Pak-LIS News

Muhammad Rafiq Awan, Chief Library Officer, University Of Management and Technology, Lahore.

Libraries have always captivated knowledge-loving communities towards geyser of wisdom, provided sight to pass through the events of history and envisioned for the future. With the passage of time, life became speedier and man has to move along the pace of time. The span of twenty-four hours seems shorter to perform the routine activities of life. It's now a dilemma to order priorities and spare some time for putting out the craving of knowledge among the bombardment of illusionary slogans of diversified information channels.

Libraries as an integral organ of society have to re-design their strategy for playing their role and to enhance their effectiveness in this changing scenario; otherwise, their survival would be at stake. The traditional concept that “A thirsty man should search for the well, it is not the well who may approach to the thirsty man” has been reversed. In the new paradigm libraries have to knock the doors of their users, they have to demolish the boundaries in order to ignite the stimulus of knowledge demand. Instead of busy life, it’s also a fact that demand to seek new knowledge still exists. Libraries have to recognize the demand and serve according to the user's expectations. Users are now the customers of Learning Resource Centers (LRCs) and their expectations are to be fulfilled according to the market demand. Libraries should follow the style of business organization to promote their brand. They must design their strategy as Strategic Business Unit (SBU). Libraries however, are involved in some or more formal and informal ways to promote their products. But marketing as a structured set of activities, most of the libraries are not practicing it. “Our need for a marketing strategy coincided with a significant shift in how we provide library services to our clientele. "For many years we operated as traditional information center: we managed the corporate archives; provided electronic clipping and document delivery; ordered books and journals for employees; and answered research questions… The way we allocate our budget has changes. Our expanded role is a result of engaging end users as information partners, and the crux of that engagement is nonstop marketing…”(Peggy Bass Bridges and Suzette Morgan "Creatively Marketing the Corporate Library" available at: http://www.infotoday.com/mls/mar00/bridges&morgan.htm

Market driven approach should be the focus of libraries, to reorganize their structure, to reengineer their activities, to redefine their goals, to redesign their portfolio and to reconsider their service delivery system. The resources may be devoted only to satisfy the wants of users. “A customer orientation towards marketing holds that success will come to that organization that best determines the perception, needs, and wants of target markets and satisfies them through the design, communication, pricing, and delivery of appropriate and competitively viable offerings…( Kotler, Philip; Andreasen, Alan R.. (1991) Strategic marketing for nonprofit organizations 4th edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.)

The scope of marketing would not be limited with the type and size of Learning Resource Center (LRC). All types of libraries, academic, public, corporate, etc. regardless of their size, should plan for their marketing activities and allocate budgets for effective marketing plans. “ In many instances, the smaller the Learning Resource Center (LRC), the greater the need for a strong marketing plan….” (Ross, 1995). The attempt to kindle the marketing activities, not only raise the image of libraries but would be a source of alternate funding that has become indispensable for libraries. The budget cuts have forced libraries to cut their coats quiet lesser of their size. Both, public and private sector libraries, are experiencing the problem of scarce budgets. In Pakistan, there are many libraries, which have confined themselves only to purchase newspapers and very few titles in a year. The shortage of finances is also prevailing around the Globe too, but the Third World countries are more victims of it. We can analyze the situation by comparing percentage raise in grants to libraries and percentage raise in prices of Learning Resource Center (LRC) materials etc.

The current electronic information environment has also changed the information use behavior of Learning Resource Center (LRC) users. Libraries have to accept this challenge in order to tackle the needs of their patrons, community and stakeholders. The growth of Internet based free accessible materials is significant, though it plunges for just a junk, most of times you search it. Even though, people are using it vigorously to fulfill their information needs. The priority to use Learning Resource Centers (LRC) for their information needs, which was already not at the top, has gone down more. The virtual and outreach collections are becoming more popular, and the time may come when you would carry your library in a laptop without feeling the need to visit it.

The need of marketing products and services of Learning Resource Centers (LRC) has become manifold in the country like Pakistan, also because of the reading culture here. Even for research projects people are normally looking for some shortcuts. If libraries come up with effective marketing strategy, they will surely be successful by all means i.e. improving their image, dealing with the challenges of the day, raising their funds, and enhancing their expertise.

