Dear Professionals
Asslam-o-Elaikum
We have uploaded Pak LIS News ( July 2003, Vol. 3, no.5)
http://www.geocities.com/plagpk/news.htm Editorial: "Implementing Management
Systems in University Libraries of Pakistan" is written by Muhammad Rafiq
Awan, Chief Library Officer, Institute of Leadership and Management, Lahore.
Best regards
Muhammad Ajmal Khan
Librarian
National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences,
852-B Faisal Town, Lahore-54700
ajmal@...
A revolution has swept through one of America's most revered institutions, an institution key to the fabric of its society as well as its technological and economic development.The strength and reach of this revolution has been so profound that it is unthinkable that the affected system will ever be the same again.
As with all revolutions, the old guard opposed it at first.Unlike most revolutions, though, these same people eventually accepted it, and then embraced it wholeheartedly.
We are talking about America's public libraries.
The revolution that has swept through America's libraries is nothing less than their transformation from staid temples of knowledge, dominated by row upon row of bookshelves, to dynamic community centers, plugged in, on-line, and offering a previously unimagined cornucopia of services, with books now representing only a minority of their holdings.
The transformation has affected all libraries, from the vast Library of Congress, with its complex of enormous buildings and its public reading rooms as vast and beautiful as cathedrals, to branch libraries so small they are affectionately called "twigs."
Some numbers:At last count, the United States had more than 16,500 public libraries, to which almost all citizens (97%) have access, and from which they can check out a book or video, DVD or music CD.Universities account for another 3,400 libraries.In addition, there are more than 11,000 medical, law, government or other specialized libraries.Finally, there are libraries in virtually every one of the country's tens of thousands elementary and secondary schools.
That's a lot of libraries.And Americans use them.
In 2001, the public lending libraries received 1.1 billion visitors, who checked out 1.7 billion items and made 292 million reference requests.
The largest library in the country -- in the world -- is the Library of Congress, in Washington, D.C.It has more than 124 million items, though fewer than a third of these items are books.Its collection includes millions of manuscripts, movies, posters, prints and photos as well as other materials.It contains more than 5 million maps and 21 reading rooms for the public.(Though only members of Congress can check these items out, virtually anyone can obtain a research card, enter the library and use its resources.)The smallest of the country's libraries are small rooms with perhaps a few hundred books -- but still an important resource for the community.
The information revolution has, in a sense, turned all of these thousands of libraries -- from the nation's capital to its most modest and isolated towns -- into one vast system with almost unimaginable access.
Though many librarians at first resisted the coming of the computer and the Internet to their libraries, they have learned that, rather than replacing the books of degrading traditional literacy, they have complemented them.The new technologies have enhanced their institutions, making them more relevant and enlarging their reach.
From a librarian's viewpoint says Stephen Mallinger, an international library consultant, "All of the history of librarianship can be divided into two parts -- before Internet, and after Internet.In fact, we are no longer librarians, but ‘cybrarians.'"
But the revolution didn't stop with the computer.Instead, the computer made librarians reexamine the entire basis of their institutions and consider new possibilities.The computer forced them to realize that the library had changed from a quiet refuge, away from the hustle and bustle of the world, to a clearinghouse of information that embraces the entire world.Though stacks of books still form the bedrock of these libraries, they have grown beyond the computer to include all information technologies.Almost all libraries now possess substantial video and music collections, huge electronic data bases, newspapers and magazines in the shelves and on-line.Even medium-sized libraries may now have dozens upon dozens of computers with access to the Internet for use by their patrons.Even the smallest grade school library will have at least one computer from which the youngest children can access the world.Information is no longer hidden as if in a temple; it is everywhere, as in a market.
The history of the library goes back long before the invention of books.Even in the ancient world many large libraries were open to anyone who might want to enter -- though few, of course, could read.The Islamic world established some of the world's greatest libraries in the 10th and 11th centuries.The development of the public lending library can be traced back to the formation of the privately formed Library Company of Philadelphia, founded by the American scientist, philosopher, and statesman Benjamin Franklin.The advent of public lending libraries, supported by taxes and offering virtually complete access to its community came in the 1850s and proved enormously popular in the United States.
The first public libraries, however, were confined to those wealthy cities that could afford them.The true popularization of the public library came from the great industrialist, Andrew Carnegie, who, beginning in the 1890s, offered to build a public library in almost any community that would make a commitment to fill it with books.He eventually built almost 1, 700 libraries across the United States, and another 830 overseas, with his own money.His brick and mortar edifices, mostly modeled on classical lines, proved invaluable to the country's large cities.But they made their biggest impact in the country's small communities, who were now proud to have their own grand sources of knowledge and learning.Knowledge was no longer a monopoly of those who lived in cities.
In the 20th century, the public lending library became ubiquitous, a treasure of great value in almost any substantial American community.The library became both a symbol of and a means for realizing a vision of community, of embracing both past and future for local citizens.
For generations of Americans, these libraries were regarded as temples of knowledge, divorced from the world outside, and took on the temple's quiet and decorous atmosphere, rich with promise, but quiet, almost mystical, smelling of floor wax and musty books.If it was a temple, its high priestess was generally a librarian of a certain age with a pencil perched behind her ear and whose liturgy consisted of the single word, "hush."
The new library came like a wind of change to these wondrous but staid confines.Once the mold of the old library had been broken, the new library became not simply a storehouse of intellectual treasures, but a window on the world; no longer a refuge, but a crossroads for the entire community.
New libraries are open, airy buildings, with lots of natural light.The range of activities reflects this opening up. At any moment you may find a schoolteacher looking at the on-line catalog of the Library of Congress, which contains a brief resume of almost every book in the collection, as well as millions of other documents.You'll find a teenager researching CD-Rom data banks for a class report, or simply writing an e-mail note to a friend.A mother may take a break to watch a movie with her young daughter on DVD.A 10-year old may be playing a computer game.A business owner may come to the library to pick up a needed tax form, track the progress in Washington of an important piece of legislation reducing tariffs, or take a moment to check the score of a baseball game in progress. An elderly woman may be using the library to find out where she can volunteer for a service group.A young man may be listening, via earphones, to music from his favorite group.A Boy Scout troop may be discussing in a large conference room off the main library and a small private reading group may be discussing a book right next door.Outside, a park-like lawn and a public fountain expressly made to allow children to play in hot weather set the library aside as a gathering place in its community.
And, of course, there are books, seemingly endless shelves of books on every conceivable topic, including the oldest classics and the newest best sellers, children's books, how-to books, books on history, art, and religion, including the Holy Koran.With new populations of immigrants arriving constantly, there are shelves of books in foreign languages -- Vietnamese, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese -- ensuring that the library offers something to all.And, except for a few reference books which must be read in the building, they, along with videos, the music and much more can be checked out, usually for three or four weeks at a time and often in almost limitless quantities.(The modest-sized library near this writer's home in Oregon sternly warns its patrons that they cannot check out more than 50 items at a time.)
For all these strengths, though, the nation's libraries still face many challenges.Most public libraries rely on local taxes for their survival.With the economy showing only modest growth, and local voters often unwilling to approve new taxes, many libraries have had to struggle with tight budgets, forcing them to cut back operating hours, reduce staff and slash acquisitions.
In addition, any institution dedicated to making available the broadest range of information will run the risk of offending some members of the community.Local efforts to ban controversial books or other materials, though seldom successful, continue to challenge some libraries.Similarly, librarians have generally opposed legislation which would restrict access to web sites.Librarians argue that, while they sympathize with the wish to restrict access, it is virtually impossible to design a program to shut down targeted web sites without also eliminating many legitimate web sites.They say that the community must finally trust other members of the community to act responsibly.
