Learn about NAASR library at open house

Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
June 22 2006

Learn about NAASR library at open house
Thursday, June 22, 2006

The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research will hold
an open house tonight (Thursday) beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the NAASR
Center, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont.

As part of the open house, the NAASR Bookstore will also be open
and all titles will be 20 percent off, with larger discounts on
selected titles.

The event will showcase NAASR’s Edward and Helen Mardigian Armenian
Reference and Research Library. Through the years, numerous important
and valuable collections have been donated or willed to NAASR and form
the heart of the Armenian language collection, and NAASR continues
to accept donations. The library also contains several important
collections of personal papers, including those of the late Avedis
Derounian (a.k.a. John Roy Carlson), which represent a substantial
source of information for future researchers.

Highlights of the library include a large number of histories of
now-destroyed Armenian villages and towns, Armenian dictionaries
of many different types, a rich collection of scholarly works on the
Armenian Genocide, a copy of virtually every title published in English
over the past half-century, and an enormous trove of newspapers and
periodicals, including scholarly journals.

Over the past two years the Mardigian Reference and Research
Library has undergone a dramatic transformation. That process has
consisted of cataloguing the library’s large holdings of books,
pamphlets, periodicals and other items including personal papers and
manuscripts. The computer cataloguing of the NAASR Library (begun in
2005) has resulted in a far more accessible resource for researchers
and other interested individuals. As the major cataloguing phase draws
to a close, NAASR is inviting members and friends to hear about the
progress and visit the library.

For more information about the open house or NAASR and its programs
for the furtherance of Armenian studies, research and publication,
call 617-489-1610, e-mail [email protected], or write to NAASR, 395 Concord
Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.