Note: We have used the term Learning Resource Center (LRC) as synonym of Library.[Contents]

PROFESSIONAL NEWS

Punjab University has awarded Ph.D. degree in the subject of library science to Ms. Kanwal Ameen, Lecturer, Department of Library & Information Science. Dr. Kanwal completed her thesis under the supervision of Prof. Dr. A. R. Chaudhary and Prof. Dr. Syed Jalaluddin Haider. Her topic of research was "Philosophy and Framework of Collection Management and Its Application in University Libraries of Pakistan: An Appraisal." [Contents]

Raja Muhammad Ibrahim Visits Stretford Leisure Centre and Self-Access Library, UK

I visited the combined leisure centre and self-access library in Stratford, a suburb of Manchester, UK to learn how a self-access library could be set-up and operated.

The self-access library is based in the leisure centre building so visitors can use the library before or after using the leisure facilities, such as the swimming pool.

The library is fully automated. Check-in and check-out points have been set up for library members to issue and return books themselves. The library staffs work from 0900-2000 hours. What happens after the library staffs leave for the day? Unbelievably, the self-access library is open from 0700-2300 hours to members. This means that this library has the longest opening hours of any public library in the UK! Can come, search and read the books and periodicals and borrow and return books. So far there has been no theft or loss of stock. What a great way to run a library!.

Living in Pakistan, I can not even dream of such a library. Credit goes to Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council, UK for providing this fantastic facility to library users.[Contents]

Central Library University Of Peshawar Plans A Workshop On Library Automation & Networking

Central Library is planning a nationwide workshop of its kind at the University of Peshawar Campus. Library trainings are vital part of our continuing education. To keep update & share new themes with the talented pool of scholars, it has been decided to organize a three day workshop on the topic of Library Automation & Networking.
Tentative dates are scheduled for May last week. Final arrangements & call for the papers are underway. The opportunity will bring a chance to come up with certain new themes to overcome the IT revolution in our library routines.[Contents]

Office bearers of University of Peshawar Library Association host a lunch in the honour of new entrant professional colleagues on March 06,2005. at Pashto academy, University of Peshawar.
Basically the function was organized in the honour of Mr. Haseeb Ahmad (Librarian Dept of History), Mr Ghalib Khan (Librarian Faculty of Law), Mr Ibrar Khan (Librarian Islamic Centre) & Ms Riasat Begum (Librarian Dept. of Library & Information Science). The meeting was addressed by Mr Sarfraz Khan, Mr Janat Naeeem & Tanver Akbar Qureshi. Librarians also discudssed the service structure set up for the Librarians of University of Peshawar. A committee was constituted to look into the matter & discuss the issues with Registrar.
The meeting was adjourned with the vote of thanks by Ms Shamim Ara, Librarian of Dept of Gewnder Studies University of Peshawar. [Contents]

The office bearers of PLAG, NWFP chapter is holding its monthly meeting on April 23,2005 at 2.30 pm in the Department of Library & Information Science, University of Peshawar. The agenda includes enhancements of membership, orientation programmes at various locations in the chapter area regarding the installation of LIMP software. Matter regarding the Alumni of Peshawar Library School is also placed on agenda. All interested are welcome to attend the meeting. [Contents]

New Programme of B.L.I. Sc Honours Gets Approved by The Board of Studies at Libray School of University of Peshawar

Board of Studies meeting of the Department of Library & Information Science, University of Peshawar was held on March 14, 2005 to approve its new stream honours programme. Following the instructions issued by HEC, the school of Library & Information Studies, University of Peshawar’s Board of studies met on March 14,2005 to discuss & approve the new 2 years honours programme, equivalent to B.L.I.Sc. After a thorough discussion it got approved & will be implemented by the next year after getting final approval from the academic council. On the bases of this B.L.I. Sc. honours a candidate will be eligible to be admitted to M.L.I.Sc one year program. The basic philosophy of this programme is bring our courses at par with the international set up [Contents]

Library School, University Of Peshawr Announces Urdu Mushaira for April 19,2005.

