David G. Hirsch

Middle East Bibliographer

Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA

VISIT TO THE GAZI HUSREV BEG LIBRARY IN SARAJEVO, JUNE 7-18, 2004*

Introduction

The Gazi Husrev Bey Library in Sarajevo was founded in 1537, to- gether with a Islamic school (madrasah). Gazi Husrev Bey, the Ottoman Governor of Bosnia, had established the oldest higher education institu- tion in Sarajevo for the teaching of Sufi philosophy (hanikah) some six years earlier. In his endowment charter (vakufnama) concerning the con- struction of the madrasah, the benefactor requested that “… whatever was left from the funds for construction should be used for the purchase of good books, which would be utilized in the aforementioned madrasah, for those who would read them and for those who are involved in science to copy from those books”. For this reason, this library is considered to be the first and oldest cultural institution of the Bosniaks.

The Library remained within the Kurshumlija Madrasah until 1863 when, due to the lack of space, it was reallocated to a larger room built next to the Gazi Husrev Bey’s Mosque. It remained there until 1935 when it was moved again because of the large quantity of books in its collec- tions. Its new location was in the building in front of the Imperial (Careva) Mosque. The library and its collections were house there until the begin- ning of the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 when safety con- cerns forced the transfer and distribution of the collections to several other more secure locations within the city.

• Mr. David G. Hirsch visited the Gazi Husrev-bey Library with the aim of improving the work of the Library. The visit was organised by US Embassy in Sarajevo. We would like to thank Mr. Hirsch for his suggestions as well as to express our gratitude to US Embassy in Sarajevo which made this visit possible.

The basic collections of the Library consist of manuscripts in Arabic, Turkish and Persian. They number approximately 10,000 codices, which makes this Library one of the largest of its kind in Europe. The manu- scripts came from various parts of the Islamic world, mainly from the largest centers of Islamic culture and science such as Istanbul, Mecca, Medina, Cairo and Baghdad. A considerable number of these manuscripts originated in Bosnian towns and villages where many Bosniaks-Muslims wrote original works or copied the books by other authors from all, then known scientific disciplines.

The complete book collections became larger because many individu- als endowed or donated books to the Library. Sometimes the whole pri- vate libraries were given as a gift. A number of manuscripts and other valuable books, as well as several private collections, were purchased by the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina for this Library.

The library’s holdings today number some 80,000 volumes. Apart from the manuscript collections, there are other holdings of printed books, peri- odicals and historical documents in Arabic, Persian and Turkish, in addi- tion to Bosnian and other European languages. While all subject areas are represented in the manuscripts collections, many of the Arabic manuscripts deal with Islamic Studies whereas the Turkish manuscripts are mainly lit- erary and the Persian manuscripts deal mainly with classical Persian litera- ture. The periodicals’ holdings include the oldest newspapers and maga- zines printed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Nineteenth century Bosnian peri- odicals, as well as Turkish language and Bosnian language in Arabic script, known as Arebica are represented. The archival collections consist of docu- ments related to the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the period of Ottoman rule. The library also has an important collection of 1,400 vakufnamas, and 86 sijills (court records and protocols) from the Sharia Court in Sarajevo. It should be mentioned that the entire Library collec- tions in the Library were protected during the last war. Bearing in mind the level of devastation and destruction of the Bosniak cultural heritage, the Library’s holdings represent today almost the only source for research of the history and cultural heritage of the Bosniaks and Islamic studies.

The basic functions of the Library are acquisition, cataloguing, processing, preserving and providing access to the collections for scien- tific and research purposes to all individuals involved in research of these disciplines.

Cataloging

The library has done a remarkable job of cataloging its manuscript collections. Fourteen volumes of a printed catalog have been produced and online records have been entered into a Filemaker database.

Vernacular Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish books, as well as Latin-script books and serials are each cataloged into a separate Filemaker database. These databases have recently become available for browsing through the Internet at the library’s website: http://www.ghbibl.com.ba/ en/index.html” http://www.ghbibl.com.ba/en/index.html

The librarians catalog at a high level and only minor modifications would be needed to conform to international standards and contribute to the major bibliographic databases such as OCLC and the RLG Union Catalog. During my visit we discussed the issues concerning online cataloging of Arabic, the challenges of establishing Arabic authority records (selecting the appropriate form of a name and appropriate refer- ences), and the benefits of cooperation with international partners.

