F.A.Q.

• What can be found in the Archive?
  The focus of the Archive is on the several regions inhabited by Somalis and the Somali population but the documents included belong to various and different subject areas: history and geography, literature and social sciences, linguistics and economy and so on.
• In which language are the documents written?
  In the Archive, you can find mainly documents written in Somali, Italian and English, but to a lesser extent there are documents written in other languages, such as Arabic, French and German.
• How can I explore the Archive?
  The Somali Archive can be explored in the following two modalities: by a simple search, typing one or more words in the search bar; and by browsing the Archive following different criterions: Subject Area, Title, Author, Publication date, Keyword.
• How can I use the documents in the Somali Archive?
  The documents in the SA can be consulted and downloaded only for private use. It is not possible to modify, nor to use the material for commercial purposes.
• How can I visualize the documents?
  The text documents are in PDF format, to visualize PDF files it is necessary to install the Adobe Acrobat Reader free software on your pc.
• How can I view and listen to videos and audios?
  The Videos and Audios of the SA can be viewed and listened to by installing the free and open-source VLC Media Player.
• Some bibliographical records lack the attached document. Why?
  The SA includes a limited number of bibliographical records without any attachment: in these cases it has not been possible for us to provide the actual digitalized document because the publishing house, or the author, did not allow its insertion in the Archive. Despite this and because of the significance of these documents, the bibliographical data are provided.
• Why can a Somali author name be written with different spellings?
  In the Archive, the name of the author is written as it appears in the title page of the volume (or article, or document) because there is no homogeneity in Somali names spelling. The names can be transcribed according to the Somali orthography (i.e. Cali), or to the Western languages one (i.e. Ali); in addition, Somali names are often adapted to the Western names system that distinguishes between name and surname. The search by author must consider this peculiarity, and it can be necessary to repeat the inquiry varying the spelling of the name of the author.
• Why does the publication date not always coincide with the actual production date of the document?
  Sometimes, the date associated to the document does not coincide with the production date, as for example in the collection of colonial images published in the archive with a recent date. This happens because - when there is no clear indication of a production or publication date for a document - the system of the SA records this document with the date of the submission in the archive. The inquiry by publication date must take into account this peculiarity.