In reality it should denote a usual day of any Malaysian, a microcosm of what is in the daily life a Malaysian amidst the rapid developments in the urban areas and the well-conserved rural environment. My story is spin from my knowledge during a five-day holiday in Malaysia. You are going back to Malaysia, my parents announced suddenly, handing me air tickets, thus ending weeks of uncertainty as to where I was to spend my month-long winter holiday. I was to spend four days in Malaysia, my birth place, a place I had not seen in 16 years, since we motivated to Birmingham. Day 1 All doubts seemed to lighten however, as I step on board Malaysia Airlines aircraft.
I was lovingly by the smiling kebaya-clad air stewardesses of the airline. Hours seemed to fly as the flight progress, leaving London in the evening and arriving at dawn in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. I gaze out of the window, impressed by the rolling acres of palm trees which sprawled over the humongous oil palm estates.
A Malaysian Day is not to be conceived as a day famous by Malaysians to symbolize any particular event. In reality it should denote a usual day of any Malaysian, a microcosm of what is in the daily life a Malaysian amidst the rapid developments in the urban areas and the well-conserved rural environment. My story is spin from my knowledge during a five-day holiday in Malaysia. You are going back to Malaysia, my parents announced suddenly, handing me air tickets, thus ending weeks of uncertainty as to where I was to spend my month-long winter holiday. I was to spend four days in Malaysia, my birth place, a place I had not seen in 16 years, since we motivated to Birmingham. Day 1 All doubts seemed to lighten however, as I step on board Malaysia Airlines aircraft.
I was lovingly by the smiling kebaya-clad air stewardesses of the airline. Hours seemed to fly as the flight progress, leaving London in the evening and arriving at dawn in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. I gaze out of the window, impressed by the rolling acres of palm trees which sprawled over the humongous oil palm estates.
Monday, January 21, 2008
A Long Ways
When it comes to equal opportunity between men and women in particular dealing with athletics, there come contrasting viewpoints as to how this parity should be obtained. The text of Title IX clearly states that no human being in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be disqualified from sharing in, be without the remuneration of, or be subjected to favoritism under any education program or activity getting Federal financial assistance. This text of title IX forbids any means of inequity on the basis of sex to any individual in all federally assisted education programs. Title IX has been a great achievement for the U.S. in the effort towards parity for women.
Since Title IX became law back in 1972, remarkable changes have been made to level the playing fields of this nation’s schools and to change the observation of the place of girls and women on them. Not only are more women participating in sports, they are participating in sports that were traditionally not engaged by women--such as lacrosse, wrestling, soccer, rugby and ice hockey.
When it comes to equal opportunity between men and women in particular dealing with athletics, there come contrasting viewpoints as to how this parity should be obtained. The text of Title IX clearly states that no human being in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be disqualified from sharing in, be without the remuneration of, or be subjected to favoritism under any education program or activity getting Federal financial assistance. This text of title IX forbids any means of inequity on the basis of sex to any individual in all federally assisted education programs. Title IX has been a great achievement for the U.S. in the effort towards parity for women.
Since Title IX became law back in 1972, remarkable changes have been made to level the playing fields of this nation’s schools and to change the observation of the place of girls and women on them. Not only are more women participating in sports, they are participating in sports that were traditionally not engaged by women--such as lacrosse, wrestling, soccer, rugby and ice hockey.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
A Burning Desire for Hockey
Many people are tried to have many special hobbies. Ice Hockey immediately happened to be mine. It is been almost twenty years since my mother and father takes me Ice Skating. When i was three years old. Before I move any further I would like to tell you that I come from a family that has an extended record of hockey players. My grandfather on both my mothers and fathers part played hockey. I still had a grandma on my mother’s side that play field hockey in Duluth, MN. My biggest pressure in the game of hockey was from my father, he and his brother played hockey for the college of Illinois. As a childhood I wore my dad’s old hockey jersey throughout my few years of hockey. To say the least, I dreamed of being a qualified hockey player. It was not until I was playing at the high school level that I learn hockey is other than a game.
It was always expressed that hockey was a very physical and dangerous sport and it really did not sink in until I started playing confirm to hockey. A hockey player generally enters this physical state of the game around the age of twelve to fourteen. As I grew older the speed of the game got closer, thus made the complexity of the game do a180.
Many people are tried to have many special hobbies. Ice Hockey immediately happened to be mine. It is been almost twenty years since my mother and father takes me Ice Skating. When i was three years old. Before I move any further I would like to tell you that I come from a family that has an extended record of hockey players. My grandfather on both my mothers and fathers part played hockey. I still had a grandma on my mother’s side that play field hockey in Duluth, MN. My biggest pressure in the game of hockey was from my father, he and his brother played hockey for the college of Illinois. As a childhood I wore my dad’s old hockey jersey throughout my few years of hockey. To say the least, I dreamed of being a qualified hockey player. It was not until I was playing at the high school level that I learn hockey is other than a game.