Under the seminar/Lecture series programme Dept. of Library & Information Science, University of Peshawar scheduled a Poetical Symposium ( Urdu Mushaira) on April 19,2005. Eminent poets of the fame will present their Ghazals/ Nazams. Expected Poets are Ms. Shaida Zakir, Ms Bushra Farukh, Saeeda Jaweeria Bukhari, Mr Mohsin Ehsan, Mr Nazir Tabbasum, Dr Faqira Khan Faqri, Mr Yasir Mahmood Malik, Iftihkar Qaiser, Majid Sarhadi, Awais Qurni, Khalid Latif Kaif & Shahid Zaman.
The theme of Musharia is “ Jushan-E- Baharan”. Which relates with the spring seasons celebrations. This is 6th Musharia of its annual routine programme. [Contents]

PLA with the collaboration of Dept of Library & Information Sc, University of Peshawar is planning to hold its tenure conference at Bara Gali this summer. Final dates are yet to be announced after the confirmation made by the provost office university of Peshawar.
A tentative programme is set up for August 24-27, 2005. A limited number of seats are available & criteria for presenters & contesters is announced to be soon.For further details contact Malik sain Muhammad Presidant PLA.[Contents]

Earth Sciences Library, Center of excellance in Geology University of Peshawar Renovated.

Library of Earth Sciences, Centre of Excellance in Geology, university of Peshawar got complete renovation under the supervision of Mr Muhammad Riaz, Research Associate, Centre of excellence University of Peshawar. The new building erected is totally according the standards of the library designs & has two stories with different reading & reference rooms. It has a complete natural lighting system & is equipped with latest electronic systems & softwares. The task of data feeding was partly done the internees as wel as by the daily wages assignments which made it possible to inaugurate it well in time. A huge gathering attended the inauguration cermoney made by the Vice Chancellor University of Peshawar. Library is open till 8.pm for scholars & researchers.. [Contents]

Mr. Anwar Ejaz, Librarian Hamdard University Islamabad Campus and Secretary Pakistan Library Association (Federal Branch) attended a 05 days Regional Workshop on Web Cataloguing, held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from the 21 -25 February 2005.
The workshop was sponsored by UNESCO Regional Office, New Delhi and organized by the Sri Lanka Library Association (SLLA). The workshop was aimed at training and educating library professionals in the South Asia region on developing bibliographic databases and publishing them in Internet in the form of Web Catalogues. Web catalogues, directories, indexes and other bibliographic databases help dissemination of knowledge very effectively as they have wide visibility and accessibility. Information resources in the South Asian region are unknown to the rest of the world mainly because they are not accessible through Internet.
The participants learnt the creation of Cataloging, Circulation and Members Databases in WinISIS and creating its Web Interface using GenISIS. Mr. Basharat Hafeez, Assistant Librarian, Allama Iqbal Open University, also attended the workshop. Library professionals from Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Laos, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Pakistan participated in the workshop.[Contents]

