This selection guide is designed for information professionals planning to build a collection of Persian music resources for their institution, whether this be a library or a cultural organization preserving the musical heritage of Iran (e.g. Centres of Iranian studies with multidisciplinary research interests). Having undertaken such a project for the University of Toronto Libraries, I wish to share some of my experience. LibGuides may not adequately capture all the complications one might encounter in collection development. They tend to lose currency as channels of acquisition are affected by economic and political factors such as sanctions, travel regulations and international trade arrangements. I therefore encourage those who wish to consider such an undertaking based on this document to contact me personally. I will be happy to provide an update and paint a more accurate picture of challenges and opportunities that are beyond the scope of this guide.
Prepared for the MLA Resource Sharing and Collection Development Committee by:
Houman Behzadi
Music Collection Development Librarian
University of Toronto Libraries
Email: houman.behzadi@utoronto.ca
See also Houman Behzadi's article, "Building a collection of Iranian music at the University of Toronto Music Library," published in the Canadian Association of Music Libraries (CAML) Review. All photographs used in this guide are courtesy of Houman Behzadi.