It was always expressed that hockey was a very physical and dangerous sport and it really did not sink in until I started playing confirm to hockey. A hockey player generally enters this physical state of the game around the age of twelve to fourteen. As I grew older the speed of the game got closer, thus made the complexity of the game do a180.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Aspect of Life
Throughout life people make various decisions upon life, some of which are less significant as others. One of the main decisions I took was that in which I had decided to leave my old life in China and come to Australia. After all, I always wanted to travel around the world. Now after expenses half of my life here, I would like to bid farewell to a few of favorable memories of home.
Send-off to the little girl that played .I expect I will come back to home soon and see you all again. With me when I was in kinder garden who helped me get through my first day away from mum. Thank you for pleasing me to the dentist when my tooth was painful at the middle of the night. Goodbye to the teachers who carried me in her upper body when I cry in tears every morning seeing my mum go to work without me.
Throughout life people make various decisions upon life, some of which are less significant as others. One of the main decisions I took was that in which I had decided to leave my old life in China and come to Australia. After all, I always wanted to travel around the world. Now after expenses half of my life here, I would like to bid farewell to a few of favorable memories of home.
Send-off to the little girl that played .I expect I will come back to home soon and see you all again. With me when I was in kinder garden who helped me get through my first day away from mum. Thank you for pleasing me to the dentist when my tooth was painful at the middle of the night. Goodbye to the teachers who carried me in her upper body when I cry in tears every morning seeing my mum go to work without me.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Arts
The leading theme of his maturity human struggle with the forces of nature. As a young-looking man, he received his start as an illustrator of magazines. He became a normal contributor of design drawings to Harper's Weekly, one of the nation most admired magazines of the time. After spending a year in Paris in 1856, he returned to the U.S. with a better accepting of the light in impressionism even though he was not really influenced by French art. In the early 1860's, Homer made several trips to the front lines of some Civil War battle in Virginia. It was from sketches he made there that he formed his first main oil work, Prisoners from the Front, Metropolitan Museum, New York City.
The United States has produced its own breed of painter true to the vision and character of the nation. In the nineteenth century, one of its most Winslow Homer. Classified as an American naturalist painter. Winslow was a self-taught artist who became most famous for his views of the American landscape and most Taking up solitary habitation on the Maine coast at Prout's Neck, he produced such masterpieces of realism as Eight Bells in it the drama of the sea scene is imbue with an epic, heroic quality that symbolizes.
The leading theme of his maturity human struggle with the forces of nature. As a young-looking man, he received his start as an illustrator of magazines. He became a normal contributor of design drawings to Harper's Weekly, one of the nation most admired magazines of the time. After spending a year in Paris in 1856, he returned to the U.S. with a better accepting of the light in impressionism even though he was not really influenced by French art. In the early 1860's, Homer made several trips to the front lines of some Civil War battle in Virginia. It was from sketches he made there that he formed his first main oil work, Prisoners from the Front, Metropolitan Museum, New York City.
The United States has produced its own breed of painter true to the vision and character of the nation. In the nineteenth century, one of its most Winslow Homer. Classified as an American naturalist painter. Winslow was a self-taught artist who became most famous for his views of the American landscape and most Taking up solitary habitation on the Maine coast at Prout's Neck, he produced such masterpieces of realism as Eight Bells in it the drama of the sea scene is imbue with an epic, heroic quality that symbolizes.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Art of Loving
According to Erich From, love is the best react to the problem of human being. Love is the most satisfying accomplishment of humanity’s most powerful aspiration the desire of interpersonal union. Having a capacity of grave thinking and self-awareness, humans realized their aloneness and separateness, their individuality and their short life span. The desire for interpersonal fusion is the most powerful motivated in man. It is the most fundamental passion; it is the force which keeps the human race together family, clan, society, nation, and world. As mentioned above, love, turns out to be the most satisfying of all approach to transcend limits of individual life. All forms of orgiastic unions are powerful and even violent; they are temporary and periodical. It is a union in which the individual self disappears to a large extent and where the aim is to belong to the group. There is orgiastic state, which may have the form of sexual orgasm, alcohol, drugs and etc. Regrettably, equality today means sameness, rather that oneness. Orgiastic unions result in a growing sense of separateness. People try to be equal by performing tasks and feelings agreed by the system and trying to follow the same rules, the same model of life from the age three or four. Union by conformity is calm and it is permanent.
According to Erich From, love is the best react to the problem of human being. Love is the most satisfying accomplishment of humanity’s most powerful aspiration the desire of interpersonal union. Having a capacity of grave thinking and self-awareness, humans realized their aloneness and separateness, their individuality and their short life span. The desire for interpersonal fusion is the most powerful motivated in man. It is the most fundamental passion; it is the force which keeps the human race together family, clan, society, nation, and world. As mentioned above, love, turns out to be the most satisfying of all approach to transcend limits of individual life. All forms of orgiastic unions are powerful and even violent; they are temporary and periodical. It is a union in which the individual self disappears to a large extent and where the aim is to belong to the group. There is orgiastic state, which may have the form of sexual orgasm, alcohol, drugs and etc. Regrettably, equality today means sameness, rather that oneness. Orgiastic unions result in a growing sense of separateness. People try to be equal by performing tasks and feelings agreed by the system and trying to follow the same rules, the same model of life from the age three or four. Union by conformity is calm and it is permanent.