The Digital Library Programme
Kamran Naeem, Dawn Thursday, April 7, 2005

Affordable access to scientific and technological content is widely recognized as critical development to support the needs of indigenous education and research sector.
The Digital Library Programme of the HEC is the corner stone of the Information and Communication Technology strategy of our organization. Developed from an initial concept to provide access to international scientific publications for universities in Pakistan, the Programme now provides an information service unparallel in the developing world. It is anticipated that through new collaborative partnership, and the systematic training of users within higher education institutions, the vast potential of the Programme in enhancing scientific capacity will be manifest.
The Digital Library Programme was initially introduced as a collaborative project of the UK-based organization, the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP), as the implementation of their Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information (PERI).
Implementation of the PERI Programme in Pakistan allowed for the HEC to provide a vast quantity of scholarly publications to broadest demographic, as eligibility for access to the Programme covers not only universities in both the public and private sector but also indigenous institutions with a non profit remit engaged in education and research.
Inclusion in the Programme enables each participating institutions to access our 15000 scholarly publications, including those form prestigious journal providers such a Springer Verlag, Blackwell Publishing, Mary Ann Liebert, Bentham Science, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Oxford University Press and vast resources of the EBSCO aggregation service.
Access to resources is online, and has predominantly been set up through IP verification, allowing users within institutions to be automatically authenticated for full-text access from any terminal on their local area network providing ease of access.
For content that is not available through these resources, through PERI, the HEC has established an agreement with the British Library for document delivery of any article from any international journal directly to the scientist in universities who submit request for access. Recent enhancement to the contents available through this aspect of the Digital Library Programme include the addition of the publications of the Kluwer Academic Publishing, and Palgrave Macmillan Publishing, providing a truly world class multi-disciplinary collection.
The content acquisition strategy of the Digital Library Programme has focused on meeting the scientific requirements of higher education institutions with national development objectives driving the acquisition of the content for the library.
Through the joint Ministry of Science and Technology (Pakistan) and State Department (USA) “Pak –US Cooperation in Science and Technology” the HEC entered into a collaborative Programme with The National Academy of Sciences, in Washington DC to acquire access to journal content from premier American Scientific Societies.
Through this Programme users in beneficiary institutions have gained access to the publications of the prestigious American Chemical Society, the American Physical Society, the American Institute for Physics, the American Association for Physics Teachers, the American society for Microbiology, the American Society for Civil Engineering, the American Society for Mechanical Engineering, the American Society for Agricultural Engineers, the Association for Computing Machinary,the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the American Mathematical Society and Science Online of the American association for the Advancement of Science.
The Higher Education Commission has also launched access to Science Direct of Elsevier Publishing, the world’s leading scientific database, for consortium of carefully selected public sector universities based upon identified requirements and a review of institutional research priorities.
The web of Knowledge from the Institute of Scientific Information has been deployed at specific institutions across the country, and provide users with seamless access to the world’s most important scholarly research information, including peer reviewed journal content, patent and chemical information, proceedings, and journal impact factors.
Upcoming content enhancement will include the JSTORE scholarly archives, the journal of the Nature Publishing Group and the prestigious Annual Reviews Publications.
In order to maximize the use of this vast range of resources, and to ease cross source searching, the HEC has been working with INASP and Lund University Libraries (Sweden) for the installation of revolutionary, the Electronic Library Information Navigation (ELIN) system.
Once installed on PERN Network, the ELIN system will allow the high speed searching across the full range of resources available through the Digital Library Programme, through one unified user friendly web interface.
The vast resources available to universities in Pakistan through the Digital Library Programme will only have value if they are utilized effectively by both faculty members and students. For this reason the HEC has devised a training strategy, whereby a core group of intensively trained Master Trainers will conduct traveling workshop and seminars across Pakistan in 2005, to promote awareness and the usage of Digital Library Resources.
Under consideration currently is the development of the courses on information literacy to be incorporated into curricula at all education levels, which will require all students to gain knowledge on the range of subject content relevant for their educational programs, how to use resources effectively and in responsible manner respecting intellectual property and ethical guide lines, and mechanisms on how to write and publish scholarly articles.
An upcoming initiative of the HEC involves the creation of an open access online portal where all journal published in Pakistan will be available electronically for the world wide electronic access.
This measure will allow for the international exposure of research conducted within Pakistan, and will assist in the international peer review process of indigenous publications.
The HEC is committed to the continue support of the science system, to the development of a culture of research in indigenous institution.
In the achievement of this objective, leveraging of ICT is essential.
By helping to bridge the digital divide between institutions in Pakistan and the developed world, and providing our research community with the tools and skills to maximize the potential of ICT as a mechanism for economic development, the HEC aims to assist our nation in achieving sustainable economic growth and future prosperity for all our citizens. "(Curtsy to the Daily Dawn)”. [Contents]