And finally, in the wake of terrorist attacks in the United States, the Congress has passed legislation making it easier to track circulation records and other library information.Some see this as an unacceptable invasion of individual liberty, while others regard it as a reasonable measure in the face of unanticipated threats.
This is no longer your grandfather's library -- quiet, conventional, self-contained.Today's library is an important community center.From the moment it opens its doors, usually at about 10:00 am, until it closes them, often far into the night, the new library hums with exploration, buzzes with ideas, pulses with the life of the community -- all waiting for the next revolution.
The U.S. Embassy homepage is maintained by the Office of the Public Affairs in Islamabad. Links to other, non-U.S. Government Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views therein.
I am pleased to share an interesting article with you.
Thank you
Muhammad Asif
The Australian Library Journal
The future role of librarians in the virtual library environment
Liz Burke
Defining the 'virtual library environment'
Before commencing an examination of the role of librarians within the virtual library environment, it is necessary to reach an understanding of the phrase 'virtual library'. The concept of the virtual library is one that has developed with the growth in telecommunication networks, especially the internet. The 'virtual library' emulates a 'real' library, but is understood to be a product of the virtual world of the internet. To work with a definition that is meaningful within the field of librarianship, I will examine some of the definitions of the virtual library appearing in the professional literature.
Within the library field there is a tendency to refer to the 'virtual' library, the 'digital' library, and the 'electronic' library interchangeably. Waters (1998) describes the phrase 'digital library' as replacing earlier references to 'electronic' and 'virtual' libraries. A few years earlier, Graham (1995) stated that 'virtual library' is a companion term to 'digital library' and that up to 1995 both terms were 'used narrowly to define a quantity of databases available for use at a given time'. Graham's idea that the virtual and digital libraries are synonymous is interesting, but as he himself admits, the definition he provides is very narrow.
Wainwright (1996) believes a digital library possesses the same functions and goals of the traditional print-based library and that the difference lies in 'the digital part of the term [which] indicates merely that the material is stored and accessed digitally'. Like Graham's definition, Wainwright's definition of the digital library is also very narrow. A more comprehensive definition of the digital library is provided by the Digital Library Federation (1999) in the United States:
Organisations that provide the resources, including the specialised staff, to select, structure, offer intellectual access to, interpret, distribute, preserve the integrity of, and ensure the persistence over time of collections of digital works so that they are readily and economically available for use by a defined community or set of communities.
These definitions are concerned with a purely digital collection and while there are increasing numbers of such, they do not as yet form the majority and it does not appear practical or viable to equate the 'digital library' with the library of the future where all valuable resources might be available digitally [1].
Other definitions of the digital or virtual library provide a more integrated approach. McMillan (1999) stated 'digital libraries and traditional libraries should not be separate, but should coalesce to accomplish more than either can do independently to serve the user community on the highest order'. McMillan (2000) later refined her definition of a digital library to one that 'should be a seamless extension of the library that provides scholars with access to information in any format that has been evaluated, organised, and preserved' and that the digital library 'adds value and saves time while extending the hours of access'. Mason (1998) believes it is imperative for libraries to offer both print and digital resources, 'together they are the yin and yang of knowing'. Rusbridge (1997) believes the library and its governing organisation is critically important in digital libraries, 'we must provide integrated access for our community to a wide range of resources, placed in a service context'.
In his description of a virtual library established at Monash University's Berwick Campus in 1991, Lim (1996) emphasised that the virtual library is not synonymous with the purely digital or electronic library, but rather 'a parallel library which includes a finely balanced mix of print, multimedia and electronic information resources'. The concept of a library which offers seamless access to integrated print, electronic, local and remote resources has sometimes been termed a 'hybrid library' (Pinfield, 1998). Many researchers within the library field concur with this view: Waters (1998) noted that an integrated collection of materials in digital and other formats would be a strategic issue as digital libraries mature and Young (1998) stated that in future, the librarian 'will encounter the twin challenges of managing buildings and print collections while simultaneously developing policies, tools, and support for digital collections and network information services'.
This examination of various definitions of the virtual libraries within the professional literature brings me to that which I will use:
The virtual library environment encompasses the concept of the digital library but is more than a collection of digitised resources. The virtual library provides access to an integrated collection of print, electronic and multimedia resources delivered seamlessly and transparently to users regardless either of their physical location or the location and ownership of the information.
The role of the librarian
In order to reach an understanding of the role of librarians in the virtual library environment, it is worthwhile examining the role librarians have filled in the past. In ancient times, there was little if any distinction between an archive and a library. For many centuries book collecting was an opportunity either to display one's wealth, or the results of scholarship. It was not until the nineteenth century that library collections became more universally available and library science began to codify standards for describing and organising resources and librarians began to move beyond merely keeping and preserving books. [2] Melville Dewey wrote in an early edition of the American Library Journal:
It is not enough that the books are cared for properly, are well arranged, are never lost... [The librarian] must put every facility in the way of the readers, so that they shall be led on from good to better. He must teach them how, after studying their own wants, they may themselves select their reading wisely. (Rice-Livy & Racine, 1997)
The role of the librarian grew from that of a collector and preserver of information resources to a professional involved in very complex issues of organisation, the dissemination of and access to information.
The role of the librarian, particularly during the past two decades, has further evolved to encompass the burgeoning technological developments. Crawford and Gorman (1995) have defined the role of the librarian today:
To acquire, give access to, and safeguard carriers of knowledge and information in all forms and to provide instruction and assistance in the use of the collections to which their users have access... [libraries] are about the preservation, dissemination, and use of recorded knowledge in whatever form it may come. (pp 3,5)
Rusbridge (1997) agreed with this definition, writing:
The role of the library is to select, acquire, organise and make available an appropriate subset of ...resources... The library has a role here in the digital world as with print - not just in excluding access to rubbish, but in encouraging access paths to quality.
This broad understanding of the role of libraries in the electronic age has gained widespread acceptance. In a 1998 report to the European Parliament The Role of Libraries in the Modern World a similarly broad view was accepted:
The unique function of libraries is to acquire, organise, offer for use and preserve publicly available material irrespective of the form in which it is packaged (print, cassette, CD-ROM, network form) in such a way that, when it is needed, it can be found and put to use'.[3]
These definitions provide an indication of the roles which librarians have assumed during the final half of the twentieth century. They acquire information resources relevant to their user population in whatever format is available and appropriate; they organise the information within the library collection; they provide a means for users to access that information; and they educate users in accessing and interpreting information resources. Librarians are moving beyond the traditional roles of collection maintenance and custodial duties to newer functions of translating, accessing and marketing resources beyond the walls of the physical library collection (Rice-Livy & Racine, 1997).
The formation of a working definition of the virtual library environment and the preceding examination of the role of librarians both in the past and the components of their role today, provides many indications of the elements making up the overall activities of the librarian within that environment: to provide intellectual access to information in any format, to evaluate available sources of information, to organise and structure information, to ensure the preservation of information, and to provide specialised staff to offer instruction and assistance in interpreting resources and accessing resources. Rusbridge (1998) described the role of the librarian in the print environment as the person responsible for selecting, acquiring, organising and providing access to relevant information. These tasks have become more complex as the volume and range of information available has increased (Dugdale, 1999). Not only that, but new tasks and roles have emerged. Both these traditional roles and the newly emerging ones will be examined in addition to some of the economic implications, to discover the future role of the librarian in the virtual library environment.
