The rich academic resources at the University of Chicago make it an ideal venue for the NEH Summer Institute. The University's Joseph Regenstein Library has one of the world's leading collections of materials on Near Eastern, Asian, and Islamic history, including publications from every corner of the world and a vast array of journals, so that few bibliographical items of significance for the study of Islam and its background are wanting. The required readings for the Seminar will be made available at the Library's efficient Reserve Desk--almost all of them on electronic reserve, which can be accessed and downloaded/printed via computer (see next paragraph). The Library has a vast supply of open carrels for secluded reading and study, and lockers situated close to clusters of carrels, and suitable for storage of your books, papers, and personal items, can be easily arranged. Photocopy machines are readily available and use a card system that avoids the need for large quantities of change. The Library will be open daily during the summer: 8 AM-10 PM Monday-Thursday, 8 AM-5 PM Friday and Saturday, and 10 AM-10 PM on Sunday.

The University of Chicago also has extensive computer facilities that will be available to participants. These include several "public-access" sites which faculty, staff, and students at the University may use without charge. These sites support both PC and Mac platforms. The software packages available are predominantly Microsoft Office, but each site has some WordPerfect packages (mainly to make it possible to convert WordPerfect files to MS format). Hours of operation of the computer sites are the same as the libraries in which they are located; of particular interest is the new site, with over one hundred seats/terminals, in the Crerar Science Library on campus. As all these terminals are linked to the University's network, e-mail is accessible from any of them, and printers are available.

The University maintains a wide variety of facilities for physical education and recreation, including indoor and outdoor jogging tracks, weight equipment, basketball, volleyball, racquetball, tennis, and squash courts, a 50-meter swimming pool, a sauna, etc. Participants who wish to do so may secure an athletic pass that gives them access to these facilities for the duration of the program. Cost is now being negotiated with the Athletic Department; a one-quarter pass runs around $90, but perhaps we can arrange a somewhat lower fee in view of the brevity of the program.