University and research libraries participating in HEC’s Digital Library Programmme have begun to overcome the 'first generation' access challenge to be able to query databases and indexes of journal articles and then to download the required full text documents. Alongside this access however, we see new challenges arising. Specifically, how can we maximise the use of limited and costly Internet connections - bandwidth - and how can we efficiently search across a wide variety of resources and thousands of titles that are available through different packages and from different publishers. The Higher Education Commission and the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications, the main partner in the HEC Digital Library Programme, have linked up with Lund University Libraries, Sweden, to adapt and extend their existing Electronic Library Information Navigator (ELIN@) system so that it can be used by universities in Pakistan. ELIN@ facilitates end user access to electronic information resources and offers library staff easy administration tools to manage this electronic content. Via arrangements with many publishers and other information providers, ELIN@ compiles metadata from millions of information resources so they can be searched through a single user interface with cross-searching and merged search results. The resources
available can be tailored to fit the licenses and access rights of the individual institution providing the access. A key characteristic of the system is the use of open standards that allows all kinds of data sources to be accommodated in the system. For the planning of a strategy for ELIN implementation in Pakistan, a week-long workshop was held at Lund,
Sweden, which was attended by project coordinator at the HEC, Kamran Naim, and Raja Abdul Razak, system specialist. The National University of Rwanda and Makerere University in Uganda were also represented in the workshop- as the ELIN@ pilot project is being implemented in a range of different environments, the largest of these being the Pakistan pilot project. Carol Priestley, Director of INASP, said that "Programmes such as PERI are proving that providing affordable and sustainable access to information for scholars, researchers and practitioners in developing countries is no longer an insurmountable problem. However, the availability of thousands of journal titles from hundreds of publishers has become overwhelming. INASP is delighted to be working with ELIN in adapting their highly successful model for Pakistan, and for areas where access to the internet is costly and/or bandwidth limited. ELIN provides a user-friendly interface wh i c h wi l l a s s i s t i n t h e identification and utilisation of relevant resources and at the same time offers the library staff easy administration tools for managing electronic content." Lars Björnshauge, Director of Libraries at Lund University expressed satisfaction over the programme and said, “We are proud to be able to work with INASP with the purpose to facilitate easier access for institutions located in areas with low bandwidth. The mission and services of INASP fits perfectly in our commitment to develop services for easy end-user access to scientific information and it is indeed challenging for us to engage in adapting our services for institutions on other continents. We
certainly see our partnership with INASP and the HEC as a promising undertaking with long term implications and potential for all parties involved." At present the ELIN@ system is being used by 10 leading Universities in Sweden and is currently being negotiated for use in a number of other European country higher education systems. Experiences from the 10 university libraries in Sweden show clearly a significant increase of the usage of the information resources (journals, databases, open archives etc.) included in the ELIN@ service.
The ELIN@ service has no equivalent. The service combines the functionalities from on-line services provided by leading publishers and learned societies (although ELIN@ has much more content) and electronic information resources management systems provided by subscription agents and portals (full control over content, better and easier managed alert services) in a customisable and very easy to use interface for both end users and library staff. The pilot project for ELIN@ Pakistan will be launched in March 2005 at the University of Punjab, the University of Karachi and Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad. Following the pilot project, ELIN will be installed on the PERN Network, to allow every computer within a university connected to this network with a high speed search interface for a range of publishers currently participating in the Digital Library Program. As well as providing a unified, user friendly search interface, ELIN@ Pakistan will allow the HEC to analyse and monitor usage within all participating institutions. The implementation of ELIN@ Pakistan will further enhance
the pioneering services delivered through the Digital Library Programme. "(Curtsy to the HEC Newsletter)”. [Contents]

The Digital Library office of the Higher Education Commission and the National Academy of Sciences USA have provided access to the publications of American Scientific Societies negotiated under the collaborative 'Digital Library Content Acquisition and Training' programme. The list is continued from the previous issue. "(Curtsy to the HEC Newsletter)”. [Contents]

providing rapid publication of short reports of significant fundamental research in all fields of physics. International in scope, the journal provides its diverse readership with weekly coverage of major advances in physics and cross disciplinary developments. PRL's topical sections are devoted to general physics (including statistical and quantum mechanics, quantum information, etc.), gravitation and astrophysics; elementary particles and fields; nuclear physics; atomic, molecularPhysical Review Letters (PRL) is the world's foremost physics letters journal,, and optical physics; nonlinear dynamics, fluid dynamics, classical optics; plasma and beam physics; condensed matter; and soft-matter, biological, and interdisciplinary physics. "(Curtsy to the HEC Newsletter)”. [Contents]