Roles
To provide intellectual access to information in any format
Providing intellectual access to information is a role librarians have filled for a long time. Traditionally librarians have done this via print-based resources. During the second half of the twentieth century the range of available resources expanded to include microform, video and audio formats. The final decades of the twentieth century witnessed a further explosion in formats, and libraries can now offer information in the form of print, audio, video, microforms, numeric, computer programs, or multimedia composites of each. For librarians, the most important issue is to provide the information in whatever form it is packaged. As McMillan (2000) observed, librarians do not attempt to meet the information needs of users with just one format.
Within the virtual library environment, the choice of format is not the most crucial issue: it is being able to provide information resources to patrons - regardless of format. Librarians and patrons will no longer be restricted to 'a single entity where everything is stored', but rather librarians will be able to offer 'a range of services and collections, linked together or made accessible through electronic networks' (Lim, 1996)
In such an environment, access to information does not always imply ownership, merely that the library has negotiated the means by which patrons gain access to resources and information. This has created what Lim terms a paradigm shift 'from ownership to access'. This in turn has created a new role for librarians - that of negotiating access rights through contracts and licenses.
The development in electronic access to scholarly journals is a key example of the shift from ownership to access. University and research libraries especially, find the option of providing electronic access to journal subscriptions to be a means of dealing with complex multi-campus organisations where the client population comprises an increasing mixture of on- and off-campus students.
While electronic access to journals appears to be a godsend to patrons and researchers, cutting out countless hours of tedious bibliographic detective work, the behind-the-scenes decisions and negotiations conducted by librarians to provide the service are fraught with numerous complex issues. Electronic serials must be evaluated against the relative importance of content. For example, scientific journals may lack full equations, graphics, and charts. Journals within the social sciences and humanities may lack book reviews and advertisements. These content issues must be weighted against issues of speed and ease of access (Miller, Peters, Pappano and Manuel, 1999).
A further issue to be considered is the ability to access earlier issues of an electronic subscription. With printed subscriptions libraries own and may continue to access those issues they purchase during the lifetime of the subscription. With electronic subscriptions, libraries pay for access to the journals rather than ownership, and at the end of a subscription a library may no longer have the right to access a title. Some publishers will provide access to a specific number of issues, for example the previous five years rather than offering a cumulative arrangement. The need to negotiate continuing access with publishers is becoming a significant responsibility for librarians.
Providing electronic access to journal literature was one of the first ways libraries began to use the newly-evolving technologies. The development of electronic reserve (e-reserve) collections, demonstrates another way in which librarians are adapting new technologies to deliver services more effectively. Electronic reserves provide the ability to digitise a printed document, video, audio, or data, so that many students can access it simultaneously without the limits of attending a library building within opening hours.
The technology to provide digital access to library reserve collections has been available for some time. However the wholesale adoption of this mechanism has been impeded by a lack of clear copyright and intellectual property ownership laws for the digital environment. The pace of technological development has, inevitably, outstripped established legislation. Copyright is still covered in Australia by the Australian Copyright Amendment Act (1989). The Australian Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000 establishes a legal framework for the further development of the virtual library. Librarians, through various professional bodies[4] provided the government with significant feedback on the proposed legislation.
To evaluate available sources of information
Batt (1999) observed that there is an increasing diversity of information resources from which to choose the most appropriate vehicle, and that librarians must widen their selection processes in order to decide on the right medium for each situation. The objective in the evolving virtual library is 'to develop information systems providing access to a coherent collection of material, more and more of which will be in digital form as time goes on' (Lynch and Garcia-Molina, 1995).
There are those who have been prophesying the end of printed information resources as we know them for at least a decade. As recently as 1996 Odlyzko predicted the demise of the printed scholarly journal in ten to twenty years. He contends that electronic resources will replace the printed word. Other authors vigorously refute such a claim (Crawford & Gorman, 1995; Crawford, 1998; Mason, 1998).
Young (1998) observed, 'the computer will not replace the book any more than the book has replaced speech'. He also contends that printed resources and digital media are not alternatives. This is an important distinction and forms a significant issue for librarians. Electronic sources of information are excellent for data which must be timely and is subject to frequent change, such as stock market data, weather reports, and population statistics. It is also valuable for the ease in which information such as full-text articles from newspapers and journals can be delivered. Printed resources may continue for a long time to be the most efficient form of delivering ideas and theories as opposed to data in subject areas such as history, philosophy, and literature.
In evaluating electronic sources of information there is also a distinction to be made between those sources of data which have been digitised for the speed and ease of transportation, and data which is of limited usefulness, volatile and fluid in nature. Mason (1998) likens the use of the internet in delivering documents such as journal articles to a 'very large omnipotent copying machine' where the value of the item is not inherent in its format but in the ease of its delivery to the user.
There are numerous free resources available on the web, to say nothing of the full-text journals now available. Whether or not to include these in the library catalogue is a challenge facing librarians in the virtual library environment. This issue became apparent at the University of Melbourne Library when a new single gateway connection from public access PCs to local CD-ROM networks, stand-alone databases and the internet was developed. (Cunnington, 1998). The new gateway, named Buddy, created new challenges for the Library's selection policies, according to Cunnington.
To organise and structure information
Traditionally, librarians have organised and managed information resources through classification schemes. The retrieval of information relevant to a user's enquiry has been facilitated by standardised methods of describing resources, such as MARC. It is ironic that organising vast quantities of information is becoming a demanding issue for those involved in the development of the internet. Mason (1998) noted that 'the more there is on the web, the harder it becomes to find ...' Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and others are now developing indexing systems' the structure of which is closely aligned to the Dewey Decimal Classification scheme or the Library of Congress Classification scheme.
Many of the challenges facing those attempting to organise and structure information in the virtual environment is its nature. Ward and Wood (1998) note that one significant management problem in the networked environment compared to traditional library management issues, is coping with the nature of the 'information space'. They describe the information space as large and rapidly growing, highly distributed, of varying quality, and dynamic. Working with such resources requires an understanding of traditional library management issues, but also the ability to adapt these to the new environment, and even to go beyond these skills and develop news ways to organise and structure information. Garrod and Sidgreaves (1998) observed that professional boundaries between computing professionals and librarians are overlapping and becoming more blurred. For librarians to effectively organise and structure information available on the internet, they require more than basic IT skills.
The organisation and structure of information within the virtual library is critical to ensure the easiest path for the library user to access and use resources. Within the developing virtual library, users are presented with information resources in traditional formats but also in formats made possible through technological developments. Increasingly, libraries are providing access to web-based resources, either those freely available or for which the library has paid a subscription. It is essential that users can access all of these through a single interface, usually the library's catalogue. This provides what Lynch and Garcia-Molina (1995) describe as a 'superficial uniformity' for ease of navigation and access. New organisational tools are being developed to accommodate these issues: one of the most significant is metadata.
Cathro (1999) states, 'Integrated access to diverse materials is usually accomplished through services which allow the relevant metadata for all materials to be searched simultaneously'. The development of metadata was inevitable, given the enormous scale of information available through the web, and the need to be able to search and retrieve relevant material. Metadata has been defined by Iannella (1998) as structured data about data and is a format for describing an internet or digital information resource.
Metadata specifies the format for describing a digital resource in much the same way the MARC format specifies the descriptive elements of an item held in a library collection. Seven workshops have been held around the world to first define, and later refine, the core elements to be used in describing networked resources. The first, held in Dublin, Ohio in the United States in 1995, give the Dublin Core its name. The aim of this scheme is that the creators of internet resources can insert the descriptive data about their resources at the time of creation, and this will lead to an environment where the majority of resources available on the Internet are searchable using a standard scheme.
