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Department of LIS at a Glance: From PJLIS 2006 onward

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Patron

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University of the Punjab, Lahore
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 Pakistan Journal of
Library & Information Science
[ PJLIS ]

Department of Library and Information Science

University of the Punjab
Lahore, Pakistan
 Editorial Advisory Board

Prof. Dr. Gary Gorman Prof. Dr. Syed Jalaluddin Haider

School of Information Management Ex-Chairman
Victoria University of Wellington Department of Library & Information
New Zealand Science, University of Karachi
Prof. Dr. John Feather Mr. Afzal Haq Qarshi
Department of Information Science Ex-Incharge
Loughborough University Department of Library & Information
Leicestershire UK Science, University of the Punjab
Dr. Ismail Abdullahi Dr. Rubina Bhatti
Associate Professor Assistant Professor
School of Library and Information Department of Library & Information
Science Science, Islamia University of
North Carolina Central University Bahawalpur
Durham, USA
Dr. Abdus Sattar Chaudhry, Ms. Umera Shah
Head, Division of Information Studies Assistant Professor
School of Communication and Department of Library & Information
Information Studies Science, University of the Punjab
Nanyang Technological University
Singapore
Dr. Sanda Erdelez Mr. Ishtiaq Ahmad
Associate Professor Library Director
School of Information Science and Higher Education Commission
Learning Technologies Islamabad
Director, Information Experience
Laboratory, University of Missouri–
Columbia, USA
Prof. Dr. Mohinder P. Satija Ms. Bushra Almas Jaswal
Head Chief Librarian & Associate Professor
Department of Library and Information FC College
Science, Guru Nanak Dev University Lahore
Amritser, India.
Prof. Dr. Jagtar Singh Mr. Hamid Rehman
Department of Library and Information Assistant Professor
Science, Punjabi University Department of Library & Information
Patiala, India Science, University of Peshawar
 PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF
LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE

Issue No. 8 2007

CONTENTS

Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan 1

Syed Jalaluddin Haider

Research on Information Seeking and Use in Pakistan: 15

An Assessment
Mumtaz A. Anwar

Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Access to 33

Information in Egypt
Shawky Salem

User Education Programme in the John Rylands 49

University Library of Manchester: A Case Study
Rubina Bhatti

Online Consumer Health Information in Pakistan 63

Khawaja Mustafa & Syed Attaullah Shah

Information Needs and Information Seeking Behavior of 75

the Media Practitioners in Pakistan (PhD Abstract)
Muneera Ansari

Department of LIS at a Glance: From PJLIS 2006 onward 77

Shafiq-ur-Rehman
 CONTRIBUTORS
Prof. Dr. Syed Jalaluddin Haider
Ex-Chairman, Department of Library and Information Science
University of Karachi
[email protected]

Prof. Dr. Mumtaz A. Anwar

Department of Library and Information Science,
University of Kuwait
[email protected]

Prof. Dr. Shawky Salem

LIS Department, Alexandria University &
Knowledge Management and Informatics Department
Beirut Arab University
Chairman, Alex Centre for Multimedia and Libraries (ACML)
[email protected]

Dr. Rubina Bhatti

Assistant Professor, Department of Library and Information Science
Islamia University of Bahawalpur
[email protected]

Khawaja Mustafa & Syed Attaullah Shah

Assistant Librarians
Faculty of Health Sciences Library, Aga Khan University
Karachi
[email protected]; [email protected]

Dr. Muneera Ansari

Assistant Professor, Department of Library and Information Science
University of Karachi, Karachi
[email protected]

Shafiq ur Rehman
Senior Librarian Research / PhD Student
Department of Library and Information Science
University of the Punjab, Lahore
[email protected]
 Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan

Syed Jalaluddin Haider*

Abstract

The paper aims to describe in brief the contribution of seven

leaders of Pakistan librarianship, viz. K.B. Khalifa M. Asadullah,
Prof. Dr. Abdul Moid, Dr. Abdus Subuh Qasimi, Muhammad Shafi,
Fazal Elahi, Khawaja Nur Elahi and S. V. Hussain. The early
library developments are given for better understanding of the role
of these leaders.

Keywords: Library leaders; Library movement; History of

libraries; Pakistan

Introduction

Pakistan, born on 14th August 1947 as an independent

nation after the partition of British India, was denied its rightful
share out of the common library resources built up over the years
during the British rule. All the major libraries of British India
happened to be located in those areas which, after partition,
became part of the present day India. The city of Lahore, once the
“cradle of library movement,” had become inactive because of sad
events following independence (Khuda Bakhsh, 1949). The
earliest library education program outside USA, started by Asa
Don Dickenson in 1915 at the University of the Punjab, also
suffered during this period and remained suspended from 1946-
1948. Pakistan inherited only two libraries of significance on the
eve of independence. These were the University of the Punjab
Library and the Punjab Public Library, both located in Lahore. It
may be pointed out that for many years the Government did not

*
Professor & Ex-Chairman, Department of Library & Information
Science, University of Karachi.

