The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) and Bibliothèques national de France (BnF) signed a memorandum of understanding April 10, 2025, supporting data-sharing between the Digital Library of the Middle East (DLME) and Bibliothèques d’Orient.
The CLIR-BnF MOU aims to aggregate records from Bibliothèques d’Orient, a collaborative digital platform powered by Gallica, the digital library of BnF and its partners, which brings together specialized collections from the Middle East into DLME.
Included in the collection, and available through DLME, will be records from:
- The Institut français d’archéologie orientale (IFAO), Cairo
- The Centre d’études alexandrines (CEAlex), Alexandria
- The Institut français du Proche-Orient (Ifpo), Beirut-Amman-Damascus
- The Institut français d’études anatoliennes (IFEA), Istanbul
- The Institut dominicain d’études orientales (Idéo), Cairo
- The École biblique et archéologique française (Ébaf), Jerusalem
- The Bibliothèque orientale (BO), Beirut
- The Bibliothèque universitaire des langues et civilisations (BULAC), Paris
- The Historical Archives of the Latin Patriarcate, Jerusalem
- The Library of the Custody of the Holy Land, Jerusalem
- The Zheen Center for Documentation and Research, Slemani
- The Scriptorium Syriacum of the Chaldean Antonian Order of Saint Hormizd, Erbil[GC2]
- The Institute of Arabic Manuscripts of the Arab League Education, Cultural and Scientific Organization, Cairo
For more information about the Digital Library of the Middle East, please visit: https://dlmenetwork.org/library/about/about.
About CLIR
The Council on Library and Information Resources is an independent, nonprofit organization that collaborates with libraries, cultural institutions, and communities of higher learning to develop strategies to enhance research, teaching, and learning environments.
About DLME
The DLME is a collaborative effort that aspires to create a sustainable digital environment for the cultural heritage of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region while providing an array of applications, tools, and descriptions that enrich the content, facilitate sophisticated inquiry, and engage with the broadest possible community of practice.
About BnF
The BnF’s mission is to collect, catalog, preserve, enrich, and communicate the nation’s documentary heritage. The BnF ensures access to the collections for as many people as possible, both on-site and remotely, and develops national and international cooperation.
About Bibliothèques d’Orient
Launched in 2017, Bibliothèques d’Orient (Libraries of the Middle East) brings together specialised collections on the history, societies, and cultures of the Middle East – from Egypt to Iraq and Turkey—as well as on the interactions between France and this area until the mid-20th century.
About Stanford
Stanford Libraries collaborates with global partners in the development of digital technologies, tools, and services impacting libraries and archives. With a collection of over 12 million items and 14 miles of archival holdings, Stanford Libraries has created a dynamic discovery environment designed to improve access to and preservation of global artifacts valuable to the research and teaching at Stanford and beyond.