As Iannella (1998) states the 'key issue with metadata is interoperability'. It is a concept described by Lynch and Garcia-Molina (1995) as 'the ability of a user to access, consistently and coherently, similar ... classes of digital objects and services, distributed across heterogeneous repositories, with federating or mediating software compensating for site-by-site variations'. In today's library environment, users are faced with a wide range of systems with different search interfaces and capabilities. It is essential that user interfaces be developed to make databases as accessible as possible to the user. Standards such as Z39.50 are being developed which allow users to search across multiple databases simultaneously.
Librarians have been at the forefront of metadata scheme developments. They have also contributed to the development and adoption of standards such as Z39.50. This requires a sophisticated level of understanding of the technical issues involved and is a further demonstration of Garrod's and Sidgreave's (1998) assertion concerning the blurring of distinctions between librarians and IT professionals.
To ensure the preservation of information
The issue of preservation in the virtual library environment is a complex one. Librarians and archivists have long-established standards and guidelines for the preservation and storage of print materials for long-term survival. The preservation of electronic and digital information resources creates new dilemmas for librarians and archivists.
As Klemperer and Chapman (1997) observe, digital media have not been around long enough for fail-safe archiving and preservation procedures to be developed. One of the significant issues affecting preservation of digital information resources is the very technology which creates them. These technologies have an increasingly rapid obsolescence and the preservation of digital information is dependent on ensuring that the software and the mediating technology is also preserved. Many research initiatives have been directed to the preserving of digital information resources. Cathro (1999) states:
The ability to access and read digital information in the future will depend on strategies such as migration (in which the data is migrated ... to new operating systems and data structures) or emulation (in which modern computers emulate the operating systems and data structures of previous eras).
In tandem with developments in preserving digital information resources is the issue of preserving digital resources available on the internet. Berthon and Webb (2000) describe preservation developments with web-based resources so that they remain findable. 'URLs serve to identify resources and describe their location on the World Wide Web, [but] they are notoriously unreliable as they must change whenever a digital resource moves to a new location'. Methods of providing persistent and comprehensive resource discovery on the internet are being explored and librarians are playing an important role in these initiatives. Berthon and Webb describe a meeting of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries in 1998 chaired by a librarian from the Library of Congress to investigate these issues.
In Australia, the PADI (Preserving Access to Digital Information) Working Group has been formed and the National Library of Australia maintains its website. The aim is to identify the main issues being addressed, the main groups involved, and the main directions being explored.
To provide specialised staff to offer instruction and assistance in interpreting resources and access to resources
Information retrieval is the most obvious skill a librarian demonstrates to the public. The increasing sophistication of search engine design is creating an environment where anyone can, at varying levels of efficiency retrieve information from the internet. It has been suggested that the skills of the reference librarian are becoming superfluous (Odlyzko, 1996). However, without professional guidance many searchers, particularly novice internet-users, do not exploit the full potential of search engines and consequently do not retrieve all the relevant information available to them. Pollock and Hockley (1997) examined the use of the internet by internet-naďve but PC-literate users and concluded that to execute successful searches, internet users need at least a basic understanding of internet searching concepts, but also very high levels of support - from a librarian or other experienced internet searcher.
McMillan (2000) notes that within the university environment, undergraduate students can be seduced by the convenience of information available through the internet and the intervention of the librarian can teach the difference between intellectual access and electronic access. She observed that librarians 'teach information discrimination through personalised research assistance, guidance, and instruction'.
Librarians working at integrating new technologies to form the virtual library are discovering an increasing demand for their professional skills. Cunnington (1998) describes the experience at the University of Melbourne in creating a single electronic gateway to the university library's plethora of electronic information resources. One of the documented outcomes of the introduction of the new gateway included greater and more sophisticated demands by users, and a greater emphasis for customer service staff in the selection of electronic resources and instruction of users.
McMillan (2000) observes that the librarian 'makes a significant contribution, often defining the search, honing the researcher's goals, and helping the researchers to understand their needs'. She believes the value of human expertise, judgment and empathy are integral to the development of the electronic library environment. Wood and Walther (2000) also noted that rather than rendering the librarian obsolete, 'the digital revolution has made librarians all the more essential'. Hawkins (1998) observed that as the information explosion continues, everyone will need more help finding, sorting and filtering the available material.
The virtual library environment provides both an opportunity and a requirement for librarians to develop greater familiarity with IT-type skills. Garrod and Sidgreaves (1998) conducted research in the United Kingdom on the impact IT is having on the skills required of librarians working in the electronic and networked information resources environment. They concluded that staff working in different areas of university libraries required different skills. Paraprofessional staff required practical 'hands on' experience and training. Librarians are moving into database development, courseware, open learning and academic staff development and need a combination of knowledge, skills, aptitudes, and personal qualities in order to fill their multi-faceted roles.
Economic impact
The economic implications of the developing virtual library are varied and complex. On the one hand, libraries are facing immense increases in budget requirements for the necessary equipment to provide access to electronic and networked services. Another cost, which is less obvious and immediate, is the increasing demands on librarians to develop and evaluate resources in new formats, often without a corresponding increase in staffing to offset their 'new' responsibilities. On the other hand, the ability to network resources and provide digital versions of previously printed material provides the opportunity to reduce the costs of some resources and services.
The drop in value of the Australian dollar, the spiralling increase in costs of monographs and serials, and the increasing cost of staff salaries in an era of enterprise bargaining has brought about a funding crisis for libraries. The economic crisis is not restricted to Australian libraries; Baker (1997) observed that his own library at the University of East Anglia in Britain, 'was acquiring forty per cent of what we acquired twenty years ago, but spending three times as much money doing so'.
More flexible methods of document delivery are one of the key attractions of the virtual library. A concept of just-in-time information delivery, rather than just-in-case (Baker, 1997) where library patrons can identify required material from a workstation, order it, and wait for its delivery back to the workstation. Such a model can save a library the cost of exorbitant serials subscriptions as well as the associated costs of housing back runs of printed serials.
Monash University has addressed the spiralling serials subscription costs by developing a system for resource sharing called MEADS (Monash Electronic Access and Delivery of Serials). Using a web-based document delivery service, library patrons can access cancelled serial titles (Lim, 1998). After only an eighteen-month trial, considerable savings were already evident.
Yet a view that the technology revolution will provide significant decreases in budget requirements is overly optimistic (Wood and Walther, 2000). The infrastructure needed to support the many technological developments forms a significant component of today's library budget - an item not previously necessary. The cost not only of computers, printers, scanners, and associated cabling, but the physical space in which to provide these workstations, is considerable. This equipment is expensive to install and maintain, and the cost of upgrading or replacing must be anticipated, as the rate of technological change is increasingly rapid. Schuyler (1999) advises that libraries should plan on replacing all computers on a four-year cycle. He describes the rate of change as no longer incremental (where we can expect more of the same, only better), but rather, fast and furious. 'The library of 2010 is going to be a lot more different from the library of 2000 than the library of 2000 is from the library of 1990'.
Libraries spend a significant proportion of their budgets on salaries. Hawkins (1998) warns that a prudent library planner should expect increases rather than decreases in the human capital needed to help people navigate the digital information network. As demonstrated here, the need for the skills of the librarian in seeking, accessing, and evaluating information is likely to increase rather than decline. The challenge for the library administrator is likely to be in redeploying skilled staff into these new service areas, reassessing the need for traditional library services, and providing a fine balance of the 'old' and the 'new' in terms of services and resources.
Conclusion
Librarians are professionals trained in the acquisition, organisation, retrieval, and dissemination of information. In essence, the practice of librarianship in the virtual library environment will not be very different from that in the traditional print-based library. The librarian's role will continue to include selection of suitable resources, providing access to such resources, offering instruction and assistance to patrons in interpreting resources, and preserving both the medium and the information contained therein. Librarians will also continue their role in the broader arena of society in representing issues of access to information to governments and other decision-making bodies.
