Completing the Set: Digital Gap-Filling for Rare Collections

For archivists and subject librarians, few things are as frustrating as a “broken run”—a multi-volume history or a periodical set that is missing just one or two items. Physical replacement copies of rare 19th-century Persian lithographs are often impossible to find or prohibitively expensive to ship and store.

The Strategy of Gap-Filling At Opars, we view digitisation as the ultimate solution to the “incomplete shelf” problem. We actively assist institutions in locating and supplying specific missing volumes to complete their existing holdings. This process, often called “virtual reunification,” allows a library to offer a complete intellectual resource to its patrons, even if the physical originals reside in different corners of the globe.

Targeted Sourcing Our catalogue is deep, but our archival reach is deeper. We frequently acquire single volumes of major historical works (such as the Nasikh al-Tavarikh or the Rawzat al-Safa) that are specifically needed to fill gaps in institutional collections.

Submit Your Desiderata Do you have a specific gap in your Persian collection? We encourage librarians to share their “desiderata” (wish lists) with us. Even if a title is not currently listed in our public shop, we may have it in our processing queue or be able to prioritise its digitisation for you.

Get in Touch Don’t let your collection remain incomplete. Please contact us with your list of missing volumes, and we will check our archives for a match.