Administrative matters
* AIYS is happy to announce that after a long search process Stephen J. Steinbeiser II, J.D., was
appointed AIYS Resident Director in Sana'a effective January 1, 2009. Stephen and his wife Kate Hennessey started
out his appointment by attending the meeting held by the Council of American Overseas Research Centers for center
directors at the West African Research Center in Dakar, Senegal. AIYS is indebted to Dr. Christopher M. Edens, who served as
AIYS as Resident Director from April 1, 2000 through December 2008 and who oversaw the process of acquiring and preparing
AIYS' new premises, for his exemplary service to the organization. Dr. Edens who remains in Yemen to carry out his own
projects, will also continue as consultant for AIYS-affiliated cultural resource projects.
* As the new premises were completed, AIYS moved into them, the hostel in December 2007 and the office in late March
2008. Work on inventorying, organizing, and reshelving the library holdings started in July 2008, under the direction of
Ms. Heather Sweetser who gave us 15 months of her time and also trained her successor, Faraj al-Arami.
Membership
* Individual membership in AIYS is by the calendar year. Members are entitled to receive AIYS's
annual bulletin Yemen Update, to use AIYS services, and to stay in the AIYS hostel in Sana'a. A
membership form is available on this site, and is also included in
the annual AIYS bulletin Yemen Update.
* The AIYS membership form now includes a donor form. We are very gratified that a number of
people have taken advantage of this form to make restricted or unrestricted donations to AIYS. A
list of contributors is published annually in Yemen Update.
* AIYS conducts an ongoing a survey of researchers and research interests in
Yemen and needs your input.
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Travel to and in Yemen
* Visa regulations: Regulations governing the issuing of visas for
entry into Yemen have changed with some frequency during the past few years. AIYS
members wishing to travel to Yemen should consult a Yemeni embassy or
consulate well ahead of time as some travel may require sponsorship from an
organization in Yemen. Note that different rules may be in effect for visas
obtained from a Yemeni consulate in the U.S. than for those requested from a Yemeni
consulate elsewhere. Prospective travelers should also be aware that prior travel
to a number of countries, including Israel, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and other -stan's,
could result in a denial of entry into Yemen even with a valid visa. If necessary,
AIYS' Sana'a office will, for a fee, assist
AIYS members in obtaining a visa and will meet them on arrival at Sana'a airport
with appropriate documentation. It was announced in January 2010 that tourist visas
can no longer be bought upon arrival at the Sana'a airport.
* AIYS members planning a trip to Yemen should take into account how
existing security considerations -- including State Department consular information sheets
and travel warnings
-- may affect their ability to do their work, and all fellows
are strongly encouraged to consult the State Department announcements concerning
travel. in the Middle East before departure from the U.S. Other sources of
information include British Foreign Office warnings; international on-line news-services and
the index to articles provided by the Yemen
Daily Times; the on-line edition of the weekly Yemen
Times and Yemen Observer; and the website Yemen Gateway,
which gives background information on ongoing stories. And while AIYS accepts no
responsibility for decisions made by individuals, the AIYS Resident Director
in Sana'a will upon request provide current information for those planning a
research trip to Yemen. AIYS fellows who plan to travel to Yemen are also reminded of
the conditions of the contingency planning document distributed in the award package and
also posted on this site. All AIYS fellows are required to register
with the U.S. embassy upon arrival in Yemen; AIYS strongly recommends that all its members do so.
Travelers may also register on-line
prior to travel. Note that at present AIYS fellows funded from ECA/CAORC program grants may not travel to Yemen using
fellowship funds until the State Department has lifted its ban on such travel.
* Travel within Yemen: In spite of the travel warning that has been in effect
for Yemen for the last several years, AIYS fellows and other researchers in Yemen
have been very successful in carrying out their work. The U.S. embassy advises
Americans in Yemen to observe security precautions in their daily routines and as
they travel through Yemen. Travel permits are now necessary for surface travel
outside Sana'a and other major cities. AIYS members who are in Yemen or plan to travel
there may request that the Resident Director put them on the distribution list for U.S.
embassy warden notices.
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Publications
* The most recent issue of Yemen Update was mailed to members in early 2008 (#48, for 2006).