Issues that are new to librarians in the virtual library environment are related to the new technologies making digital libraries possible, and the techniques necessary to deliver new forms of information resources and services. In providing access to information, the librarian in the virtual library environment must consider the requirements of any digital resources - any hardware or software necessary, the most effective way to refer patrons to the resource, and whether availability is limited to a defined user group. Young (1998) called this the 'knowledge navigator' role. In navigating access to knowledge, librarians in the virtual library are confronted with the repercussions of the shift from 'ownership to access', and the resulting rights to access considerations which must be specified and negotiated in contracts and licenses.
The virtual library environment requires a new technical set of competencies for librarians which were not previously required. Skills such as creating web pages, building and maintaining computer networks, designing search interfaces are sought after in today's library employment market. Indeed, Schuyler (1999) advises, 'the next librarian you hire should have significant web skills'. The level of technical sophistication required by librarians in the virtual library environment is already leading to a blurring of distinctions with computing professionals. As the virtual library environment continues to develop there may be an even greater demand for professional staff with either computing or librarian qualifications.[5]
Along with the need for technical skills is the ability 'to cultivate a level of comfort with ambiguity and change' (Rice-Livy and Racine, 1997). One characteristic of the virtual library which librarians must accommodate is the rapidly changing and evolving nature of the environment. This environment is subject to immense change very quickly, and a key role for the librarian in the future will be the ability to adapt and to work effectively in such an environment.
McMillan (1999) presented a manifesto for the librarian of the virtual library:
We have new roles to fill. While the format of our resources may change, while access to information may change, while styles of service may change, the vision of high quality, service-oriented, information centres still fits the library's mission. We will serve our user communities best if we incorporate this into the [digital library].
References
Al-Ansari, H 1999, 'Improving the organizational structure for an electronic environment: a case analysis of Kuwait University libraries' Library Review 48 (3) pp131-139.
Baker, D 1997, 'Document delivery: access versus holdings' Librarian Career Development 5 (3) pp84-93.
Batt, C 1999, 'I have seen the future and IT works' Library Review 48 (1) pp11-17.
Berthon, H & Webb, C 2000. 'The moving frontier: archiving, preservation and tomorrow's digital heritage', Books and bytes: Conference Proceedings: 2000 VALA Biennial Conference and Exhibition, VALA, Melbourne. Also available online: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~vala/vala2000/2000pdf/Ber_Web.PDF (accessed 2 June 2000)
Cathro, W 1999, 'Digital libraries: a National Library perspective' in Strategies for the next millennium: proceedings of the ninth Australasian Information Online & On Disc Conference and Exhibition, ALIA, Sydney. Also available online: http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/cathro4.html (accessed 19 March 2000)
Crawford, W & Gorman, M 1995, Future libraries: dreams madness & reality, American Library Association, Chicago.
Cunnington, D 1998, 'Building better gateways: Buddy at the University of Melbourne Library', Robots to knowbots: the wider automation agenda: Conference Proceedings: 1998 VALA Biennial Conference and Exhibition, VALA, Melbourne. Also available online: http://www.vala.org.au/valaweb/num322.pdf (accessed 28 March 2000)
Darzentas, J 1999, 'Sharing metadata: enabling online information provision', OCLC Systems & Services 15 (4) pp172-178.
Dewey, M 1876. 'The profession', American Library Journal, vol1, September 30, p5-6, quoted in Rice-Livey, M. & Racine, J. 1997. 'The role of academic librarians in the era of information technology' Journal of Academic Librarianship 23 (1) p32.
Dugdale, C 1999. 'Managing electronic reserves: new opportunities and new roles for academic librarians?' Librarian Career Development 7 (12) pp150-163.
Gallimore, A 1999, 'Managing the networked public library' Library Management 20 (7) pp 384-392.
Gorman, M 1991, 'The academic library in the year 2001: dream or nightmare or something in between?' Journal of Academic Librarianship 17 (1) March, pp 4-6.
Graham, P 1995. 'Requirements for the digital research library' College & Research Libraries 56, July pp 331-339.
Hawkins, BL 1998, 'The unsustainability of traditional libraries' in New thinking on higher education: creating a context for change, ed J Meyerson, Anker Publishing, Bolton, pp 148-177.
Iannella, R 1998, 'Mostly metadata: a bit of smarter technology', Robots to knowbots: the wider information agenda: Conference Proceedings, 1998 VALA Biennial Conference and Exhibition, VALA, Melbourne, pp.357-364. [Also online] http://www.vala.org.au/valaweb/num8011.pdf (accessed 10 April 2000)
Klemperer, K & Chapman, S 1997. 'Digital libraries: a selected resource guide' Information Technology & Libraries 16 (3). Also available online: http://www.lita.org/ital/1603_klemperer.htm (accessed 27 April 2000)
Kurzeme, I 'Technology and dust mites' The Australian Library Journal, May 1997, pp147-153.
Lim, E 1996, 'The virtual library meets the virtual campus: strategies for the 21st century' in Electronic dream? Virtual nightmare: the reality for libraries: Conference Proceedings: 1996 VALA Biennial Conference and Exhibition, VALA, Melbourne, pp 21-37.
Lim, E 1998, 'Building a virtual national serials collection using the MEADS system' Australian Academic and Research Libraries, 29 (4) December, pp165-175.
Luzeckyj, A 1999, The vital link: library staffing in the 21st century: proceedings of the second national library staffing conference, held by the University of South Australia, Adelaide 22-23 July 1999, University of South Australia, Adelaide.
Mason, M 1998. 'The yin and yang of knowing', in Books, bricks & bytes: libraries in the twenty-first century, ed. S. Graubard & P. LeClerc, Transaction Publishers, London, pp161-171.
McMillan, G 1999. '(Digital) libraries support (distributed) education', in Racing toward tomorrow: conference proceedings Association of College and Research Libraries 9th national conference, ACRL, Washington D.C. Also available online: http://www.ala.org/acrl/mcmill.html (accessed 24 April 2000)
McMillan, G. 2000, 'The digital library: without a soul can it be a library?' in Books and bytes: Conference Proceedings: 2000 VALA Biennial Conference and Exhibition, VALA, Melbourne. Also available online: http://www.vala.org.au/vala2000/2000pdf/McMillan.PDF (accessed 19 March 2000)
Miller, L Peters, K Pappano, M & Manuel, K 1999. 'A research view for librarians working with electronic serials and licensing agreements in the age of the Internet and distance education', The Bottom Line: managing library finances, 12 (3), pp113-119.
Missingham, R 1999, 'Science and technology: a web of information: impact of the electronic present and future on scientists and libraries', Strategies for the next millennium: proceedings of the ninth Australasian Information Online & On Disc Conference and Exhibition, ALIA, Sydney, pp 219-236.
National Library of Australia. PADI: Preserving Access to Digital Information [online] http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/ (accessed 5 June 2000)
Negroponte, N 1995. Being digital, Hodder and Stoughton, Rydalmere.
Odlyzko, A 1996. 'Tragic loss or good riddance? The impending demise of traditional scholarly journals', in Scholarly publishing: the electronic frontier, R.B. Peek & G.B. Newby, MIT Press.
Odlyzko, A 1997. 'The economics of electronic journals', First Monday, 2 (8) [online] http://www.firstmonday.dk (accessed 6 August 2001)
Paterson, A 1999, 'Ahead of the game: developing academic library staff for the twenty-first century', Librarian Career Development, 7 (12) November, pp143-149.