Reviews of Modern Physics (RMP) serves both students and senior researchers in a broad range of fields. Its review articles offer in-depth treatment of a research area, surveying recent work and providing an introduction that is aimed at physics graduate students and non-specialists. These reviews also feature bibliographies that are of great value to the specialist. The journal's shorter Colloquia describe recent work of interest to all physicists, especially work at the frontiers of physics, which may have an impact on several different subfields. "(Curtsy to the HEC Newsletter)”. [Contents]

Physical Review Special Topics Accelerators and Beams (PRST-AB), is a peer reviewed, purely electronic journal, distributed without charge to readers and funded by contributions from national laboratories. It covers the full range of accelerator science and technology: subsystem and component technologies, beam dynamics; accelerator applications; and design, operation, and improvement of accelerators used in science and industry. This includes
accelerators for high energy and nuclear physics, synchrotron radiation production, spallation neutron sources, medical therapy, and intense beam applications. "(Curtsy to the HEC Newsletter)”. [Contents]

Physical Review Focus (PR-Focus) is a free online service that provides brief explanations of selected research papers from Physical Review and Physical Review Letters at a level accessible to students and researchers in all fields of physics. The stories are written in news article style and include color images and occasionally related videos. Each story provides a hyperlink to the abstract of the research paper featured. PR Focus serves as an excellent introduction to current research topics. "(Curtsy to the HEC Newsletter)”. [Contents]

PROLA is a complete archive of all APS publications back to their beginnings. The archive includes:
Physical Review Series I and II, in their entirely (1893-1969); Physical Review Letters back to its inception in 1958; Physical Review A-D back to their inception in 1970; Physical Review E back to its inception in 1993 and Reviews of Modern Physics back to 1929. "(Curtsy to the HEC Newsletter)”. [Contents]

The ACM publishes, distributes, and archives original research and firsthand perspectives from the world's leading thinkers in computing and information technologies. Through the ACM Digital Library, users in participating institutions will gain access to the full text of every article ever published by the ACM. The ACM Digital Library contains over 138,500 full-text articles, including the full text from 28 ACM Journals and Transactions, 10 ACM Magazines, over 40 ACM Special Interest Newsletters, and over 100 annual conference proceedings (the proceedings archive currently has over 1800 volumes). In addition users gain access to full text content from 15 non-ACM journals and publications, with all ACM content going back to the first volume and issues of all ACM publications. The ACM Guide to Computing Literature will also be accessible to users in the HEC, and is a bibliographic database consisting of over 850,000 citations to the computing literature, with full metadata, including DOIs and links to
publisher sites where available. The Guide also includes a complete set of citations to all 2800 Internet RFCs (the technical reports that created the internet), as well as over 45,000 citations of computer science PhD Theses. The ACM Digital Library contains the following publications:
JOURNALS: ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR); ACM Journal of Computer Documentation (JCD); Journal of Experimental Algorithmics (JEA); Journal of the ACM (JACM); Journal on Educational Resources in Computing (JERIC). "(Curtsy to the HEC Newsletter)”. [Contents]

Appointments of Mr. Hamid Ali, Mr. Muhammad Suleman Bajwa, Mr. Kashif Hussain, Mr. Muhammad Shabir, Ms. Rubina Hayat, Ms. Faiqa Mansoor, Ms. Saema Sarwer, Mr. Muhammad Asif Munir, Mr. Shafiq ur Rehman, Mr. Saeed Ahmad, Ms. Riffat Rafique, Mr. Kaiser Mahmood, Ms. Faiqa, Mr. Muhammad Akram Shahid, Mrs. Naeema Tauseef, Ms. Ammara Yousaf, and Mr. Zia Javed as Librarian, University of the Punjab, Lahore.
Appointment of Mr. Saud Irfan as Assistant Librarian, National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences, Islamabad Campus, Islamabad.
Appointment of Mr. Rana Muhammad Kamran Khan as Trainee Library & Documentation Superintendent Pakistan Petroleum Limited, Karachi, Pakistan.
Appointment of Mr Muhammad Ismail as Cataloguer at Library Of Congress Office Islamabad.

Death of the Sister of Mr Shafiq Shahid, Librarian, Information Resource Centre, Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan, M-Floor, NIC Building, 63-Jinnah Avenue, Islamabad.

May Almighty Allah bless the departed souls in eternal peace, and provide solace to their near and dear ones!