JSTOR Hebrew Journals Pilot Project

JSTOR Hebrew Journals Pilot Project

The Hebrew Journals Pilot Project is the result of an extensive collaboration with the University of Haifa Library and the National Library of Israel to digitize, test and make available the complete back runs of four core journals published in Hebrew. This Pilot represents an effort to preserve and expose these critical materials to a broader audience. The University of Haifa has collaborated with the National Library of Israel and other organizations in a set of projects to preserve and widely disseminate scholarship in Hebrew, of which the Hebrew Journals Pilot Project is one.

When and who can access these materials?

All institutions participating in JSTOR may sign up to access this Pilot without fee, as part of their existing JSTOR access. Institutions may write to support@jstor.org. We'll reply with information about how to sign up. This material will become available on JSTOR starting in Fall 2010. Once it is available, we will contact all institutions who have expressed interested letting them know they have access to these materials.

Because of the experimental and collaborative nature of this project, JSTOR will invite all users of this content to share their feedback. We will take the feedback we receive to help develop expertise and processes for digitizing content in non-Roman languages, displaying journals in non-right-to-left reading order, and understanding how JSTOR can be of assistance to the scholarly community worldwide.

Why a Hebrew Journals Project?

This project is first and foremost a collaboration between the University of Haifa, the National Library of Israel and JSTOR to meet the needs of scholars working throughout the world in Hebrew language scholarship. By collaborating, the University of Haifa will gain expertise in creating digital content, and JSTOR will gain vital knowledge as it works to expand the range of languages represented on the JSTOR platform, particularly through the experience the University shares through its participation in other digitization projects in Hebrew.
The journals in the Hebrew Journals Pilot support JSTOR's and the University of Haifa's shared goal of widening the scope of available materials in JSTOR to support research and new scholarship. The University of Haifa is working with the National Library of Israel to ensure that full back runs of the digitized journals are preserved in print, while JSTOR will serve as the stable platform for access.

What materials are available?

The University of Haifa identified four journal titles in Hebrew with significant impact to scholars working in these representative fields around the world. Placing these critical titles alongside the larger JSTOR corpus offers the researcher a unique opportunity to leverage their impact on scholarly research. These titles are strongly referenced within existing JSTOR content and will provide a high value to researchers and students alike. The four journal titles represented in this pilot project span a range of disciplines, including Jewish Studies, geography, history, sociology, and the social sciences. We are delighted to have gained the support of the publishers of the following four titles:

• Horizons in Geography -covering all aspects of geography in the Middle East and the greater region, such as historical geography and physical geography.
• Megamot -dedicated to behavioral studies: psychology, sociology, social work, and related fields.
• Tarbiz - the leading Jewish Studies journal in Hebrew.
• Zion -a widely used Hebrew periodical of history, published by the Historical Society of Israel

The four titles are available to all Hebrew Journals Pilot participants. Institutions may join the Hebrew Journals Pilot Project by contacting support@jstor.org. There is no additional cost to participate. 

How will these journals be displayed on JSTOR?

The University of Haifa, with consultation from JSTOR, worked toward creating digitized content in accordance with JSTOR's existing production standards. As with all the journals on JSTOR, complete runs will be displayed as faithful replications of the original print copies, and users will be able to search and browse.

What makes this project a Pilot project?

The Hebrew Journal Pilot Project is a new endeavor for JSTOR. As such, we are hoping to learn as much as possible from these collaborative efforts. The purpose of the Pilot Project is to gather feedback on the relevance of the content to researchers' needs and the quality of the content and presentation. We hope to learn to improve these types of facets in the future, but we need your feedback to do so. Your feedback will be essential to helping us learn from this pilot and improve the presentation of the content. We look forward to your comments!
Institutions may sign up for the Hebrew Journals Pilot Project by contacting support@jstor.org.

And see also The Ancient World in JSTOR: AWOL's full list of journals in JSTOR with substantial representation of the Ancient World.