Books in Arabic script

The Austrian National Library has a rich and diverse collection of printed material in Arabic script. It includes works in various languages (primarily Arabic, Turkish and Persian), printed in Asia, North Africa and Europe.

The Arabic books among our holdings were catalogued during the cataloguing of the books from the Court Library, which started in the middle of the 19th century, in accordance with the requirement for an alphabetical card catalogue of the books in the imperial-royal Court Library to be produced. Even though the librarians at that time worked meticulously, a great deal has changed since then. Transliteration nowadays takes place according to the rules that apply in German-speaking countries (DIN standard 31635 in accordance with the regulations of the German Oriental Society), and modern research options make it easier to identify works and improve and enhance the related data. In this way the catalogue entries for these books are now gradually being improved.