The Islamic Manuscripts from Mali collection is made possible by the hard work and collective efforts of several individuals and divisions of the Library of Congress, with the assistance of various staff from the Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library in Timbuktu, Mali.
From the African and Middle Eastern Division, Marieta Harper, Africa area specialist, and Beverly Gray, former chief, developed the original concept for this presentation, with the help of Chris Murphy, area specialist. Prosser Gifford, director, Office of Scholarly Programs, and Irene Chambers, chief, Interpretive Programs Office (IPO) also assisted in the project’s development.
Dr. James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress, provided support and guidance for the project.
Abdel Kader Haidara, director, Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library, agreed to loan this manuscript collection to the Library for the online presentation. Stephanie Diakite, a representative of Mr. Haidara, helped negotiate the terms of this agreement with Mary-Jane Deeb, section head, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress. Tambra Johnson, IPO, and Marieta Harper, made all the necessary arrangements for lending this manuscript collection to the Library of Congress.
Sam Manivong, digital conversion specialist, Collections and Services, served as project leader for the online update. Lauren Woodis, Collections and Services, served as project leader for the original online collection.
Chris Murphy, assisted by Tambra Johnson and Seth DeMatties, both of IPO, created text and captions for collection materials.
Colleen Cahill, digital conversion coordinator, Geography and Map Division, digitized the Mali maps using a Lumiere JumboScan.
All photographs of Timbuktu, Mali, are presented with permission from photographer Phillip Harrington. JJT, Inc. digitized the photographs for the Prints and Photographs Division.
The Mali manuscripts were microfilmed in the Photoduplication Service Division by Myron Chace and Tom Lewis. Digitization of the manuscripts was performed by Ronnie Hawkins in the Library’s Digital Scan Center. Mike Fitzella, of the Office of Strategic Initiatives (OSI), and Domenic Sergi, of the Digital Scan Center, provided administrative support during the scanning process.
Site design and HTML coding was performed by Tracey Salley under the direction of Lola Pyne, both of the Office of Strategic Initiatives (OSI).
Barak Stussman, OSI, was responsible for the site programming. Christa Maher, OSI, assisted in preparing the bibliographic data and with a variety of technical matters.
Andrea Matles Savada, Collections and Services, edited the framework documents.