1
Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan

pay attention to this sector because of other national priorities. The

establishment of the Directorate of Archives and Libraries in 1951
to administer the development of libraries was, in fact, the only
significant step on the part of Government in this direction.

Under such circumstances the lead was taken by few

individuals in the form of founding of Karachi Library Association
(KLA) in 1949, which started a certificate course of short duration
to meet the urgent needs of library professionals in the country.
This was followed by the formation of Pakistan Bibliographical
Working Group (PBWG) in 1950, with the assistance of UNESCO.
Taking the advantage of these developments some of these men
of wisdom tried to focus the attention of the Government through
the pages of their first professional journal, Modern Librarian, to
the need of development of libraries. But these individual efforts
did not produce tangible results; however, it did convince the
Government to the need for library planning in the country.

Consequently, L. C. Key of Australia was invited under the

Colombo Plan, to prepare a library development plan for the
country. Key submitted his report in 1956 (Key, 1956). The Key
Plan did not materialize; yet it did influence the thinking of
librarians in the country. This is evident in library developments
that took place in the second-half of 1950s, particularly at Karachi,
the then capital of the country. Of these developments, mention
may be made of the formation of Pakistan Library Association
(PLA) and the establishment of Pakistan National Scientific and
Technical Documentation Center (PANSDOC), both in 1957,
launching of publication of Pakistan Library Review (1958), and
the promulgation of Basic Democracy Order (1959). But the most
important event of this decade was the institution of Post-Graduate
Diploma Course in Library Science in August 1956 at the
University of Karachi, followed by the University of the Punjab in
1959. It must be added here that these early historical
developments were possible only through the initiative and efforts
of a few individuals. The profession in Pakistan owes much to
them and this article is a humble effort to pay our homage to these
great men.

2
 Syed Jalaluddin Haider

Definition of Pioneer

Who is a pioneer? For the purpose of this paper the

following definitions have been used: According to The Webster’s
Third New International Dictionary (1986), a pioneer is a person
“who begins or helps open up or develops something new and
prepares a way for others to follow.” The Oxford English Dictionary
(1989) gives an identical definition, that is, a pioneer is one “who
goes before to prepare or open up the way for others to follow.”
Both definitions emphasize on being the first to lead the way to be
followed by others. And, in line with this meaning of the word all
the persons included in this article do meet this single criterion of
being first in terms of their contribution to Pakistan librarianship.
For instance, Khalifa Muhammad Asadullah was the first
prominent librarian to opt to serve the newly created independent
Pakistan without knowing his ultimate fate. Prof. Moid has the
distinction of being the first to take initiative for institution of the
first graduate library training program in the country and having the
distinction of being the first PhD and professor of library science.
Muhammad Shafi has left indelible marks on classification in the
shape of expansion of DDC for Islamic and Oriental topics. Fazal
Elahi was the first and perhaps the last chartered librarian, the
country ever had. He was instrumental in the formation of PLA.
Khawaja Nur Elahi was the pioneer to lead the country’s largest
public library in the initial years of independence. Likewise, Dr.
Qasimi was the first to combine together the highest Oriental and
Western qualifications so vital for the country for bringing harmony
in traditional and modern librarianship. Villayat Hussain Shah has
the distinction for nursing at least three major professional
associations (PLA, KLA and PBWG) in their formative stage.

Khalifa Muhammad Asadullah (1890-1949)

Khan Bahadur Muhammad Asadullah could be rightly

called as the main architect of library movement in the Indo-
Pakistan sub-continent. He was in the very first class of Asa Don
Dickinson, an American Librarian, started in 1915 at the University
of the Punjab. He started his career as the first graduate librarian
at the Government College, Lahore; moved to MAO College,

3
Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan

Aligarh (India) in 1919; was the librarian of the Imperial Secretariat

Library at Delhi for eight years; and finally landed at the Imperial
Library, Kolkata in 1929. As a recognition for his superior
performance the British Government rewarded him in 1931 the
exalted position of Librarian of Imperial Library, Kolkata. He was
the first Muslim and the second native to hold this coveted
position. He was one of the key figures, along with Dr.
Ranganathan, Dr. Niharanjan Roy, Prof. Bashiruddin, Prof F. M.
Velt, Justice Abdul Qadir and Lala Labhu Ram, responsible for the
formation of Indian Library Association. He was its secretary from
1933 to 1947. He was also associated with All India Muslim
Educational Conference, Aligarh; Muslim High School, Kolkota;
Aligarh Old Boys Association (Bengal Branch) and Aligarh Muslim
University.

On 18th July 1947 he left the Imperial Library to serve the

newly created Pakistan like many other Muslim officers. In
Pakistan he was appointed as officer on special duty in the
Ministry of Education (Haider, 1987). A group of librarians believes
that the defunct Directorate of Archives and Libraries was the
brain child of Asadullah. Many of us may not be aware that he was
very close relative of Chowdhury Muhammad Ali, who was then
holding the position of Secretary General of the Government of
Pakistan and later the Prime Minister of the country (Raipuri,
1999). Asadullah died soon after independence in November 1949
at Lahore due to a stroke and could not do much in a newly
formed country going through a state of chaos.

Prof. Dr. Abdul Moid (1920-1984)

He was in fact the Melvil Dewey of Pakistan in terms of
founding of the first library school and the national library
association. The establishment of a graduate program within the
walls of a university as early as 1956 was not an ordinary
achievement of the man. He had to face obstacles of all kinds in
this regard as it was not so easy to convince the academic
community to the need of a program in a little known discipline at a
newly established university. In fact, the qualified librarians coming
out from the Department each year shaped the direction of library

4
 Syed Jalaluddin Haider

development in the country. Of these, mention in particular could

be made of Dr. Anis Khurshid, Dr. Syed Jalaluddin Haider, Prof.
Akhter Hanif, M. Adil Usmani, Ghaniul Akram Sabzwari, Dr.
Mumtaz A. Anwar, Abdul Hafeez Akhter, Dr. A. R. Butt, Dr. Fazil
Baloch, Dr. Khawaja Iftikhar and Meer Hassan Jamali.
Born in India on 20th January 1920, Prof. Moid received
BA degree from Aligarh Muslim University (1941); MA from
University of Michigan (1955) and PhD from Illinois University
(1964). The topic of his dissertation, which he completed under the
supervision of Prof. R. B. Downs, was Urdu Language Resources
in USA. Of his teachers, mention could be made of luminaries like
Maulana Abdul Aziz Memon (Aligarh), Prof. Gjelsness (Michigan),
and Prof. R. B. Downs (Illinois). He was personally known to S. R.
Ranganathan, Sir Frank Francis and Dr. Ralph R. Shaw.

He worked in a number of libraries both in India and

Pakistan including Arabic College (Delhi), Delhi University, Punjab
Public Library (Lahore), Sindh University and Karachi University,
of which he was the founder librarian and played a key role in
building it as the largest library of post independence period. From
1973 to 1983 he taught at Ahmad Bello University (Zaria, Nigeria)
and Bayero University (Kano, Nigeria) where he established LIS
Department and headed the University Library. He also taught at
North Texas State University as a visiting professor during the
summer of 1967.

Prof. Moid was instrumental in the formation of the PLA

and was bestowed the honor of being elected its founder
secretary-general. The contribution of Prof. Moid as secretary-
general of the Association had been organization of its first annual
conference. This historic conference inaugurated on January 8,
1958 by the president of the country proved to be a great success
in spreading the message of library service and cult of books in
the country. Some of the resolutions adopted at the conference
dealt with: the need for planning of library services, easing of
import restrictions on import of books and journals, establishment
of library schools at the universities, amendment in copyright law,
etc. (PLA, 1958). Prof. Moid tried his best to project the

5
Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan

Association both at the national and international level. He was

also associated with country’s other professional bodies like
Society for the Promotion and Improvement of Libraries, Karachi
Library Association and PBWG in various capacities. He
represented Pakistan at several international forums, including the
Organizing Conference of Asian Federation of Library Association,
Tokyo in 1957 and International Association of Orientalist
Librarians (Haider, 1984).

Prof. Moid was not a prolific writer but he did contribute 30

articles to professional journals (Khurshid, 1994). His article on
“Illumination” to the Encyclopedia of Library and Information
Science deserves special mention. Amongst his publications are:
(1) A guide to works of reference, published in Pakistan, (2) A
guide to periodical publications and newspapers in Pakistan, (3)
Directory of libraries etc. (PLA, 1958). He was member of the
Advisory Board of International Library Review and Journal of
Library History in their formative stage.

Muhammad Shafi (1895-1964)

Shafi is the pioneer for being the first to expand the Dewey
Decimal Classification for oriental and Islamic topics. This
expansion is still being used by libraries in Pakistan and
elsewhere. The history of this pioneering works dates back to pre-
independence days when Muhammad Shafi was appointed
convener of the special committee formed by the Indian Library
Association, as early as 1935, “to draw up a standard scheme of
expansion of DDC to meet the need of Indian libraries.” (Usmani,
1973). This work was completed by Muhammad Shafi in 1960 with
the assistance of a committee under the auspices of the
Department of Library Science at the University of Karachi (Shafi,
1962) In fact, this expansion, known as Shafi’s Expansion of DDC,
played the role of a guideline for other expansions of DDC in the
country. His expansion was partially accepted by the DDC
Editorial Committee but unfortunately, his name didn’t appear in
the introduction of 17thh edition of the Scheme (Obaidullah, 1969).