Piggott, S 1996, 'Implementing a virtual library: are you ready?' Electronic dream? Virtual nightmare: the reality for libraries: Conference Proceedings: 1996 VALA Biennial Conference and Exhibition, VALA, Melbourne, pp.181-190.
Pinfield, S 1998. 'Managing the hybrid library', SCONUL newsletter, no.14, pp 41-44.
Report on the Green Paper on the Role of Libraries in the Modern World, [online] http://www.publiclibraries.fi/publications/report.htm (accessed 24 April 2000)
Rice-Livey, M & Racine, J 1997. 'The role of academic librarians in the era of information technology', Journal of Academic Librarianship, 23 (1), pp 31-41.
Schmidt-Braul, I 1999, 'Does culture create new jobs in the information society?: strategic issues and new professional profiles', Librarian Career Development, 7 (12), pp 127-142.
Schuyler, M 1999, 'Prognostications on technology unbound or, the library to come', Computers in Libraries, 19 (5), pp 30-32
US Digital Library Federation ,1999, 'A working definition of the digital library'. [online] http://www.diglib.org/dlfhomepage.htm (accessed 19 March 2000)
Wainwright, E 1996, 'Digital libraries: some implications for government and education from the Australian development experience'. [online] http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/ew6.html (accessed 21 March 2000)
Ward, N & Wood, A 1998. 'Emerging technologies for networked information discovery: beyond Z39.50', Robots to knowbots: the wider information agenda: Conference Proceedings, 1998 VALA Biennial Conference and Exhibition, VALA, Melbourne, pp.377-391. [Also online] http://www.vala.org.au/valaweb/num821.pdf (accessed 7 April 2000)
Wood, PA & Walther, JH 2000, 'The future of academic libraries: changing formats and changing delivery', The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances, 13, (4) pp173-181.
Young, P 1998. 'Librarianship: a changing profession', in Books, bricks & bytes: libraries in the twenty-first century, ed S Graubard & P LeClerc, Transaction Publishers, London, pp103-125.
Endnotes
1. Crawford and Gorman (1995) provide a hypothetical example of digitising the New Yorker and PC Magazine to 'prove' the impracticality of universal conversion of printed resources into digital resources.
2.Encyclopaedia Britannica at http://www.britannica.com provides a detailed history of the development and role of libraries.
3. This statement is contained within a submission from the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media to the European Parliament titled 'Report on the Role of Libraries in the Modern World' available online: http://www.publiclibraries.fi/publications/report.htm
5. During interviews conducted for the SKIP Project (Garrod and Sidgreaves, 1998), one senior manager stated that library qualifications were never specified when advertising posts.
Liz Burke is currently divisional librarian, Reference and Information Services at La Trobe University Library. She has recently completed a Masters in Information Management and Systems at Monash University. Liz has a range of experience in academic libraries including positions as reference librarian, liaison librarian, and campus librarian. Contact: l.burke@...; phone 61 3 9479 1926; fax 61 3 9471 0993.
I remember the tragic loss to an information-starved world when the libraries of the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) were closed. People from Marrakech to Moscow, Bangkok to Jakarta had used them as if they were local public libraries. They did more to sustain peace and world understanding than could be achieved from all the surveillance of library users by other agencies of our government.
This painful memory was triggered by the recent visit to LJ of ten State Department librarians, each from an Information Resource Center (IRC) in a U.S. embassy. About 450 librarians staff 170 IRCs in our embassies around the world. At their best, they are tools of public diplomacy, the effort to communicate face to face with people of other nations.
Also in town that day was Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State, advocating that kind of public diplomacy to the participants in the conference of the Special Libraries Association.
The USIA libraries were one of America's most enlightened attempts to communicate with the people of the world. Controversial at home and abroad, for a time they openly offered the full range of information and entertainment material from the United States, whether or not it supported U.S. policy. The libraries drew the censorious attention of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and were put off-limits by regimes that feared free access to U.S. books. Yet the USIA libraries presented America honestly, in all of its diversity, inequity, and political disagreement. Many at home and abroad thought they were shut down to quiet that honesty about America.
The State Department IRCs make a valiant effort to continue USIA-style work around the world, but they lack sufficient support and resources to meet the demand for information from and about America. Their mission is exactly the kind of public diplomacy championed by Albright. The visiting IRC librarians cited studies by the Heritage Foundation and the Council on Foreign Relations supporting face-to-face contact among people from every nation.
The IRCs reach out to local universities, nongovernmental agencies, and local citizens. They maintain web pages and intranets for the embassies as well. Their staffs translate information into local languages, including files from Washington to be given to local journalists. They are digitally sophisticated and deliver a great deal of information from databases over networks, on which they spend $1 million annually for licenses. This is important since most were moved into embassies in 1999 and have limited space for physical collections. They conduct programs, bring experts to discuss important topics, and use videoconferencing as well. In many ways they, too, act like public libraries.
The IRCs face many problems beyond their need for resources. Because of the growing danger, open access has disappeared in many places. New security measures have meant diminished local use. Frequently governments intervene; for example, both China and Myanmar have limited IRC use by some citizens.
Still, in Zimbabwe, where the government has cracked down on protesters, people queue up to use the IRC. Because it is the best resource for information in Monrovia, Liberia, the IRC there is used by 40 to 50 people a day. In many developing countries, people come for the circulating collections. In Bosnia there is great interest in how U.S. libraries raise funds and market their services.
The fear and misunderstanding created by recent terrorism and violence have made it much more important to listen to and learn from the views of people from other cultures. Peace in the world can't be sustained without understanding at that level.
Our government would be well advised to spend less money and effort trying to use libraries for surveillance at home and many more resources on making sure that IRCs and other U.S. libraries can reach out with the full story of all the cultures with which we share this troubled world.
Dear Professionals,
Library and Information Management Academy (LIMA) and
Quaid-e-Azam Library, Lahore
announce a 2-Day (8 hours) Workshop for Potential LIS Researchers on
Conducting Survey Research from Friday August 29, 2003 to Saturday
August 30, 2003.
For schedule, contents, and registration see the attachments.
With best regards, Muhammad Anwar Research & Reference Librarian
Lahore University of Management Sciences
Opposite Sector U, DHA, Lahore
Pakistan.
Phone: 92-42-5722670-79 ext. 4105/06
Fax: 92-42-5722691, 92-42-5722591
URL:
http://library.lums.edu.pk
> Subject: WebDewey Free Trial > > Dear All: > > OCLC is offering one month free trial for WebDewey, the > online > version of DDC Edition 22. Please visit the following URL > for > registration: > > http://www.oclc.org/dewey/ > > The print edition of DDC 22 is scheduled for release this > month. > The WebDewey includes the entire content of print version > of > DDC22 plus much more explanation and examples, etc. > > Thanks > > T.V. Prafulla Chandra > Senior Editor
===== Prof.N.LAXMAN RAO, Dept.of Library & Information
Science, Osmania University, HYDERABAD- 500 007 (INDIA) President, Indian Association of Teachers in Library and Information Science (IATLIS). Ph:+91-40-27171565 (res): +91-40- 27682290 (off) e:mail-- naglaxman@... OR naglaxman@...
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Travel Grant for participants from developing countries
The Swiss Organization Committee of the Preparatory IFLA Conference "Libraries @ the Heart of the Information Society" (Geneva, Switzerland 3-4 November 2003) has made available a limited number of grants to enable participants from less developed countries to attend.
The grants are towards particpation cost and are given on a cost sharing basis.
The Travel Grant will cover air ticket, accommodation, registration fee and a small allowance.
Applicants should meet the following conditions:
Must be working in a library
Must have a minimum of five years of professional experience
Must be a member of the National Library Association (evidence of membership will be required from the Association).
