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Show 9'. V/Sj UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY COLLEGE OF ARTS A N D SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF ANCIENT LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES June 12, 1961 Dr. Aziz S. Atiya University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah Dear Dr. Atiya: I am writing you for your reaction to the following proposal which has come to mind as a result of my difficulty of getting 19th century Arabic publications for jay research. At the University of Kentucky Library, there is a man who has had considerable experience in producing and distributing Microcards to American libraries. He has sorfar been interested in Americana and modern European literature. He sees, however, a real possibility in the cooperative filming of Arabic materials scattered in libraries throughout the world. He suggested the use of the Microcard reproduction technique as a feasible and economical method of providing various institutions with basic Arabic books which are generally unavailable. If as few as a half-dozen libraries would, subscribe to a list of 1,000 works - this list compiled by the interested scholars at the various subscribing universities - this scheme would be feasible. The 1,000 books could be divided into lists of 100 works each which would facilitate their purchase. The cost per volume could be as little as $2.00-$3.00 if there were an adequate number of subscribers. In the beginning, we should restrict ourselves to non-copyrighted material listed in the Oriental printed catalog of the New York Public Library. A special advantage of Microcard is that there is a heading legible to the naked eye. This heading can simply be copied for the public card catalog by a clerk-typist with no training whatsoever. This approach appears to me as a possible solution in establishing a basic Arabic Library with minimum costs. This basic library could, of course, be supplemented by a later lists. I would very much appreciate hearing from you in this regard. Sincerely yours, -W^ :%4i Leon Zolondek Assistant Professor of Semitics |