#49 (for 2007) is expected to appear in early 2010. Contributions are now being accepted for #50 and #51.
Persons who wish to contribute articles to Yemen Update should write to Dr. Joan Reilly at the AIYS office.
Yemen Update is in the process of being archived on-line.
Once the backlog has been posted, issues will be archived on-line two years after they appear in print.
Members may also be interested in the Yemen on-line research resources section of this
site presided over by Dr. Daniel Martin Varisco.
* In 1999 AIYS started a new program of sending out occasional
small publications, as they are published, to paid-up individual and
institutional members of AIYS. In 1999 paid-up members received
The Journey to the Tomb of the Prophet Hud; in 2001 Tim Mackintosh-Smith's
translation of Wasf San'a (City of Divine and Earthly Joys) was sent out.
Members who were paid up for 2002 were sent the trilingual publication documenting
the 17th century mosque complex in Dhuran (Dhamar governorate). In 2003 members received
AIYS President Tom Stevenson's "Visions of Yemen: A Filmography," and in 2006 members received
a copy of former AIYS Resident Director Marta Colburn's From the Queen of Sheba to the Republic
of Yemen: K-12 Resource Guide and Classroom Ideas. These and other AIYS publications may also be purchased directly from the
Middle East Studies Association, which now distributes
all of AIYS' publications except for Yemen Update.
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Institutional Projects
The Digital Library for International Research
* Since 1999 AIYS has been acting as the lead institution, with the Council for American
Overseas Research Centers (CAORC), for what was originally known as the American Overseas
Digital Library Project. This project was started with funding from a 4-year matching
grant from the U.S. Department of Education under its program for Technological Innovation
and Cooperation for Foreign Information Access (TICFIA). The initial stage of this project
included libraries of CAORC member centers in Europe, the Near and Middle East, South Asia,
and West Africa, to which the holdings of new and nascent member centers in Inner Asia,
Southeast Asia, and Central America are also being added. In addition other collections
in countries hosting CAORC member centers have become interested in participating in this
project. To reflect this new range of interest and coverage in November 2004 the name of
the project was changed to Digital Library for International Research (DLIR). AIYS Executive
Director Dr. Maria Ellis is the Project Director and AIYS hosts the DLIR web site, which explains the project and gives access to
those DLIR components that can already be visited on-line.
Matching funds for the USED grant came from the Getty Grant program for the process of
retroconverting the library catalogs of six center libraries in the Middle East, including
the AIYS library, as well as from other private sources. The project also had
funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Service for selective preservation and
digitization of Middle Eastern research
journals. Subsequent funding for additional projects that will add to DLIR has again come from the Education Department's TICFIA
program. The first four-year matching grant, Local Libraries and Archives
Project, went into effect on October 1, 2005 and is adding a variety of bibliographic and digitized materials from partner
organizations abroad. As part of the multi-AORC project funding provided by AIYS enabled the Yemen Center for Studies and Research
to create a digital catalog of its Arabic language library holdings. Another TICFIA matching grant, effective October 1, 2009,
will digitize and post on line selected research materials from partner organizations. CAORC itself is undertaking the
long-term maintenance of DLIR, including funding the position of a full-time Project
Coordinator, and has successfully applied to the National Endowment for the Humanities
for a matching grant to raise funds to endow the ongoing infrastructure of the digital
library program. CAORC and the participating centers are still seeking matching funds
from various private sources.
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Outreach: Panels, Programs, Workshops
MESA panels
* Proposals for AIYS-sponsored MESA panels: AIYS, as an organization affiliated with
MESA, is entitled to sponsor three panels at the annual MESA meeting. Scholars wishing
to propose a panel for AIYS sponsorship need to do so before submitting the panel
proposal to MESA for consideration. Panels should conform to all applicable MESA rules
and proposals should be submitted to AIYS on the MESA form; if in doubt about a projected
speaker's eligibility to participate, contact MESA or the AIYS
Executive Director. The annual deadline for submitting a panel proposal to AIYS for consideration
by the AIYS Program Committee is February 1; the MESA deadline is February 15. For
a list of panels sponsored in previous years, click here.
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