Asian Studies Room Open House and South Asia recent Acquisitions

Everyone is invited to the Open House for the newly rennovated Asian Studies Room on the Second Floor of Alderman Library, from 4-6 pm tomorrow, Friday, the 18th of March 2011.

Details of the invitation are: "The Asian Studies Room has been created in the former Barrett Room on the second floor of Alderman Library. The room has been refurnished to provide a reading room and home for the University Library’s current and future Asian and Buddhist studies collections. Changes to the room include the exposure of two windows to allow natural light, upgrades to electrical access, and new furniture and carpet. Existing glass-front shelving has been left in place to house Asian Studies reference material and current periodicals. The offices of the Library’s subject specialists for Tibetan, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and South Asian Studies are located adjacent to the room. In addition to supporting the Asian Studies programs at the University, the room offers students a beautiful new quiet study space adjacent to the popular McGregor Room.

"No RSVP is required for the open house. This event is open to all; please feel free to distribute the attached flier. Hope to see you there!"

South Asia items highlighted and on display at this event will be the Reference South Asia atlas by J. Schwartzberg, 3 Bengali language DVDs, 3 Urdu books, a Hindi translation of a Hairi Potara = Harry Potter book, a 3-DVD set of talks by the Dalai Lama, and two DVDs of 30-minute interviews of India artists and writers.

Please join us and have a look at these selected South Asia items.

Here are some further details.

1. Reference book – An atlas.
Students pour over this atlas at the beginning of each semester in order to complete their map exercise. There is also a copy in Clemons. Joseph E Schwartzberg’s A historical atlas of South Asia (1992). G2261 .S1 H5 1992. An online copy at the Digital South Asia Library is nice, but so far is difficult to navigate.

2. Bengali DVDs and books. The library is developing and adding to its collection of Bengali books – fiction and non-fiction as well as DVDs. Here is a sample of three DVDs.
Here's a list of 24 Bengali videos acquire during 2010 http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/uvalibrary/lists/1742977

3. Urdu books and materials. The library also has a large number of Urdu books – fiction and non-fiction as well as DVDs and CDs. Included here are two books by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi – one his novel Kai chand the sur-I asman = There were many moons in the sky (2006), and the other his critical essays on 20th century Urdu literature Sura va mani-yi sukhan (2010). He also has a short story in the popular Oxford India Anthology of Modern Urdu Literature (2008), edited by University of Virginia professor Mehr Afshan Farooqi.

Here's more - a list of Urdu books (44) acquired during 2010
http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/uvalibrary/lists/1743756

4. Hindi books, CDs, DVDs. The library has a large number of Hindi books – fiction and non-fiction, as well as a considerable number of DVDs and CDs. This is the first in the 7 book series of translated versions of the Hairi Potara or Harry Potter books. Hairi Potara aura parasa patthara = Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone (2003).

This is a list of the 7 Hairi Pottara = Harry Potter books translated into Hindi
http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/uvalibrary/lists/1585009
Also here is a list of 126 Hindi books acquired during 2010
http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/uvalibrary/lists/1743757

5. Tibetan DVDs. The library has several collections of DVDs on different aspects of Tibetan Buddhism, some in English and others in Tibetan. This is a 3-DVD set of the Dalai Lama explaining many of the basic ideas of Buddhism, The awakening mind of Nagarjuna (2008).

Sets of 6 DVDs in which the Dalai Lama presents talks on various aspects of Tibetan Buddhism
http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/uvalibrary/lists/2194760

6. Videos of leading South Asian writers by the Sahitya Akademi. These VCDs or videos are on more than 22 writers and artists of India, lasting about 30 minutes each, created and produced by the Sahitya Akademi. Here are two – one on artist Mulk Raj Anand (2006. DVD12171) and the other on the popular writer Khushwant Singh (200-. DVD13733).

Videos (22) on the writers from India
http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/uvalibrary/lists/2183740

Hope to see you at the Open House, and even if you cannot make it for that event, please feel free to come to the Asian Studies Room, check it out and use it as a research, study, or writing space.

More photos are available at the Picasa album - Asian Studies Room Renovations 2010-
https://picasaweb.google.com/philipmc59/AsianStudiesRoomRenovations2010#
To view the renovated space looks like, see this photo and click forward
For the Open House start with this photo and click forward