The venerable Oxford Islamic Studies Online (OISO) has recently added new content to its already remarkably rich database of Islamic scholarship. It contains content from major reference resources including The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture, and The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, in addition to chapters from other books, maps and other images, and primary-source documents from the Islamic world. Two translations of the Koran—M.A.S. Abdel Haleem's modern prose version and A.J. Arberry's verse edition—as well as Hanna Kassis's Koran Concordance are included. OISO also contains a section of educator resources, including lesson plans, thematic guides, a glossary, geographic and Internet resource listings, and the text of Brannon M. Wheeler's Teaching Islam. The latest update adds 200 new Grove articles, extra primary-source documents, a "Regional Spotlight" highlighting Southeast Asia, two new thematic guides, and additional lesson plans. The interface is clean and easy to navigate, allowing for both browsing and searching. Searching can be limited to type of material and by era, topic, or region. Articles are all cited, and many offer bibliographies; some contain maps and pictures, although these can also be found in the images and maps section. There are no cross-references from the textual articles to the images, but this is a quibble about a truly splendid resource.
VERDICT There is nothing else as complete, easy to use, and relevant for research in Islamic studies as OISO. Indispensible for academic, public, and theological libraries and highly recommended for secondary school libraries.
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