The web site of the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project (at the University of Cape Town) gives background information about the valuable manuscripts of Timbuktu, Mali, and efforts to study, preserve, digitize, and translate them, and make them available to modern scholars. "The city and its desert environs are an archive of handwritten texts in Arabic and in African languages in the Arabic script, produced between the 13th and the 20th centuries. The manuscript libraries of Timbuktu are significant repositories of scholarly production in West Africa and the Sahara." The web site describes the manuscript libraries in Timbuktu, such as the Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research. In one publication associated with the project and available for free download, The Meanings of Timbuktu, scholars describe the tradition of African scholarship into which the manuscripts fit; the work is classed in 001.2096623 Scholarship and learning of Mali, built with 001.2 Scholarship and learning plus T1—09 History, geographic treatment, biography plus T2—6623 Mali, according to instructions at T1—093-099 Specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds.
(Incidentally, Tombouctou is the French spelling of Timbuktu—French is the official language of Mali—and the spelling preferred in the Library of Congress Name Authority File.)
After French and Malian troops retook Timbuktu from rebel forces (January 28), there were fears that many of Timbuktu's manuscripts had been destroyed. Fleeing militants did attack the Ahmed Baba Institute. "As Extremists Invaded, Timbuktu Hid Artifacts of a Golden Age" and "Historic Timbuktu Texts Saved From Burning" are among the news articles reporting that in fact most of Timbuktu's valuable manuscripts had been saved because they were hidden or relocated.
There is a long sad history of libraries around the world being destroyed, e.g., as described in Lost Libraries: The Destruction of Great Book Collections since Antiquity. The work is classed in 027.009 History of general libraries, archives, information centers, built with 027 General libraries, archives, information centers, which has the class-here note "Class here comprehensive works on libraries, on archives, on information centers, on libraries and information centers devoted to special materials," plus T1—09 History and biography (extra zero for standard subdivisions as instructed at 027.009).
What about the heroes who saved the manuscripts of Timbuktu? One thinks of the war in Iraq, and of Alia Muhammad Baker, the librarian who smuggled books to safety in war-torn Basra. Two children's books celebrate her: Alia's Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq: Inspired by a True Story and The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq. Both are classed in 020.92 Biography of archivists, information scientists, librarians, built with 02 Library and information sciences (final placeholder 0 in 020 deleted before notation added) plus T1—092 Biography. DDC does not have a special number for librarians who are heroes, but we recognize them nevertheless—kudos!
(Incidentally, Tombouctou is the French spelling of Timbuktu—French is the official language of Mali—and the spelling preferred in the Library of Congress Name Authority File.)
After French and Malian troops retook Timbuktu from rebel forces (January 28), there were fears that many of Timbuktu's manuscripts had been destroyed. Fleeing militants did attack the Ahmed Baba Institute. "As Extremists Invaded, Timbuktu Hid Artifacts of a Golden Age" and "Historic Timbuktu Texts Saved From Burning" are among the news articles reporting that in fact most of Timbuktu's valuable manuscripts had been saved because they were hidden or relocated.
There is a long sad history of libraries around the world being destroyed, e.g., as described in Lost Libraries: The Destruction of Great Book Collections since Antiquity. The work is classed in 027.009 History of general libraries, archives, information centers, built with 027 General libraries, archives, information centers, which has the class-here note "Class here comprehensive works on libraries, on archives, on information centers, on libraries and information centers devoted to special materials," plus T1—09 History and biography (extra zero for standard subdivisions as instructed at 027.009).
What about the heroes who saved the manuscripts of Timbuktu? One thinks of the war in Iraq, and of Alia Muhammad Baker, the librarian who smuggled books to safety in war-torn Basra. Two children's books celebrate her: Alia's Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq: Inspired by a True Story and The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq. Both are classed in 020.92 Biography of archivists, information scientists, librarians, built with 02 Library and information sciences (final placeholder 0 in 020 deleted before notation added) plus T1—092 Biography. DDC does not have a special number for librarians who are heroes, but we recognize them nevertheless—kudos!
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