History of UKIRA

UKIRA is the successor to Mapping Asia, a project originally funded by the RSLP (Research Support Libraries Programme) to provide support for research on Asia, the Middle East and North Africa by bringing together information about the existence and availability of resources housed in university, public or specialised libraries in the UK.

The Mapping Asia Project ran from February 2000 to October 2002. The project's purpose was to unlock "hidden" resources which had not previously been easily accessible, to discover gaps in the coverage of the area concerned and avoid unnecessary duplication of specialised materials. 

RSLP funding ended in October 2002, and subsequent support by SOAS and NACIRA ensures that the information will contiue to be updated by the contributing libraries.

In the creation of Mapping Asia the original Project Team collaborated with the following partner institutions:

• University of Birmingham Library
• The British Library
• British Library for Development Studies
• British Library of Political and Economic Science
• Cambridge University Library
• Durham University Library
• Edinburgh University Library
• Exeter University Library
• Glasgow University Library
• Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull
• Templeman Library, University of Kent at Canterbury
• Leeds University Library
• John Rylands University Library of Manchester
• Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
• The University of Sheffield Library
• School of Oriental and African Studies Library
• The Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine