Introduction - E-LIS



CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

FOR LIBRARINSHIP IN PAKISTAN

Ch.Shafiq-ur-Rehman

Senior Librarian,

Punjab University, Lahore

Pervaiz Ahmad

Assistant Professor (LIS),

AIOU, Islamabad

|Abstract: |

|This paper, based on review of literature, observation, and informal conversations, discusses |

|various challenges regarding finance, collection development, ICTs, human resources, library |

|education, library association and research & development faced by library profession in Pakistan. |

|The opportunities to meet these challenges have also been explored. |

| |

|Keywords: Library challenges and opportunities (Pakistan); Librarianship (Pakistan); Library issues;|

|Library profession in Pakistan. |

Introduction

Library profession in Pakistan is making progress but with slow pace. There are a number of social, economic, organizational and technological challenges affecting the libraries and librarianship in this era. Literature reviewed reveals that the major challenges in the development of the profession are lack of finances, poor collection management, deficiency of ICT skills, meager excellence of library education, non-implementation of library standards, impotency of library associations, lack of library cooperation, ineffective planning, absence of library marketing in competitive environments, little production of professional literature, low interest of LIS professionals/non-professionalism, inadequacy of continuing education facilities, scarcity of leadership, etc.

However, this paper also explores different opportunities available to meet these challenges. These opportunities comprise alternative funding venues, HEC and its various projects/programs, resource sharing, IT infrastructure & government policies, research degree programs, CPD activities, different active library groups, and LIS marketing.

Challenges

What is challenge?

Oxford English dictionary1 defines the challenge as “a new or difficult task that tests somebody’s ability and skill”. Below are some considerable challenges of general nature faced by library profession in Pakistan.

Finance

Finance is the major issue the Pakistani libraries are facing. The fund allocation to libraries except some exceptions is very low especially the college, school and public libraries. There are no standards or criteria for this allocation. There is a high level of dissatisfaction of libraries with their present state of funding2.

Collection Development

The Pakistani libraries face a lot of problems regarding collection development. The acquisition is collection-centered instead of user-centered. The patron input is hardly invited in the collection building process. The decision regarding purchase of electronic or print material seems to be not well thought. Subscription to online resources provides only access rather than ownership3. The library remains empty handed after the subscription ends. Further, our libraries have not experimented in developing a mix of traditional and electronic modes4. Most of the print resources in libraries are outdated. While current journals are received often free as gift or in exchange. The standard ratio of books per student is far less than it should be, and students could hardly afford to purchase books of their own. The big rate of currency exchange is also a dilemma regarding purchase of foreign books and journals.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)

The application of ICTs has become inevitable in libraries. Our library scenario manifests gloomy picture in this regard. The major problem is the lack of computer literacy among librarians, especially the senior ones. Majority of the libraries are not automated. Some libraries that claim to be fully automated only have computerized catalog. Pakistani libraries have not yet succeeded in engineering web-based integrated multilingual software. The foreign made softwares are not financially affordable because of high one-time price and annual support service fees, e.g. Virtua. The local library packages lacking standardization create problems of retrospective data conversion and switching over to another package. The wide area networked libraries which are mandatory for cooperative activities and outreach services do not exist. Library automation in Pakistan is in its infancy stage5. The digitization of print resources is so laborious, time taking, expensive and erroneous. The library professionals are not often involved in key decision making and planning especially relating to technological issues.

Library Education

Formal Education (Postgraduate level)

Undeniably library education in Pakistan has made a marvelous progress. It has reached from certificate to PhD level. The two founding library schools at Punjab and Karachi universities have provided both the foundation and tradition to library education in Pakistan as more than 10 universities now have LIS programs. But, according to Dr. Anis Khurshid6 “the establishment of recently founded library schools has been without meeting the minimum standards”. There is also lack of uniformity in the schemes of study, courses, nomenclature of departments, programs/degrees, etc. The private universities do not have all required resources and reasonable number of regular academic faculty. Therefore, the quality of education of private universities cannot be compared with public sector universities in any way.

