{"id":5,"date":"2016-12-16T21:55:25","date_gmt":"2016-12-16T21:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ias\/?page_id=5"},"modified":"2026-04-14T15:13:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T15:13:41","slug":"about-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ias\/about-2\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"

About the International and Area Studies Library<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The combined expertise and research collections of the International and Area Studies Library (IASL) constitutes one of the campus\u2019 primary gateways to information and scholarship related to area, international, and global studies. It connects students and scholars to the knowledge crucial to developing global competencies through the study of distinct nations and regions, as well as transnational issues and global concerns. IASL’s librarians and staff provide services and develop collections focused on African Studies; East Asian Studies; European Union Studies; Global Studies; Global Popular Culture; Latin American and Caribbean Studies; Middle East and North African Studies; Russian East European, and Eurasian Studies; and South Asian Studies.\u00a0 The IASL coordinates patron and research focused services while building nationally prominent collections of materials in multiple languages that focus upon the regions and thematic areas described above. The IASL faculty and staff marshal their expertise and the resources of the University Library to support its mission by delivering international reference services; engaging the campus community; publishing original research, developing resources and media; teaching; and developing world class collections.<\/p>\n

Engaging Librarianship<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The IASL supports interdisciplinary research that informs and draws upon both area knowledge and transnational connections. To this aim, the IASL faculty teaches and promotes knowledge related to the societies, cultures, and intellectual output of the countries and regions supported by its expert services and research collections. A core service initiative of the IASL is to expand teaching opportunities beyond the traditional classroom setting by drawing upon the expertise of the library\u2019s faculty to make international and area studies knowledge accessible, engaging, and relevant to the campus\u2019 research, teaching, and engagement efforts. These activities also support key campus research and teaching missions to promote cultural and international understanding while engaging in dialogue focused on tolerance and diversity within a pluralistic society.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Collections<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In total, the IASL faculty curates a collection of materials that consist of nearly 2 million volumes in over 150 languages.\u00a0 Specific collections include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Collection Name<\/strong><\/td>\nCurrent Collection Development Statement\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\nContacts<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
African Studies<\/a><\/td>\nAfrican Studies Collection Development Statement<\/a><\/td>\nSub-Saharan Africa – Atoma Batoma<\/a>
\nNorth Africa – Laila Hussein<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
EU Studies<\/a><\/td>\nEU Studies Collection Development Statement<\/a><\/td>\nPaula Carns<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Global Studies<\/a><\/td>\nGlobal Studies Collection Development Statement<\/a><\/td>\nSteve Witt<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Latin American and Caribbean Studies<\/a><\/td>\nLatin American and Caribbean Studies Collection Development Statement<\/a><\/td>\nAntonio Sotomayor<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Middle East Studies<\/a><\/td>\nMiddle East Studies Collection Development Statement<\/a><\/td>\nLaila Hussein<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
East Asian Studies
\n(Japanese<\/a>, Chinese<\/a>, Korean<\/a>)<\/td>\n		East Asian Studies Collection Development Statement<\/a><\/td>\nJapanese – Steve Witt<\/a>
\nChinese – Bing Wang<\/a>
\n(Vacant – Korean)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
South Asian Studies<\/a><\/td>\nSouth Asian Studies Collection Development Statement<\/a><\/td>\nMara Thacker<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Slavic and East European<\/a><\/td>\nSlavic and East European Collection Development Statement<\/a><\/td>\nKit Condill<\/a>
\nJoe Lenkart<\/a>
\nMarek Sroka<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About the International and Area Studies Library The combined expertise and research collections of the International and Area Studies Library (IASL) constitutes one of the campus\u2019 primary gateways to information and scholarship related to area, international, and global studies. It connects students and scholars to the knowledge crucial to developing global competencies through the study […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":34,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15253,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5\/revisions\/15253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/ias\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}