TY - JOUR
T1 - In the Bubble: The Case of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies Research in the Time of COVID-19
AU - Moustafa, Laila Hussein
AU - Salamon, Anaïs
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank Derek Harootune Otis, a student who graduated from iSchool at the University of Illinois, whose help in identifying scholars and collecting their contact information was essential
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - In early March 2020, a global COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of a large majority of academic institutions including libraries, archives, and cultural heritage institutes in North America and around the world. As we write this article, almost two years later, the situation remains critical, and most universities continue to offer online teaching while most libraries provide remote access to their resources. This article presents the results of a survey that was designed and circulated to faculty and students at US and Canadian universities in the summer of 2020. This article aims to draw a portrait of the state of research in the Summer of 2020 and seeks to understand how libraries and users customized their access to resources during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The article identifies the main challenges faced by scholars in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies to develop, pursue, or complete research projects during the pandemic, and the strategies implemented to make up for the loss of access to primary source materials and field research. The article also highlights immediate initiatives developed by academic and research libraries to support the research community, and demonstrates how these responses to the crisis matched their institution’s strategies.
AB - In early March 2020, a global COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of a large majority of academic institutions including libraries, archives, and cultural heritage institutes in North America and around the world. As we write this article, almost two years later, the situation remains critical, and most universities continue to offer online teaching while most libraries provide remote access to their resources. This article presents the results of a survey that was designed and circulated to faculty and students at US and Canadian universities in the summer of 2020. This article aims to draw a portrait of the state of research in the Summer of 2020 and seeks to understand how libraries and users customized their access to resources during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The article identifies the main challenges faced by scholars in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies to develop, pursue, or complete research projects during the pandemic, and the strategies implemented to make up for the loss of access to primary source materials and field research. The article also highlights immediate initiatives developed by academic and research libraries to support the research community, and demonstrates how these responses to the crisis matched their institution’s strategies.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Islamic studies
KW - Middle Eastern Studies
KW - South Asian studies
KW - academic librarianship
KW - archives
KW - area studies librarianship
KW - fieldwork
KW - pandemic
KW - research activities
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85126752248&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85126752248&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01930826.2022.2043688
DO - 10.1080/01930826.2022.2043688
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85126752248
SN - 0193-0826
VL - 62
SP - 291
EP - 311
JO - Journal of Library Administration
JF - Journal of Library Administration
IS - 3
ER -