Stanford Libraries welcomes Kioumars Ghereghlou as Middle East Collections Curator

I am excited to let everyone know that we will be welcoming Kioumars Ghereghlou to Stanford Libraries as the new Middle East Curator. Kioumars will start on September 7 and be part of the Humanities and Area Studies Resource Group in Green, with an office on the second floor. As Middle East Curator, he will be responsible for developing and promoting Stanford Libraries’ collections materials in the humanities and social sciences from Turkey and all Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as providing research support to the growing number of scholars and students at Stanford doing research and teaching on this region.

Kioumars comes to the Bay Area from the Columbia University Libraries, where he served as Bibliographic Assistant focusing on Middle East materials, assisting the curator and performing a wide range of acquisitions and metadata activities, including original and copy cataloging and communicating with vendors. He has been a reviewer for Middle Eastern History, Languages, and Literatures with Resources for College Libraries, an American Library Association subject guide for building and assessing collections, co-published by Choice and ProQuest. He brings to Stanford Libraries deep experience as a scholar, instructor, and librarian, as well as impressive language expertise. He earned graduate degrees in Persian history at Shahid Beheshti University (formerly National University of Iran) in Tehran, and more recently completed an MS in Information from Rutgers University. He has been on teaching faculty at Ferdowsi University in Mashhad, Iran, NYU, and the New School, and was an Associate Research Scholar at Columbia working on the Encyclopedia Iranica Online before transitioning into the libraries there.

Kioumars’ interests in early modern Middle Eastern manuscripts and in Persian historical writing can be seen in these recent publications, as well as many scholarly articles. Stanford researchers will benefit greatly from his knowledge and experience in these areas. He is excited to deepen Stanford Libraries’ strengths and to explore new collecting paths.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Pauline Lewis for her stellar work as interim curator of Middle East studies, a position that she has done with skill and creativity. Her scholarly background, experience in acquisitions, and energy make her a valued colleague in all of her roles.

Thank you, Pauline! Welcome, Kioumars!