East Timor Studies

Collection Details
Description of Collection
Subjects of the Collection
Collection Material and Size of Collection
Collection Management Information
Collection Catalogue Information
Links to Other Collections

Collection Details

East Timor Studies held at SOAS Library [Institution record]

Description of Collection

Content description

There are about 300 volumes and more than 800 microfiche on East Timor (Timor Loro Sae), including a small selection of material in Portuguese dating from the colonial period. There is a growing collection of material in English and Indonesian on East Timor's struggle for independence and its relationship with Indonesia. Most material dates from 1975 onwards.

History and development

The collection originally formed part of the Indonesian collection, when East Timor was the Indonesian province of Timor Timur. Most material relates to East Timor's occupation by Indonesia from 1975 until independence in 2002. The library continues to collect material on East Timor politics and human rights; on economics and development; on NGOs, democracy and civil society and on the Tetum language.

Strengths

"The East Timor question" is a collection of more the 800 microfiche of clippings, correspondence, photos and other documents gathered in the course of more than twenty years of reporting on East Timor by Australian journalist Jill Jolliffe.

The East Timor Studies collection is strongest on the period 1975 to 2002, dealing with Timor's relationship with Indonesia and Australia. The collection continues to expand, particularly on the politics, economics, and civil society and development issues of a newly independent nation.

General arrangement and access regulations

Mainly open access. Western language material forms the main East Timor Studies collection. Material in Indonesian and Tetum forms part of the Indonesian and Malay Studies collection. Microfiche collections are on closed access.

Subjects of the Collection

Regions of Asia

South East Asia.

Countries

East Timor, Indonesia.

Languages of material

English, Indonesian, Portuguese, Tetum.

Subjects

Agriculture, Anthropology, Arts, Communication and media, Development, Economics, Geography, History, Human rights, International relations, Language, Law, Literature, Music, Politics and government, Religion, Sociology, Travel, Women.

Languages as linguistic focus

Portuguese, Tetum.

Collection Material and Size of Collection

Material Types

Books, Computer files (includes CD-ROMs & other electronic material), Maps (includes all types of cartographic material), Newspapers (includes microfilm editions), Official publications, Theses, Visual materials (includes photographs, prints, drawings, videos & films).

Total size of collection

300 volumes, 800 microfiches

Size of collection - vernacular

30 volumes

Size of collection - western

270 volumes, 800 microfiches

Collection Management Information

The collection is being actively developed, and the average intake has risen.

Annual intake

10 volumes

Content date range

1975 to present

Interlibrary loan procedure

Collection Catalogue Information

Catalogue

The online library catalogue offers access to all material acquired since 1989 and a substantial part of the material collected prior to that date. Work to add records for the earlier collections from the card catalogue is ongoing and by the end of 2002 all material acquired since 1979 will be included as well as significant parts of the rest of the collection. For those who cannot access the card catalogue on site the Library's catalogues have been published (details below).