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The Iraq Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-governmental organization working for democracy and human rights in Iraq, and for a better international understanding of Iraq's potential as a contributor to political stability and economic progress in the Middle East.
This guide will help you to use the Penn Library when researching topics on the modern ethnography, history and political situation of Iraq and its people. It describes finding aids, useful reference works, and some web portals for discovering information on Iraq.
Materials containing relevant information are collected chiefly by Van Pelt Library (social sciences and humanities, including history and political science, and area studies, including Middle Eastern studies). The anthropology, ethnography, and archaeology collections of the University Museum Library will also contain useful materials.
BE PERSISTENT! Many terms for topics you'll be researching will have been transliterated into romanized forms. You'll soon discover that there's no one "approved" transliteration style. When searching, first try using the form you know. Look for clues -- controlled vocabulary (e.g., subject headings or uniform titles) that may appear only in full record displays, "see also" or "more info" references -- to discover the transliterated form used by the work you're consulting. Use truncated word forms: read the work's documentation to discover how to truncate. Try omitting punctuation-like characters: some computer interfaces may elide ayn, maddah, and other Arabic transliteration marks. Ask for help! Your instructors have great experience at wrestling with transliteration, and so do reference librarians.
Materials containing relevant information are collected chiefly by Van Pelt Library (social sciences and humanities, including history and political science, and area studies, including Middle Eastern studies). The anthropology, ethnography, and archaeology collections of the University Museum Library will also contain useful materials.
BE PERSISTENT! Many terms for topics you'll be researching will have been transliterated into romanized forms. You'll soon discover that there's no one "approved" transliteration style. When searching, first try using the form you know. Look for clues -- controlled vocabulary (e.g., subject headings or uniform titles) that may appear only in full record displays, "see also" or "more info" references -- to discover the transliterated form used by the work you're consulting. Use truncated word forms: read the work's documentation to discover how to truncate. Try omitting punctuation-like characters: some computer interfaces may elide ayn, maddah, and other Arabic transliteration marks. Ask for help! Your instructors have great experience at wrestling with transliteration, and so do reference librarians.