When Dr. Halil İnalcık came to Bilkent to help found a history department in 1993, the university gained not only the expertise of one of the world’s most important Ottoman scholars, but also his rather impressive collection of books, journals and original documents.
The İnalcık Collection, housed in the Main Library, contains 7000 volumes and 4000 journal articles. Another 2000 volumes, collected since 1993, are still to be inventoried and catalogued. The focus of the collection is primarily history, with additional selections in Economics, Sociology, and Ottoman Turkish Art. The history collection contains many original documents in Ottoman Turkish and Arabic, as well as important sources in English, French, German, Russian, Greek and Romanian. The quality of the collection is as impressive as its size, due to the fact that Dr. İnalcık collected these books and documents as a specialist. One can find original Ottoman imperial orders concerning Dutch trade, Arabic sources of Islamic Law, a three-volume Ottoman Turkish dictionary published two centuries ago, and numerous other rare sources just waiting for a graduate student. The collection is used by scholars from various Turkish universities as well as by foreign visitors who come to Bilkent looking for a specific book or document that can only be found in the İnalcık Collection.
The Library’s İnalcık Collection is open to the public for research, and all materials can be used in the reading room. Photocopies of books and articles may not be made without the permission of Dr. İnalcık. The collection is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. noon and from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Hakan Arslan, who is in charge of the collection can be reached by e-mail at inalcikcollection@bilkent.edu.tr.