Connie Lamb from BYU on collecting Arab American studies resources for #HigherEd Libraries #MELALibs2019
Three main waves of Arab migration to North America- early 1900s from Lebanon/Syria, following WWII, 80's and 90's. Did not appear in scholarship until 1960's and 70's. #MELALibs2019
Selected nonfiction, English language, books about immigrants, substantial scholarly works. Used @oclc searches, browsed shelves, book awards and bibliographies to find around 90 titles. #MELALibs2019
@OCLC Purpose of the study was to map trends and patterns. Chart doesn't photograph well, but we see a substantial increase after 9/11, goes back to 1 book published in 2010. #MELALibs2019
@OCLC Of categories, history has most work, then literature/arts, politics/rights, culture/identity, specific cities, and lastly women/family. Many titles had the word "understanding." #MELALibs2019
@OCLC Checked Google Scholar for citation count. Citations vary widely, but the most cited titles are about Race. #MELALibs2019
@OCLC Prominent authors include Phillip K. Hitti, Barbara Aswad, Alixa Naff (did oral histories!), Baha Abu-Laban, Earle Waugh, Sameer Y. Abraham & Nabeel Abraham, Yvonne Haddad, Michael W. Suleiman, George Orfalea, and Steven Salaita #MELALibs2019
@OCLC Lamb graciously offers to share title list with anyone who's interested. Encourages everyone to collect Arab American studies books. #MELALibs2019
@OCLC Fun fact! Syrian Americans have a different call number than Arab Americans. #MELALibs2019