While collecting data, it has been observed that the official websites of some universities/library schools do not provide vital basic information. These websites are not up-to-date as well. “The LIS curriculum in South Asia is 40 years old7. Most of the faculty members do not have updated knowledge and awareness with global trends in LIS education.

Continuing Professional Development

It has always been a challenge for the library professionals to keep themselves abreast of the latest trends in the profession. They must update their knowledge to avoid being obsolete. The continuing professional development (CDP) activities of LIS in Pakistan are very few and limited to some selected big cities only. The major causes are lack of interest on the part of professionals, inert status of professional associations, lack of funds, and discouragement of employers.

Human Resources

Qualified and competent staff is more important than other resources. Nothing but people bring a change and make a difference. A dedicated, committed and professionally sound team is the only way for improved and value-added reader services. There is an acute shortage of qualified and capable manpower in Pakistani libraries. The cream of the profession left the country for big scenario. Most of the top level managerial positions are either vacant or being run by non-professionals. Various studies8-9 reveal that majority of library leaders do not possess innovative, creative, imaginative and visionary traits. Furthermore, many of them do not have ICT, interpersonal, and communication skills as well.

Assessment and Evaluation

User satisfaction Surveys

Libraries are investing large amount of budget on resources and services to improve efficiency. There is high demand for fund raise on the part of libraries to yield user satisfied services. User satisfaction helps justify resources and improve services. The practices of conducting user satisfaction surveys in order to determine their level of agreement with library services do not exist here in Pakistan at any level.

Library Standards

Library standards may be defined as the criteria by which library resources and services can be measured and assessed. These standards are determined by professional librarians in order to attain and maintain the objectives they have set for themselves. In Pakistan, except few draft proposals, the government and professional organizations have issued no formal standards. The HEC10, Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC)11, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC)12 have a certain criteria for the recognition of institutes and their degrees. This criterion also addresses a standard library, which is not satisfactory in terms of staff, collection, space, finance and needs to be revised. The stipulated requirement of library facilities set by PU13 and other universities for the institutions applying for affiliation is not up to the mark as well.

Role of Library Associations

As a whole the situation of library associations is not much encouraging. No one has a track record of holding regular elections, where applicable. The aims and objectives set forth have never been achieved. These organizations have played their due role effectively to some extent and worked for the development of library profession in the country. But after 1997 almost all the library associations are not functioning efficiently. It is the burning issue of the day whether PLA exists or not. The major constraints in this regard are finance, low membership, and lack of volunteer & corporate culture. Various studies14-17 present following picture of library associations:

Beside of PLA there are fourteen other professional library associations in the country but their output of professional literature has been meager. These library associations organized several conferences, passed many resolutions, formed many committees but no concrete result could be achieved. There are thousands of librarians but majority are non-members or do not play their active role. Newsletters and journals were brought out several times but stopped after few issues. Election never held after two years. In last 43 years PLA and SPIL drafted and presented a number of legislations in their conferences but far behind from implementation.

Library Cooperation

No library can purchase all published material and fulfill solely all demands of its users. Hence libraries throughout the world initiate different cooperative programs and share resources with each other. These cooperative programs among Pakistani libraries do not formally exist. Therefore no significant resource sharing activities subsist in Pakistani libraries.

Planning

Planning is actually an amalgam of miniplans interrelated at several levels. This blend is considered short range operational plans as well as long range strategic plans; it merges departmental plans with overall organizational missions18. There is lack of proper planning with regard to Pakistani libraries. Several five-year and other plans address the various issues of Pakistani librarianship but no one could be implemented. During the last decades a number of developmental plans/schemes were formulated but unfortunately, none could be implemented even partially19”.

Marketing of Library and Information Services

Marketing of information organizations is a process in which customers’ needs for information and knowledge are met through matching them against appropriate information resources and services20. Marketing is a management process which determines, anticipates and supplies users’ requirements efficiently and profitably. Since libraries are non-monopolistic and nonprofit organizations, hence their profit is user satisfaction rather happiness. Pakistani libraries face the challenge of marketing due to competitive environment in terms of internet mania & decreased number of clients, increased pressure to secure funding, etc. At present marketing of LIS in Pakistan is in its babyhood stage and course of LIS marketing is being taught only at three universities21.

Research and Development

Presently only two professional journals namely Pakistan Journal of Library & Information Science (PJLIS) and Pakistan Library & Information Science Journal (PLISJ) are being actively published by Department of Library and Information Science, University of Punjab (DLIS, PU) and Library Promotion Bureau, Karachi respectively. The PLISJ is the only HEC-recognized journal in LIS in Pakistan22. The expertise available for research guidance is too little. Most of the practitioners have insufficient research knowledge. Majority of library schools do not offer research degree.

Opportunities

What is opportunity?

“A time when a particular situation makes it possible to do or achieve”23

Following opportunities are available to meet the aforesaid challenges:

Finance

The public sector universities and degree awarding institutes may request HEC for funds and grants-in-aid through PC-1 and also under the up-gradation of libraries and laboratories project24. Punjab Library Foundation Lahore, an organ of Punjab government, also disburses monetary and material grants to all types of provincial libraries, especially the public. Additionally there are also other venues for fiscal and grant-in-kind assistance like Asia Foundation Islamabad, library friends forums, UNESCO, World Bank, WHO, Bill & Melinda Gates25 Foundation, and individual donors. The lapsed security of students in colleges may be requested to be earmarked for the library.

Collection

HEC digital resources have provided the Pakistani libraries with great opportunity to encounter collection challenge26. These libraries may now spend their budget on other heads. The collection may also be enriched by officiating local and regional resource sharing programs. Book donations from individuals, national and international agencies, depository library programs of World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and UNO also exist. HEC textbook writing scheme27, Lincoln corner, Iranian Cultural Centre, and digitization of precious resources are also among attractive options. The donations received by LUMS Library, GCU & PU Library, etc., show a good sign of generosity on the part of donors.

ICTs

Different computer literacy programs launched by Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and Punjab government through Punjab IT Board & TEVTA, are providing opportunity to become computer literate. There is also huge number of other public & private computer training centers across the country giving the same training. The following four IT related MLIS courses in the HEC 2002 curricula are:

Introduction to Library and Information Science; Information Technology and Libraries;

Resource Sharing and Networking; Management Information System28

Self learning through correspondence courses and free e-tutorials are also available. The Government of Pakistan, with sound infrastructure and IT policy, is also supporting and encouraging computer literacy. Most of the universities have been networked with high bandwidth through HEC PERN project giving way to resource sharing and high speed internet connectivity29. Open source softwares for digital library and library management like D-space30, Greenstone digital library31, Koha32, Zebra server, MARC editor, and free web-based multilingual local packages like LIMS33 are on hand for library automation and digital library.

Library Education

CPD

There are some useful continuing professional development (CPD) activities in Pakistan. These activities include short courses, workshops, seminars, conferences, focus group discussions, foreign library experts’ lectures, etc. Significant organizations involved in conducting such activities are DLIS PU, International Islamic University, Riphah University, American Consulate, Rural Development Academy Islamabad, Quaid-i-Azam Library Lahore, HEC, Pakistan Library Automation Group, and University of Karachi. HEC, IFLA, OCLC, SLA, UNESCO, and other different international bodies provide funding for enhancement of professional knowledge.

Curriculum

National Curriculum Revision Committee of HEC provides a uniform platform to library experts regarding the revision of curricula according to market demand after every three to five years. The implementation of latest 2002 curricula in letter and spirit may improve the quality of LIS education. The meeting of the aforesaid committee is due in 2007. The library experts should exploit this meeting fully to incorporate global changes in the curriculum.

Research Degree Programs

The regular M.Phil leading to PhD program at DLIS PU and University of Sind Jamshoro as per HEC new criteria is a step towards enhancing higher education and future library leadership. The HEC is providing local and foreign scholarships for M.Phil/PhD to fresh students and librarians34. Some of our professionals are already availing this opportunity. The PU has given incentive to its university teachers/librarians regarding PhD studies as reduction of workload to half, grant of study leave up to four years, and stipend of Rs.4000 per month during study period35. The other universities may follow the example set by PU.

