| OCR Text |
Show Introduetion P» -¿ Center to build up a Middle Sastern reference coilection with special emphasis on Arabic in order to meet the growing research needs of its scholars, although this by no means rainimixed the importance of the other disciplines of the área including Persian, Turkish, Hebrew . / i "**r ) CK^X W»Aú$ldA^ *md• 'Ubhñv 8uaitiL ^languagas. Because of budgetary limitations, we had to concéntrate primarily on one discipline, strengthen it, and then turn to another. Apart from accumulating works of reference of a general character» our efforts^were therefore especially devoted !_»=- ithe forraative yearsíto the development of our Arabic acquisitionsw Although Middle Bastern studies at Utah had their humble beginnings in 1959 with the appointraent of one faculty member, the Middle East Language and Área Center supported by the JMw Office of Education on a matching basis did not come into existence until the following academic year (1960-6l)v with. modest budget which included $5,000 for library acquisitions. It was obvious that «gsea-tr fe&*ag»- could not be accomplished with such limitad funds beyond the atterapt to purchase the most necessary reference works for the conduct of our |