6
 Syed Jalaluddin Haider

Born and brought up in Amritsar, he graduated from the

University of the Punjab. Muhammad Shafi entered into the
service of Government of India in 1921. In the following year he
was appointed as an assistant librarian of the Imperial Secretariat
Library, Delhi. In 1923 he joined the Lucknow University Library as
an assistant librarian, where he stayed for about 7 years and
contributed significantly in its formative phase. In 1930
Muhammad Shafi was appointed librarian of the Imperial
Agriculture Research Library. He was selected in 1944 as Junior
Scientific Officer, MGO Branch, GHQ India.

Shafi was one of the few librarians of pre-independence

British India who opted to serve the newly created Pakistan. After
independence he served as the librarian of National Assembly
Library from 1947 to 1958. He took active part in the formation of
Karachi Library Association and was its Vice-President for more
than a decade. It was under his direction that the Association
started a certificate course, first of its kind, to meet the immediate
needs of qualified library professionals in the country. Of the
librarians who passed this course mention may be made of Dr.
Anis Khurshid and Adil Usmani. Of the teachers of this course
mention could be made of Prof. Moid, S.V. Hussain, Noor
Muhammad and Muhammad Shafi himself. In fact, this course
paved the way for establishing the first post-graduate program at
the University of Karachi.

He was founder member of both Indian Library Association

and PLA. Of his publications mention in particular is made of
Intizam Kutub- Khana (Shafi, 1949). This was the first book on the
subject after independence. Muhammad Shafi was also
associated with the Department of Library Science, University of
Karachi as cooperative teacher for at least eight years. He worked
as consultant on classification at the Karachi University Library
from 1960 to 1964. He died of cancer on 2nd June 1964 in
Karachi.

7
Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan

Fazal Elahi (1901-1961)

With MA, BA (Hons), Diploma in Librarianship (London),

and FLA., Fazal Elahi was perhaps the highest qualified librarian
who opted to serve Pakistan after independence. He was born and
brought up at Lahore. Obviously, he preferred to stay at Lahore in
the initial years of Pakistan, and took active part in several
professional undertakings in association with Prof. Moid and
Khawaja Nur Elahi. It is said that he was strong candidate for the
post of librarian of the University of the Punjab but was denied
appointment for being vocal with the staff at the library just before
the scheduled interview. Following this incident, the staff members
in group met the vice-chancellor and complained against him.
Consequently, the scheduled interview was cancelled (Prof. Moid,
personal communication). And, he had to teach economics and
English at MAO College from 1948 to 1950.

In fact, Fazal Elahi could not find a professional job until

1950, when he was appointed librarian of the Liaquat National
Library at Karachi. The job was also not up to his expectations,
qualifications and experience. He soon moved to East Pakistan,
where from 1951 to 1954 he held the position of librarian at Dhaka
University. There too, he could not stay for a long period because
of differences with the authorities and staff. He left for Milan for
one year to teach Urdu there. In 1955, he returned back to serve
as librarian of the Rajshahi University from 1955 to 1958. But there
too, he developed serious differences with the teachers’
community forcing him to resign (PBWG, 1956).

In 1958 he joined the library of the American Friends of the

Middle East at Karachi. This was the most productive period of his
professional life. He was instrumental in the formation of the PLA
and the organization of the first historical conference of the
Association. In 1959, he was cooperative teacher at the
Department of Library Science at the University of Karachi. He
died of heart attack at Lahore in 1961 while making final
arrangement for the 4th Annual Conference of the PLA.

8
 Syed Jalaluddin Haider

Notwithstanding his personal weaknesses he played an

active part in the development of library profession in the country.
As early as 1948 he made an unsuccessful attempt in
collaboration with Khawaja Nur Elahi and Prof. Moid for the
formation of the national library association. This trio did succeed
in reviving the Modern Librarian in 1949, but it ceased publication
after three issues. The existence of a Diploma course in Library
Science in 1948 at Lahore under the directorship of Fazal Elahi
was reported in Modern Librarian; but it was nothing more than an
advertisement to create an environment for such a course.