Faculty

Different programs of HEC and other organizations for the faculty of universities and degree awarding institutes are attainable for research and development. HEC programs encompass local & foreign PhD scholarships, research grants, student teacher exchange program, national faculty hiring program, foreign faculty hiring program, and faculty development program36. Other HEC incentives for the betterment of faculty members include upgradation of posts of university teachers and different research awards, best teacher awards, new criteria for the appointment of vice-chancellors of public sector universities, and tenure track system. Fulbright, Commonwealth, and cultural exchange scholarships are in addition to above.

Human Resources

The M.Phil/PhD programs of different universities may be helpful in filling the top managerial vacant positions. Appointment of librarian is one of the compulsory requirements set by the HEC, PMDC, PEC, and PPC regarding recognition of institutions. National internship program37 (paid) of federal government is also providing opportunities regarding human resources. Service structure of library positions (up to BPS-20) in NLP, GCU and IIU is trend setter.

Active Groups and Revival of Library Associations

There are some registered library associations in Pakistan. No one but the professionals can activate and revive them. Solution of various long-awaited professional issues lies in the revival of these associations. But mention may be made of active groups as Library Promotion Bureau (LPB), PBWG, Paklag, Librarian welfare Group, LIBCOOP, etc. These forums are good venues for sharing professional tacit knowledge. Special credit goes to LPB for bringing out valued publications. Newly elected PLA body can play its due role in connecting people, initiating library legislation, implementing standards & service structure, formulating national information policy, arranging CPD activities, etc.

Library Cooperation

Amongst the benefits of co-operation are: optimum use of resources, avoiding duplication, cross-fertilization of expertise and experience, increase in efficiency & effectiveness, and promotion of social interrelationship of the community.

Various resource sharing models are exemplary to follow. Web OPACS and PERN Project is an opportunity for networking and resource sharing among university libraries.

Planning

Already developed plans/programs regarding libraries, Vision 203038, five year plans, federal government education policies may be an impetus to improve librarianship, if devotedly pursued/implemented. Keeping in view the present scenario, we may develop realistic, feasible short term and long term plans.

Marketing

The information is considered as commodity in this century. We the professionals may be the key players as we are concerned with society’s knowledge base. Different marketing strategies give us occasions for customer focused services. We can provide better services and enhance our image in society by using marketing mix. The product (publications, etc.), services, people (professional), organization (library), place (site & interior of library), social events & issues - all can be marketed. We need to work like business directors and managers. We have to recognize marketing concepts and techniques if we want our services to survive, offer quality and grow. We should prepare market plan after PEST and SWOT analysis. Customer centered services like SDI, CAS, document delivery, ILL would enhance our readership. User satisfaction surveys should also be conducted regularly.

Research and Development

Both PLISJ and PJLIS are good avenues to publish research. PLISJ is the only HEC-recognized journal39 being published regularly from Karachi by Library Promotion Bureau since 1968. It is indexed and abstracted in international sources. Sponsorship of HEC for textbook writing and journal publication is accessible40. We have at present five regular PhD faculty members in different library schools for seeking research counsel. Endnote, AtlasTi and SPSS software packages are available for researchers. The PU is awarding Rs.25000 and Rs.50000 to its staff for each research paper published in national HEC recognized and international journals respectively. The student may also get Rs.10000 per article.

Conclusion

There are more challenges than opportunities. The existing opportunities are not being fully employed due to unawareness or lethargy. Majority librarians are not members of any professional body or do not play their active role. Newsletters and journals were brought out several times but stopped after few issues. Elections of professional bodies were never held in time. PLA and other library associations need to learn from the experiences of other associations of the world like ALA and CILIP. There is a dire need of sincere efforts, absolute devotion and firm determination from the professionals to serve the cause of librarianship and promote library associations. The motivation of volunteer culture in the profession is utmost mandatory. Feedback and suggestions may be emailed at and .

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