On the feasibility of an automated bibliography of Iranian studies

To state that the bibliography of Iranian studies is accumulating at an alarming rate is perhaps to belabor the obvious. It is an impression most students of the field will share. The project described in the following few pages was undertaken in part to explore this impression, and to test a solution to the problem implicit in it. Whatever small part impressionism may have thus played in its conceptual phase, the project's findings are strictly empirical. Our general finding has been that the accumulation of bibliography in Iranian studies is faster than its students dare imagine, and is accelerating. For all practical purposes, it is beyond the control of the traditional methods of compiling and publication. Only the application of modern automated methods of data storage and control can allow the individual scholar to keep abreast of developments in his field, and save him an appreciable amount of time-consuming drudgery.