This issue of Focus is the first to appear under the Global Resources Network masthead. The Global Resources Network (GRN) supports international studies by expanding the world of sources available to those engaged in scholarship, teaching, and research.

GRN programs preserve important evidence and documentation and make them available worldwide. In the present issue we identify and describe historical and cultural evidence and related source materials on South Asia under British colonial rule. Materials featured here range from the Imperial Gazetteer of India, documenting the vast infrastructure of British control in the region, to records of the East India Company’s early trading activity, to newspapers and reports from the domestic press in India under the Raj.

The issue also features a report on how one history professor incorporates primary source materials into a 300-level seminar, "European Imperialism and Colonial Response: Knowledge, Race and Power in British India."

Aside from gathering content, GRN programs like the Digital South Asia Library also support the development of important capabilities in libraries and archives in the source regions. We feature here an announcement of a British Library-funded project to work with Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh, India, to preserve and digitize rare and fragile Urdu-language journals.

These and other activities of the Global Resources Network arise from the belief that libraries, archives, and other memory institutions are essential to civil society.

In Memoriam: Irene Joshi

Irene Joshi (October 10, 1934–August 16, 2007), a respected librarian and dear colleague of the staff of the Center for Research Libraries, recently passed away. In her capacity as South Asia Librarian at the University of Washington (1970–2000), Irene was heavily involved in the development and direction of the South Asia Microform Project. Her contributions to the Digital South Asia Library (notably the International Union List of South Asian Newspapers and Gazettes) and the International Coalition on Newspapers (ICON) have served scholars and librarians alike. In honor of her memory, we direct readers to her insightful work on the history and future of South Asian newspapers presented at the Symposium on Access to and Preservation of Global Newspapers (May 27–28, 1997, Washington DC).