IALRC is a research library seeded with a thousand print books with a goal of ten thousand. An extensive digital library with books and journals in English, Urdu, Arabic and Persian is being compiled. The library will have online access to the 80,000 volume Hartford International University for Religion and Peace in addition to several other international libraries.

Affiliated with Hartford International University the library is in the process of setting-up a yearly post-doctoral fellowship beginning spring 2025. Our fellows will conduct research in Islam and related subjects under the direction of Dr. Hosein Kamaly, Imam Ali Chair at Hartford International University.

The library has an independent Board of Governors. Dr. Hosein Kamaly chairs the Board with support from Dr. M.Kazmi and Dr. Hassan Abbas as members.

Imam Ali Library & Research Center is affiliated with Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, the former Hartford Seminary. Founded in 1833,HIU is centered on two academic units: the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and the Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, the country’s oldest center for such study, having opened in 1973.The seminary offers certificate programs and graduate degrees up to the doctoral level, including the only accredited Islamic chaplaincy program.HIU publishes The Muslim World since 1938, an academic journal dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of scholarly research on Islam and Muslim societies and on historical and current aspects of Christian-Muslim relations.
Dr. Hosein Kamaly, Executive Director and Founder of Imam Ali Library holds the Imam Ali Chair in Shia Studies and Dialogue Among Islamic Schools of Thought at Hartford International University. Before obtaining his Ph.D. (2004) and MA (2001), both in history from Columbia University, he earned an MSc degree in Mathematics from New York University. He directs the library’s research program, book collection, seminars and academic efforts.