Khawaja Nur Elahi (1905-1974)

Khawaja Nur Elahi did his BA in 1917 from Islamia College,

Lahore and from 1929 to 1933 he worked at the Quarter Master
General Office of British Armed Forces Headquarters at Delhi. He
completed the Certificate Course in Library Science in 1934 from
the University of the Punjab and joined the Delhi University in the
same year where he worked for 13 years in various capacities. He
rose to the position of assistant librarian, which was quite a
dignified post at that time. The Delhi University Library was then
headed by Professor Das Gupta. He opted to serve Pakistan after
independence.

As the librarian of Punjab Public Library, since 1948, he

remained actively involved for about 18 years in all the major
library events which took place in initial years of the establishment
of the country. These include: preparation of the first plan for
library development in the country, revival of Modern Librarian,
formation of PLA, PBWG, West Pakistan Library Association and
institution of Degree program at the University of the Punjab.

His leadership qualities, ably manifested on the eve of the

4th and 5th annual conferences of the PLA held at Lahore in 1961
and 1964 respectively. Modesty was perhaps his best asset and
totally unmatched in the profession. Through his humility of
character and his unfailing readiness to listen to the vibrant voices
of others, he had earned their high esteem and lasting respect.
Always I found him simple in ways, constantly inspiring, ever

9
Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan

understanding, unfailingly warm and a just man. He was one of

few librarians who commanded the respect of the librarians of both
the wings of Pakistan (Haider, 1996).

Dr. Abdus Subuh Qasimi (1917- 1999)

Dr. Qasimi born on 12th December 1917 at village Ziarat

Kaka Sahib, Tehsil Nowshera, District, Peshawar, in a middle
class religious family. He did his Matriculation in 1935 and ‘Fazil–
Deoband’ in 1941. He did Certificate Course in Librarianship from
the University of the Punjab in 1946 and started his professional
career from the University of the Punjab Library in 1947 as an
Oriental assistant. Most probably he was appointed for
cataloguing of Arabic books because of his proficiency in Arabic
language and literature. He did his BA and MA from the University
of the Punjab in 1952 and 1954 respectively.

In 1955 he did his MA in Library Science from Western

Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. Between 1964 and 1967 he
was at Columbia University for his Doctorate in Library Science.
He developed A Code for Cataloging Materials Published in Urdu,
Pushto and Punjabi under the guidance of Maurice F. Tauber. He
was also associated with Library of Congress as a consultant for
sometime in mid-1960s.

He served as the founder librarian of Peshawar University

Library from 1951 to 1972. It was through his initiative and efforts
that Post-Graduate Diploma in Library Science was instituted in
1962 at the University of Peshawar. Between 1967 and 1968 he
was the librarian of the King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah. He
also worked as Registrar of the Peshawar University between
1969 and 1972. In early 1970s, he rejoined the King Abdul Aziz
University and stayed there for several years. He retired after
serving the Ummul Qura University, Makkah, for nearly a decade.

He was instrumental in the development of the profession

in North-Western Frontier Province being the founder librarian of
the Peshawar University and the founder Chairperson of its
Department of Library and Information Science.

10
 Syed Jalaluddin Haider

He took active part in the activities of the PLA in the initial

years of its formation. He was the chief organizer of the second
annual conference of the PLA, held in 1959 at Peshawar. He was
also actively associated with the activities of the Society for the
Promotion and Improvement of Libraries and PBWG. (Hamid
Rehman, personal communication).

Syed Villayat Hussain (1910-1974)

Popularly known as Shah Sahib, he will always be

remembered for his activities from the platform of PLA, PBWG and
KLA. In fact, he was associated with all three organizations for
more than a quarter of a century, beginning in 1949 till last breath
in 1974 at Peshawar, where he was supervising a national survey
on reading habits for the PLA.

Born in Lahore in 1910, he did his BA from the University of

the Punjab in 1934 and obtained Certificate in Library Science
from the University of the Punjab in 1938. What made him to join
librarianship was never disclosed by him. His first professional
appointment was as librarian of St. Stephen College, Delhi from
1939 to 1945. From 1945 to 1950 he was the librarian of S.M.
College, Karachi. He was the librarian of British Council, Karachi
between 1950 and 1953. In 1953 he joined the Government of
Pakistan as the founder librarian of Liaquat National Library. He
was promoted as Assistant Director of Libraries, Government of
Pakistan in 1958, the post he held till his retirement in 1964. He
was also associated with Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research (Haider, 1986).

Conclusion

All the above great men are now dead. This author has the
distinction of meeting all of them except Asadullah. In fact, three of
them were known as teacher at the LIS Department during the
academic year 1959-1960. Much could be written about each but
the limitation of space doesn’t permit. It may be concluded that
they are the part of history of Pakistan librarianship because of

11
Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan

their significant and long-lasting contributions. The coming

generation will definitely get inspiration from them. What made
them to succeed was their positive approach towards professional
matters. Above all, they were sincere with the profession despite
some human weaknesses.