Priority will be given to professionals and applicants who are involved in the promotion of the libraries as important points of free access to the information society.
Dear coll.
I need the information regarding to
E.Publcation.
All the information to this is send to me .
Thanks
e.mail: tahirjan_pk@...
__________________________________
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Dear All,
I need official email address of PUnjab
Library Lhaore near Secretriate
how to contact Punjab library through email?
regards
Majid
Librarian
TRUST SCHOOL
__________________________________
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It is
announced with great sorrow that our friend and colleague Mr. Mulazim Hussain
Shabab (M H Shabab) died yesterday (Sunday 17 August) after being hospitalized
for 4-5 days in Doctor's Hospital, Lahore. Inna-lillahi-wa-inna-alaihi-rajeeoon.
His Namaz-e-janaza and funeral was offered at Fateh Jang (his native town). Two
years back his wife also died in Lahore due to a road accident on Motorway. He
has left two sons and a daughter.
May God
rest his soul in peace and give strength to the kids to bear this loss.
In
addition to a competent library professional, nice, and gentle human being, and
sympathetic colleague, he was patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Library
Association (HQ). Pakistan Library Association will arrange Fateha with
colleagues and his family. We will inform you the venue, date, and timings
after coordination with the family and the association executives.
Please pray for his success in his just started
life.
There is no doubt it is a great loss for his family and as well as our profession. we have lost a friend, colleague and a good professional. Mr. Shabab's services to library profession is a mile stone will be admired always. Please raise your hands and pray to Almighty Allah to give rest His Soul in Great Heaven (Jannat ul Farduse) and courage to His family to bear such a big loss Ameeen.
May Allah give him success/Maghferat in actual life (Akhrat). Ameeen
Regards
Muhammad Shafiq Rana
Management Executive-Resource Centre
Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund,
HID Centre, H.# 25, St. # 30, F-8/1, Islamabad-Pakistan
Ph: 92-51-2264492-3 Fax: +92-51-2251726
E-mail: cyberarianpk@...
plagpk@yahoogroups.com wrote: Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2003 10:25:43 +0500 From: "Dr. Muhammad Ramzan" Subject:
Dear all:
It is announced with great sorrow that our friend and colleague Mr. Mulazim Hussain Shabab (M H Shabab) died yesterday (Sunday 17 August) after being hospitalized for 4-5 days in Doctor's Hospital, Lahore. Inna-lillahi-wa-inna-alaihi-rajeeoon. His Namaz-e-janaza and funeral was offered at Fateh Jang (his native town). Two years back his wife also died in Lahore due to a road accident on Motorway. He has left two sons and a daughter.
May God rest his soul in peace and give strength to the kids to bear this loss.
In addition to a competent library professional, nice, and gentle human being, and sympathetic colleague, he was patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Library Association (HQ). Pakistan Library Association will arrange Fateha with colleagues and his family. We
will inform you the venue, date, and timings after coordination with the family and the association executives.
Please pray for his success in his just started life.
Really it is great loss for library profession.We have lost a dedicated and good library professional. Mr. Shabab's excellent services will be remembered for ever.
Inna-Lillahi-wa-Inna-Ilaihi-Rajeeoon!
May God rest his soul in peace.
Hafiz Noor Shed Khan
Librarian (NUST)
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I am pleased to introduce you with the latest issue of the outstanding journal Library Trends published by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois, USA. This issue Vol. 51, No. 4 (Spring 2003) is a special issue on Research Questions for the Twenty-First Century and its table-of-contents are as under:
Introduction
Mary Jo Lynch
Research in School Library Media for the Next Decade: Polishing the Diamond
Delia Neuman
Improving Health Care Through Information: Research Challenges for Health Science Librarians
Prudence W. Dalrymphe
Determining How Libraries and Librarians Help
Joan C. Durance and Karen E. Fisher
Public Library Service to Children and Teens: A Research Agenda
Virginia A. Walter
Outcomes Assessment in the Networked Environment: Research Questions, Issues, Considerations, and Moving Forward
John Carlo Bertot and Charles R. McClure
Electronic Publishing: Research Issues for Academic Librarians and Users
Carol Tenopir
Research Questions for the Digital Era Library
Deanna B. Marcum
The Invisible Library: Paradox of Global Information Infrastructure
Christine L. Borgaman
Five Grand Challenges for Library Research
Michael K. Buckland
Please feel free to request photocopy or the electronic version of the article(s) you are interested in.
Thank you
Muhammad Asif Reference Services Specialist/Webmaster The U.S. Consulate 50 Empress Road Lahore Tel: (92) 42-636-5530 Fax: (92) 42-636-5177 Email: masif@... m_asif@... Web site: http://usembassy.state.gov/lahore/
> Dear Professionals
> Asslam-o-Elaikum
> We have uploaded Pak LIS News ( August 2003, Vol. 3, no.6)
> http://www.geocities.com/plagpk/news.htm
>
> Editorial: "PAKISTAN LIBRARY ASSCIATION" is written by Dr. G. A. Sabzwari
>
> Best regards
> Muhammad Ajmal Khan
> Librarian
> National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences,
> 852-B Faisal Town, Lahore-54700
> ajmal@...
>
>
2004 OCLC/IFLA Early Career Development Fellowship Participants Announced
DUBLIN, Ohio, Aug. 5, 2003-OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc., and
the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)
announced in Berlin today the IFLA/OCLC Early Career Development Fellows for
2004. They are:
Mac-Anthony Cobblah
Institute for Scientific and Technical Information
Accra, Ghana
Musa Wakhungu Olaka
Kigali Institute of Education
Kigali, Rwanda
Muhammad Rafiq
National Textile University
Faisalabad, Pakistan
Nayana Wijayasundara
University of Colombo
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Established in 1999, the IFLA/OCLC Fellowship supports library and
information science professionals from countries with developing economies
who are in the early stages of their career development. The fellowship
program, hosted by OCLC at its headquarters in Dublin, Ohio, USA, provides
advanced continuing education and exposure to a broad range of issues in
information technologies, library operations and global cooperative
librarianship.
During the fellowship period, from May 3 through May 28, 2004, the IFLA/OCLC
Fellows participate in seminars, lectures and mentoring; observe portions of
the OCLC Members Council meeting; and visit selected North American
libraries. Participating libraries and
organizations have included the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; the
Mortenson Center for International Library Programs; and the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“Librarians come together from very different parts of the world to
participate in the IFLA/OCLC Fellows program, yet they find they share the
same types of challenges in their libraries at home,” said George Needham,
vice president, OCLC Member Services. “These librarians leave OCLC inspired
with new ideas. They're enthusiastic about sharing those ideas with
colleagues, and they’re hopeful that by implementing cooperative approaches
modeled after OCLC member libraries, they will be able to help their home
libraries realize their full potential.”
OCLC received 45 applications for the 2004 Fellowship program-from Africa,
South America, Europe and Asia. The four Fellows selected for 2004 will be
joined by five Fellows selected from 2003 who were not able to come to the
United States in May due to concerns over
the SARS illness:
Selenay Aytaç
Isik University
Istanbul, Turkey
Anjali Gulati
Department of Library Science
University of Jammu, Jammu, India
Hyekyong Hwang
Korean Institute of Science and Technology
Seoul, Korea
Ibrahim Ramjaun
National Library of Mauritius
Mauritius
Thi Nha Vu
Vietnam, currently completing studies at
Curtin University of Technology
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
The selection committee for the 2004 Fellowship program included Sjoerd
Koopman, IFLA; Norma Read, the University of Cape Town, South Africa;
Birgitta Sandell, Uppsala University Library, Sweden; and Mr. Needham. “We
look for Fellows who have the desire and the
ability to take what they learn and share it with their colleagues at home,”
said Mr. Needham.
