In 1988-1989, following considerable research in libraries to find a particular manuscript for her PhD dissertation, Prof Aynur realised that an annual bibliography of MA and PhD theses in Ottoman-Turkish Literature would be of great service to scholars and students working in that field.
Moreover, her previous experience of preparing bibliographies on various topics encouraged her to develop such a bibliography. From there, and with the support of the head of the Department of Turkish Language and Literature at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul (her institution at the time), Professor Aynur established contact with scholars in the field.
After collecting references to theses going back to 1922, she organised and classified the data, established a format for the information, and published the first edition.
Initially, Professor Aynur published the first two issues as simple photocopies that she sent free of charge to Turkish Language and Literature departments in Turkey.
However, scholars in the field hailed the publication with great enthusiasm, which encouraged her to expand the scope of the bibliography. Given this, and from the third issue onwards (1992), she included coverage of books, articles, papers and on-going projects, in addition to data concerning theses and dissertations.
In all, she published fifteen issues of the bibliography between 1991-2005, of which two editions were cumulative volumes (2000, 2005), and the complete printing history is given below.
Changes to this site's underlying database-technologies are documented here using a system of version numbers. Similarly, changes to documentation on this site, such as alterations to the contents of the Information section, form-labels and help messages are logged in an equivalent fashion. However, all version-number changes disregard cosmetic modifications, such as alterations to colours, typefaces and other stylistic devices.
Formal logging of this site's evolution is important because formal citation elsewhere of the bibliography and/or site-documentation should quote also the date at which the system was accessed in connection with the reference in question (see the Citation section for relevant-advice). Given this, provision of version-numbers here allows interested parties to determine precisely the version of the system that was operating at the date that a given citation specifies.
In the light of this, we employ the following format for database and documentation version-numbers alike:
Major.Minor.Bug-Fix
Within this scheme, changes in the Major number correspond to significant updates, such as the addition of new features to the database system (or, in the case of the documentation version-number, the addition of new sections to the Information pages). Changes to the Minor number correspond to refinements and improvements to the existing database-technology (or, equivalently, to the documentation). Finally, changes to the Bug-Fix number log only the resolution of flaws in the existing database-system (corresponding, in the case of the documentation version-number, to syntactic and grammatical corrections).
Please note that we make upgrades available on or after 00:00 GMT on the date specified in the release-history information provided below. Note also that an upgrade is always preceded by a period in which the site is unavailable while we update its underlying technologies, and that the site goes offline in this respect before 00:00 GMT on the day of the upgrade.
Given these points, the complete release-history for the database system is as follows:
| Version | Date | Changes |
| 1.0.0 | 01/05/2011 | Initial Launch |
| 1.1.0 | 23/10/2011 | Minor alterations to database structure, resolved small defects |
| 1.2.0 | 01/05/2012 | Added 'Fall/Güz' option to publication dates fields in data-entry form |
Similarly, the complete release-history for the documentation is as follows:
| Version | Date | Changes |
| 1.0.0 | 01/05/2011 | Initial Launch |
| 1.0.1 | 23/10/2011 | Resolved minor typographical errors |
| 1.1.0 | 01/05/2012 | Changed system-upgrade assertions in the 'Site Versions' section in the Information pages to state that upgrades occur on or after 00:00 GMT |
Professor Aynur launched the online version of the bibliography in November 2010, and this differs from the print editions in two respects. First, the print editions included all works, relating to Ottoman literature or otherwise, by scholars working in the field of Ottoman-Turkish literature, whereas the online bibliography includes only those works that focus on Ottoman-Turkish literature.
The second difference pertains to the time span of the online version. Other than theses (available since 1922), the print version covered only bibliographical references to books, articles, papers and projects that were published since 1990. Conversely, the online bibliography includes works on Ottoman Turkish literature published at any time.
Over time, Professor Aynur will continue to add entries to the database, and to update existing records, thus complementing submissions from users of this site. As with her work on the print version of the bibliography, she will continue her practice of performing extensive research in libraries and bookstores, in order to validate and verify new dissertations and publications, and to provide missing information.
The ultimate aim is to include references to all published and unpublished material relating to Ottoman culture, literature, language and literary culture, whether the works underlying such material are complete or on-going.
In time, the database will also cover topics that relate in part to Ottoman literature and its contemporary fields, such as Selqukis, Anadolu Begligs, Memluq, Chagatayi (in Turkish: Selçuklu, Anadolu Beğlikleri, Memluk, Çağatay), along with topics relating to Arabic and Persian literatures and cultures.