Syriac Digital Library Project: Donations Requested

In 2002, Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute launched The Syriac Digital Library Project — codenamed eBethArké — The purpose of which is to create the largest collection of manuscripts, books, journal articles, pictures and maps, and making all this material available on the Internet. During the past two centuries, the Syriac manuscript heritage was transformed from the Middle East, and hundreds of books were published from these treasures, mostly in the West. Now, for the first time, Beth Mardutho will bring together all this material, preserving Syriac manuscript and printed books, and making them accessible worldwide. Students, clergy, scholars, and the general public will be able to access the entire collection anytime from anywhere in the world. Our goal is to have 2,000-3,000 holdings in our library within three years. Your support is crucial to meet this objective.

In January 2004, The Catholic University of America (CUA) gave Beth Mardutho full access to digitize its Syriac collection, from March 1 until July 31. This small window of time — due to construction work at the library — should not be missed. Beth Mardutho plans to secure scanning equipment and hire two students on a full-tome basis to have as many books possible digitized for inclusion in The Syriac Digital Library. The budget for this task is around $35,000. We have already raised $10,000. Working together, we can raise the remaining $25,000 to funds this important project.

During 2002 and 2003 we built a coalition of library partners who agreed, like CUA, to give us access to their collections. This coalition includes the libraries of Brigham Young University, Brown University, Duke University, Harvard's Dambarton Oaks, the Peshitta Institute of Leiden University, and Princeton Theological Semi nary. Our partners already contributed over 100 digitized books. During 2003, Beth Mardutho built a prototype interface for the eLibrary on the Internet. Now, it is the time to digitize CUA's collection, one of the two largest collections on Syriac studies in North America, and include it in The Syriac Digital Library.

How to help

To give everyone the opportunity to take part of this important project, we devised various donation plans. All donations are tax-deductible (in the U.S. at least), and can be made online or by sending a check (see detailed information below).

Open Donations. You can donate any amount of your choice towards the project. Your name will appear in the donors list in our newsletter Mardu.

Adopt a book or more. You can adopt one or more books at $250 per book. Your name will be acknowledged in Mardu and permanently on our web site as a book adoptee.

Adopt a collection. You can adopt a collection under your name or the name of a loved one (e.g., The John Doe Memorial Collection). The following tiers are available:

• Silver Collection. Contains 50 books for a donation of $2,000. Your name and/or the name of the person you choose will appear on the collection in the library, with a brief biography.
• Gold Collection. Contains 200 books for $5,000. Your name or the name of the person you choose will appear on the collection, with a detailed biography, and picture. Benefits also include life subscription to our journal Hugoye.
• Larger collections are also possible. Please contact Dr. George Kiraz for arrangements.

How to Donate

You can simply donate online by visiting The Syriac Digital Library Sponsors Page. You can use your Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover card. Our web page runs on a secure server, but you can also fax the credit card information to +1 732-699-0342.

Alternatively, you can send your donation by check drawn onto an America bank, and payable to &lquot;The Syriac Insti- tute.&rquot; Send checks to the following address:

Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
Syriac Digital Library Project
46 Orris Ave.
Piscataway, NJ 08854. USA.