References

Haider, S. J. (1984). Prof. Abdul Moid (1920-84): Father of

Pakistan librarianship. Pakistan Library Bulletin, 15 (1-2), 26-
59.

Haider, S. J. (1986). Villayat Hussain Shah. Mahnama Kitab, 20

(4), 9-12.

Haider, S. J. (1987). Khan Bahadur Khalifa Muhammad Asadullah:

The first architect of library movement in South Asia. PLA
Journal, 1, 47-59.

Haider, S. J. (1996). Aik dervish sifat librarian. PLA Journal, (19-

20), 1-8.

Hamid Rehman. The author is grateful to Mr. Hamid Rehman,

Assistant Prof., Dept. of LIS, University of Peshawar for
collecting and providing information about Dr. A. S. Qasimi.

Key, L. C. (1956). Report and proposals on the establishment and

improvement of libraries and library services in Pakistan.
Karachi: Ministry of Education, Mimeo.

Khuda Bakhsh, A. (1949). UNESCO and Pakistan. Modern

Librarian, new series, 1 (1), 31.

12
 Syed Jalaluddin Haider

Khurshid, A. (1994). The pioneers: Abdul Moid. World Libraries, 5

(1) .Retrieved on April 18, 2007 from
http://www.worlib.org/vol05no1/khurshid_v05n1.shtml

Muhammad Shafi expansion of Dewey Decimal Classification

relating to oriental, Islamic and Pakistani topics (1962).
Karachi: Department of Library Science, University of Karachi.

Obaidullah Qudsi (1969). Haji Muhammad Shafi (Urdu) Pakistan

Library Bulletin, 1 (4), 97-104.

The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.). (1989). Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

PLA. (1958). Newsletter.

PBWG (Pakistan Bibliographical Working Group). (1956). A guide

to Pakistan libraries, learned and scientific societies and
educational institutions, Biographies of librarians in Pakistan.
Karachi: The Group.

Qarshi, A. H. (1990). Distinguished alumni of the University of the

Punjab. PULSAA News, 2 (3), 143-150.

Raipuri, H.A.H. (1999). Hamsafar. Karachi: Maktab-i-Danyal.

Sabzwari, G. A. (Ed.). (1987). Who’s who in library and information

science in Pakistan (2nd ed.). Karachi: Library Promotion
Bureau.

Shafi, M. (1949). Intizam-e-kutubkhana. Karachi: The author.

13
Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan

Usmani, A. (1973). Haji Muhammad Shafi in Karachi University

Library. Pakistan Library Bulletin, 5 (3-4), 18.

The Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English

Language (3rd ed.). (1986). Springfield: Merriam-Webster.

14
 Research on Information Seeking and Use in Pakistan:
An Assessment
Mumtaz A. Anwar*

Abstract

The paper describes the beginning of research activity on

information needs and presents an analysis of the literature on
information needs in Pakistan to discover that no research has so
far been published. It reviews 14 student-research projects
produced from 1975 to 1982 at the University of the Punjab which
have remained unpublished; Laments the loss of impetus given to
this topic in 1974-75; and urges the LIS academics and
practitioners to promote and conduct research on this critical topic.

Keywords: Information seeking; Information needs; Research;

Pakistan.

Introduction

Study of Information need, seeking and use of the targeted

service community is, and has been, of fundamental concern to
the LIS professionals. It is through the findings of such studies that
one is able to design information systems, develop resources and
plan services that are compatible with, and result in the
satisfaction of the community information needs. Although
research interest in this area started early during the 20th century,
it took decades to take a solid footing. It has been pointed out that
Bernal’s (1948) research on scientific information in Great Britain
has been followed by “hundreds of studies which have attempted
to investigate the methods by which scientists and social scientists
obtain the information they need for their research” (Hurych, 1986,
p. 158). An important milestone was the research initiative taken at

*
Professor, Department of Library & Information Science, Kuwait
University

15
Research on Information Seeking and Use in Pakistan

the Center for the Information Sciences, Lehigh University, USA

with the financial support of the National Science Foundation
(Taylor & Wuest, 1962). The first report on the project produced by
Wuest (1965), a professor of psychology, stated that “the purpose
of the research is to evaluate the comparative merits of the
different research methods. In particular, it is desired to extend the
evaluation to methods which have not been used extensively in
the past” (p. 2). This effort was followed by another landmark
when M. B. Line and his associates conducted extensive research
on the use of information by social scientists during 1968-1971 at
Bath University in UK (Line, Brittain & Cranmer, 1971a, 1971b).
These and similar other efforts have served as motivators for a
large number of studies conducted, mainly in the North American
and European countries, that provide a strong basis to the LIS
professionals for future planning.