During the site visit the Gazi Husrev Begova Library staff had an op- portunity to view cataloging of manuscripts, books and serials by libraries in the United States and in the Arab World. Some of the catalogs searched were Library of Congress, Ohio State University, Harvard University, Uni- versity of Michigan, UCLA and United Arab Emirates University. Ohio State University and United Arab Emirates University both employ bilin- gual Arabic-English software. University of Michigan provides full cataloging of its manuscripts in its online catalog. Librarians also had an opportunity to view cataloging records in the OCLC and RLG databases an Authority records in the Library of Congress and RLG Union Catalog databases. We also discussed cooperative projects such as the Middle East Microforms Program and the OACIS database of Middle Eastern serials hosted by Yale University. Contact information for the different software companies and bibliographic databases was provided to the library staff.

Recommendations

While the catalogers have mastered the intellectual process of cataloging, some modifications need to be made and some important decisions need to be taken.

The librarians currently use accepted reference sources to the extent available when establishing Arabic author names.

The library catalogs each copy of each book individually. While old and rare books may vary from copy to copy, most 19th and 20^th century books do not vary from one copy to another. Normally a single biblio- graphic record should be sufficient for each title of the same edition. If more than one copy of a book is held, an additional item should be added to the holdings, or item record.

Archives Collections

The archives collection consists of approximately 500 meters of docu- ments. These include many important documents from 1880-the period following World War II. Subject matter includes relations between the Reis and the religious authorities and the government. These documents are extremely important to historians and can reveal a great deal about the daily life of Muslims in 19^th and 20^th century Bosnia. Some of the co

In addition to document archives, the Library also houses collections of old Bosnian postcards, over 8000 photographs, negatives and slides, both old and current and death announcements. In the library’s museum collection, there is also a collection of historical maps. Current storage practices for these items are also inadequate. These items should also be store in acid-free paper and containers.

Recommendations

The storage currently provided for these materials is inadequate. These unique documents should be separated with acid-free paper and stored in acid-free boxes. The boxes currently being used may actually be acid-free but the paper being used to separate the individual documents is not of archival quality. Many of the documents are already yellowed and brittle and need to be scanned if their intellectual content is to be preserved. Current description level for the individual manuscripts is minimal.

During my visit I demonstrated the Image Databases of the Online Archive of California http://www.oac.cdlib.org/ as a model for cataloging and archiving images.

I would also recommend that archive staff examine the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog which may be examined at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html They have recently included the Abdul Hamid II collection. This online catalog has become available since my visit to Sarajevo.

Reprographic Services

The Gazi Husrev Beg Library has surpassed many US libraries in its microfilming and scanning capabilities. They have successfully filmed all 10,000 manuscripts and scanned near 3,000 which are available at rea- sonable cost to requesting researchers and librarians.

Some general observations

With the impending more and requisite changes that will result in service, it is important that the Gazi Husrev Beg library think about what it’s mission is, who its audience will be, what types of materials it will collect, and what services it will provide. It would be impossible for the library to collect materials in all subjects and in all languages and clear guidelines need to be established. Many sample mission statements and collection development policies can be found on the web. I will be happy to do some research in this area on request.

The staff in general felt that cataloging and exchange were done well at their institution. There was concern expressed at the lack of a clear collection development policy and the absence of an annual budget for the purchase of books and journal subscriptions. At present there are no paid acquisitions and no paid journal subscriptions. All items are received as gift. Some staff felt the need for an organizational chart as well as job descriptions for each position. There are currently no criteria for advance- ment or promotion within the system; hence there is little incentive for employees to perform at peak efficiency. Despite this fact, employees dis- played a high level of professionalism.

Many of the staff are involved in publication and research projects as part of their regular duties.

Public service

The library staff have had little experience in Public Service. As the staff prepare to move to a more public setting, training sessions should be provided on dealing with the larger community and to school groups who may not have much background in the field of Near Eastern or Islamic Studies. The needs of the average community visitor are necessar- ily different from those of specialized researchers.