We are pleased to announce that the LSE Middle East Centre Library is now open for browsing and borrowing! Our catalogue can be found online here.
The Middle East Centre Library is a collection of resources accumulated over ten years, including books from our event launches, as well as kind donations and our own purchases. The library is open to all students and staff at the LSE to browse and borrow, hosting over 800 items including Arabic and journal collections.
There is a wide variety of topics on our shelves ranging from Islamic Studies to Middle Eastern arts, and over 20 regions covered, in addition to rare items only available at the Centre.
The Library particularly welcomes all masters and PhD students looking for a place to host and support reading groups and co-working sessions for all those working on issues relevant to the Middle East.
The MEC Library has four collections:
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The main collection is our English collection of books spanning a myriad of topics from water security to gender issues and international and inter-regional relations.
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The journal collection includes volumes of different Middle East Specific journals such as Arab Affairs, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies and Contemporary Arab Affairs.
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The Arabic collection includes Arabic language journals and selected literature.
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The W.H. Lawson Collection is an Algeria Specific collection kindly donated by the Society for Algerian Studies. While these books are not available for lending, everyone is welcome to visit and explore the contents.
Please note that the lending period is three months.
If you have any suggestions or requests, please send us an email at mec.comms@lse.ac.uk. We are always looking to expand our range of items and would love to hear your feedback!
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To start borrowing books from the MEC Library please send an email to mec.comms@lse.ac.uk with the subject line: PATRON ACCOUNT REQUEST. In email, please include name, surname, and your preferred email address.
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After sending, you will receive another email with the subject line PATRON ACCOUNT CREATED. You can then go to the MEC Library website.
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You can then use your email address to login. If this is your first time creating an account, click “Need Password?” to get your initial login information. You will then receive a password from Libib to login to your account.
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Once you receive your password from Libib, you can use it to log in to your account and browse.
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For more information, follow this guide.
Browsing The Library
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On the MEC Library online catalogue, you can access the main collection, journal collection, the Arabic collection, and the W. H. Lawson collection.
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There are various ways to search the catalogue. Within each collection, you can sort the items by title, author, creation date, or the publishing date. You can also search for a specific item in the search bar.
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Every item has an assigned “group” for their thematic or regional focus, and “tags” for topics covered. You can see the tags and categorize the items through choosing them from the “filters” tab. Additionally, you can view specific items in a group through selecting “title” categorization—this will re-sort under the group heading.
Requesting a Book
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When you decide to place a hold on an item, you can click on it and choose “add hold”. You can also view the item’s detailed information. Please note that the W. H. Lawson collection is not available for borrowing.
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After you’ve places your hold, click checkout.
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You will then receive an email from the Library manager confirming the availability of the book and details about collection.
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Once you collect the book, you can see the items you’ve checked out, as well as their due dates by clicking your avatar and going to the “active” tab.
If you have any questions, please email mec.comms@lse.ac.uk
For Reading Groups and Working Groups information, please email Salma M. Khalil - s.i.moustafa-khalil@lse.ac.uk