The amount of research on identifying and knowing the

information needs or behavior of the customer or the community in
developing countries is insignificant. There may be a number of
reasons for this state of affairs, e.g., lack of research skills,
research literature, funding, language competence, publishing
avenues, etc. But it seems that the LIS professionals in these
countries are not exposed to this significant area in their formal
education, are mainly prepared for house-keeping operations, the
knowledge and skills imparted to them are mainly ‘library-focused’
and tradition-bound, and they are not made fully aware that
‘knowing your customer’ is the first step in satisfying his needs.

In this light, one needs to examine the status of research

on information needs, seeking and use in Pakistan. Before talking
about research on information needs in Pakistan, two
developments need to be mentioned. Following the UNESCO lead
of NATIS, the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of
Pakistan, constituted early in 1974 the National Committee for the
UNISIST Programme led by Dr. Z. A. Hashmi, Chairman of the
Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF). PASTIC (Pakistan Scientific
and Technological Information Centre) was under the PSF. This
Committee had the mandate to prepare the S&T infrastructure in
Pakistan including planning for the establishment of a National

16
 Mumtaz A. Anwar

Science Reference Library in Islamabad. I was appointed a

member of this Committee and served on it until I resigned from
my position at the University of the Punjab in December 1976 and
left the country. This Committee, under the very energetic, clear-
headed and no-nonsense chairman, Dr. Z. A. Hashmi, took a lot of
concrete initiatives that must be lying buried in the archives of
PSF/PASTIC. My work with this Committee convinced me to place
a strong emphasis on the study of information needs of various
national sectors in student-research at the Department of Library
Science, University of the Punjab that I was chairing at that time.
This emphasis will become clear below when student-research is
described.

The efforts of the UNISIST Committee soon resulted in

some concrete work with several activities appearing in public.
PASTIC & the University of Islamabad, sponsored a Seminar on
Scientific and Technological Information from April 9 to 11, 1975
(PASTIC, 1975). The proceedings of this Seminar were soon
reproduced and made available. These consist of two speeches,
11 papers, and a set of 20 recommendations. All of the papers are
of descriptive and very general nature, with two that use the
expression ‘information needs’. Mohajir’s (1975) paper
‘Information needs of science and technology’ engages in a
general discussion for the development of S&T information service
structure. The second paper ‘Information needs of society’ by
Akhtar H. Siddiqui is far more general than that of Mohajir. Without
discussing anything about ‘information needs’, it ends with the
suggestion that the “information policy should also ensure that
resources are available to study the habits and needs of users” (p.
4). However, the Seminar adopted two important
recommendations: “This seminar recommends that PSF sponsor
an extensive research programme on the information needs of
science and technology. The results of this research will help
PASTIC to organize its information services” (p. 5); and “This
seminar recommends that M/O education [Ministry of Education]
should consider establishing Social Sciences and Humanities
Information Centers on the lines of PASTIC to meet the needs of
research workers in the fields of social sciences and humanities”
(p. 1-2). The following year saw the visit of an IDRC/UNDP (1978)

17
Research on Information Seeking and Use in Pakistan

mission that examined and reported on the scientific and

technological information in Pakistan, which is described below.
What is the status of information needs research in the LIS
literature on Pakistan three decades after these two events?

Searching Pakistani Literature on Information Needs

A search of both LISA and Library Literature databases,

using ‘information needs’ and ‘Pakistan’ as keywords resulted in
nine unique citations, an encouraging initial sign. These citations
must be examined one by one to understand the relevance of the
literature represented by them. The oldest citation is related to the
field report of the Joint IDRC/UNDP (1978) Mission held during
October-November 1976 which “reviewed Pakistan’s S&T
information needs and made recommendations on the future
structure and development of a national S&T information network.”
This unpublished report, very significant if its recommendations
were implemented, is based on the mission team’s discussions
with leading LIS professionals in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.
Whatever its importance, its text relevant to ‘information needs’ is
not the result of research. The second citation, Mohajir (1977), is
the same paper that was presented at the 1975 Seminar
mentioned above. The abstract mentions that the author
“Classifies prime information needs as: (1) acquiring and
organizing data in meaningful ways; (2) employing effective
methods of marketing and distributing the information; (3)
establishing who are the potential users of information and then
assessing their needs.” The third citation (Anwar, 1982) mentions
the research projects on information needs carried out by the
students at the University of the Punjab. The papers by Moinuddin
(1986), Majid (1993), Minnatullah (1994), Khan (1996), Anwar
and Saeed (1999) mention ‘information needs’ in passing. It may
not be out of place to mention that a study of the information
seeking behavior of Pakistani journalists, being conducted by
Anwar and Asghar, has been completed and will be published
soon.