More information and applications for 2005 are available from the OCLC
Institute on the Web or by writing to the OCLC Institute at
institute@... or OCLC Institute, 6565 Frantz Rd., MC 750, Dublin, Ohio,
USA, 43017.
Khalid Mahmood
Lecturer
Department of Library & Information Science
University of the Punjab, Lahore, PAKISTAN.
Ph: 92-42-9231224 Mobile: 0333-4271285
Email: mahmoodkhalid@...
Internet: http://www.geocities.com/khalidmahmood
_________________________________________________________________
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UNESCO Libraries Portal: An International Information Gateway for Librarians
and Library Users
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_bib/
The site provides links to websites of libraries and information centres
around the world and serves as an interactive point for browsing and
searching a range of categories, including websites of national libraries,
government information services, library associations and online resources.
It also provides news about conferences and training opportunities. Special
emphasis is placed on activities in UNESCO’s fields of competence -
education, sciences, culture, communication and information. Of particular
interest for information professionals is the Communication and Information
section: this provides access to activities by theme, by region/country;
information on networks, supporting research, intergovernmental programmes,
related events. This is an excellent resource for those wanting to stay
abreast of international initiatives, especially related to developing
countries, in the field of library and information management.
Khalid Mahmood
Lecturer
Department of Library & Information Science
University of the Punjab, Lahore, PAKISTAN.
Ph: 92-42-9231224 Mobile: 0333-4271285
Email: mahmoodkhalid@...
Internet: http://www.geocities.com/khalidmahmood
_________________________________________________________________
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Dear Professionals,
The death of Mr. M.H.Shabab is unrepairable loss for Pakistani Librarianship
and his family.May Allah give rest His Soul in Great Heaven.His services for
librarianship especially in Academy of educational planing and
management,Islamabadas a Chief documentation officer were commendable.
I request all the professionals to pray for the sucess of his newly started
and permanant life.
With Best Regard,
CH.SHAFIQ UR REHMAN
CIRCULATION LIBRARIAN
Punjab University Lahore.
_________________________________________________________________
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Really it is the great loss to Pakistani librarianship. Ofourse Shabab was a
dedicated librarian and a sincere friend. Can anybody tell that when, wher
and how Shabab left this world. I share sorrow and grief of librarinship
community and the family of Shabab . May the eternal soul rest in peace and
May Allah bless him with kindness.
Asghar
NEW York
>From: "shafiq-ur-rehman saif ullah" <s_rehman25@...>
>To: plagpk@yahoogroups.com
>CC: waheed2834@...
>Subject: [plagpk] Unrepairable loss
>Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 16:06:18 +0000
>
>
>Dear Professionals,
>
>The death of Mr. M.H.Shabab is unrepairable loss for Pakistani
>Librarianship
>and his family.May Allah give rest His Soul in Great Heaven.His services
>for
>librarianship especially in Academy of educational planing and
>management,Islamabadas a Chief documentation officer were commendable.
>
>I request all the professionals to pray for the sucess of his newly started
>and permanant life.
>
>
>With Best Regard,
>
>CH.SHAFIQ UR REHMAN
>CIRCULATION LIBRARIAN
>Punjab University Lahore.
>
>_________________________________________________________________
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An online library directory, the "Libraries of Asia and the Pacific Directory," an excellent, current information resource about libraries in the Asia - Pacific region was recently redeveloped by the National Library of Australia. The new site was unveiled in mid-May 2003 at <http://www.nla.gov.au/lap> and now gives libraries the ability to update and amend their own entries.
An initiative of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries of Asia and Oceania (CDNLAO), the website is supported by the National Library of Australia (NAL). Much of the current content has been provided by CDNLAO members and from the print-based "Directory of Libraries and Archives in the Pacific Islands," published in 1998 by the NAL.
The site features a search facility, updated information pages, a form allowing libraries not in the database to add their details, as well
as a password-controlled edit capability allowing libraries to add many details about themselves and their collections.
The updated entries for Pacific islands and countries will soon appear in a new edition of the printed "Directory of Libraries and Archives in the Pacific Islands." Arlene Cohen <acohen@...> from the University of Guam received funding from IFLA to produce the printed directory, which is planned for publication at the end of this year. An announcement will be sent out when the publication is available.
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We are looking for Bachelor Degree
holder youngsters (preferably males) to work in the Lahore University of
Management Sciences Library as Library Assistant. Candidates must have good
communication skills, reasonable computing skills, and basic knowledge of
library services. The incumbents would be required to work in the morning as
well as evening / night shifts.
Professional degree holders do not
qualify for this position.
You can inform people known to you to
apply until 31 August 2003 at:
Dr. G. A. Sabzwari's guest editorial in PAK-LIS News, August 2003,
really impressed me. I am sorry to see that no person responded upon
the Guest Editorial of Dr. G. A. Sabzwari.
These are the feelings of young professionals that Dr. Sabzwari
presented. I think this is the time, LIS profession in our country is
looking for new dimensions and role of professionals. The senior
professionals should initiate to call for professional zeal and zest
and to set aside their personal differences and to do their best for
the promotion of LIS in Pakistan. I have talked to many professionals
especially new professionals, they are hopeless and feel that their
seniors did not play their role well.
However it is the time to take proper decisions especially from
seniors' side. LIS Departments in different universities may play an
important role and provide platforms for career development of young
professionals. Workshops and new courses may be offered to the
professionals for their career development. I am sure that Grants may
be got to sponsor the research projects in the country especially
with joint research projects with foreign universities/
organizations. This will provide the unique opportunity to the
professionals to enhance their knowledge and skills and to accelerate
for the promotion of LIS practices.
Comments and suggestions are needed.
Thanks for your time.
Muhammad Rafiq,
Librarian,
National Textile University,
Faisalabad.
rafiqlibrarian@...
Ph. # 041-753744/ 150
Date: Monday, August 25, 2003 at
12:11:03 PM
From: Library & Information Management Academy
<lima@...>
Subject: [Reminder] Workshop on "Conducting Survey
Research"
---------------------------------
Dear Professionals,
Library and Information Management Academy (LIMA) and Quaid-e-Azam
Library, Lahore announce a 2-Day (8 hours) Workshop for Potential LIS
Researchers on "Conducting Survey Research" from Friday August
29, 2003 to Saturday August30, 2003. For Schedule, Contents, and
Registration see the attachments.
The workshop is free. The numbers of participants are limited to. Only
those individuals who possess a master’s degree in LIS and are SERIOUSLY
interested in conducting research should apply.
We are in the process of finalizing
the participants and few spaces are still available. Certificates will
also be awarded to the participants of this workshop. It is requested to
all interested participants to download the Registeration Form and send
it to <lima@...>. The final list of participants will be
notified on Thursday August 28, 2003.
Regards,
Library & Information Management Academy
e-mail: lima@...
Mehfil-e-Quran Khawani and Reference
For the 'Esaal-e-Sawab' and in recognition of the services for Librarianship
rendered by Mr. Mulazim Hussain Shabab (Late), Chief Documentation Officer,
Ministry of Education, Islamabad, the arrangement of Mehfil-e-Quran Khawani
has been made in the premises of Government Model Town Library, Lahore on
3rd September, 2003 at 4:00 p.m.
All the Librarians, their friends are cordially invited to attend.
RSVP
Dr. Muhammad Ramzan (LUMS)
Mr. Muhammad Ajmal Khan (FAST)
For more information, please contact on the following telephone numbers:
Tel.# 9230450, 5722670 Ext. 4109
UAN: 111-128-128 Ext. 210
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