The picture painted above is very disappointing. This

dismal situation reflects badly on the awareness of, and

18
 Mumtaz A. Anwar

importance given to the area of information needs, seeking and

use by various sections of the information users by the Pakistani
academics in the discipline and the practitioners in the field.
Perhaps, one should look at the unpublished research done by the
students of various universities in the country to find some
comfort. Luckily, Nasim F., Mahmood, K. & Hashmi, N. H. (2004)
have compiled a comprehensive list of 855 LIS master’s and
doctoral theses submitted up to 2003 to six Pakistani universities.
The citations are arranged under broad subjects with an author
index. There are two strange examples as follows:

1) Krishan Kumar Rathi submitted two theses (No. 83 and 84),

one in 1974 of 35 pages and the other in 1975 of 38 pages, to
the same university on a closely related topic;

2) Najma Sultana submitted two theses (No. 838 and 839) with
different titles to the same university in the same year with the
same number of pages.

It seems that these two cases are mistakes (the second

perhaps due to translation from Urdu) and should be considered
as duplicate entries. Sixteen of the theses, due to the subject
coverage, have been listed under two subjects each. Thus the
total number, after removing duplicates in both categories, comes
to 837. This figure includes two doctoral theses.

The compilers of the list have categorized all theses into 16

broad subjects, with 16 items listed twice under different subjects.
Table 1 presents the number of theses submitted to each of the six
universities under broad subjects, including the 16 duplicate
listings.

Categorization of some items does not make the nature of

the theses clear. For example, lists of basic books, indexes of a
variety of materials, a group of entries compiled for a union
catalogue are essentially bibliographical works. There are at least
101 theses, mainly from Sindh and Karachi, which are of this type.
If these are added to the 166 bibliographies, the number reaches

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 Research on Information Seeking and Use in Pakistan

276 theses, 31.3 percent of all – a very high figure considering the
legitimacy of accepting bibliographies as master’s theses.

Table 1. Number of Theses by Broad Subject and University

(N=853)
Bahawalpur

Baluchistan

Peshawar
Karachi

Punjab

Sindh
% of
Subject Total
all

Academic
3 34 69 10 18 79 213 24.97
Libraries
Bibliography 5 8 96 8 3 46 166 19.46
Technical
2 8 19 5 10 67 111 13.01
Services
Special
3 20 34 6 9 29 101 11.84
Libraries
Public
1 10 9 1 7 19 47 5.51
Libraries
Lib. Science –
0 5 20 5 3 6 39 4.57
General
Library
0 1 22 2 0 13 38 4.45
Materials
Miscellaneous 0 2 22 1 1 8 34 3.99
Reading
0 6 17 0 4 0 27 3.17
Habits
Information
1 0 0 0 14 0 15 1.76
Needs
Library
0 0 11 0 0 2 13 1.52
Surveys
Publishing 0 3 3 0 0 7 13 1.52
Automation 1 0 6 2 1 2 12 1.41
Library
0 1 4 2 0 4 11 1.29
Education
Library
0 4 4 0 0 0 8 0.94
Administration
Public Service 0 0 3 0 1 1 5 0.59
Total 16 102 339 42 71 283 853
100.00
(% of all) (1.88) (11.96) (39.74) (4.92) (8.32) (33.18) (100)

20
 Mumtaz A. Anwar

However, our main concern was to identify student

research on ‘information needs’. There are 15 theses on this topic,
14 from Punjab and one from Bahawalpur which is listed under
‘Academic Libraries’. Nazli (2001) prepared her thesis entitled
Information Seeking Behavior of Community of IUB Library Users.
This is not clear from the title if it was in fact a study of the
information seeking behavior. Of the 14 theses produced at
Punjab, six were completed in 1975, four in 1976, one in 1977, two
in 1978, and one in 1982. It must be pointed out that during the
1974-75 academic year Master’s research report was not a full
thesis; it carried only 25 out of 100 marks allocated to the
Research Methodology course. Unfortunately, none of these very
useful 14 information needs studies conducted at the University of
the Punjab resulted in published papers. These studies are now
dated but still significant enough to be introduced to the profession
so that they might serve as examples and a source of motivation
to the younger researchers in the country. These studies will be
briefly reviewed below for the benefit of those who may have such
interests and want to conduct research in this area.
Review of Information Needs Research in Pakistan
Nighat (1975) investigated the information needs of
scientists working in the Oils, Fats and Waxes Division of the
PCSIR Laboratories at Lahore using personal interview. Out of 38
scientists of the Division, 35 (92%) participated in the study. Major
findings included: (1) The participants use both formal and
informal sources of information; however, they mainly rely on
personal contacts; (2) They regularly scan scientific literature,
especially current journals and that reading current scientific
literature is their main source of research ideas; (3) On the
average they spend nine hours per week on reading; (4) They
maintain their own files of off-prints and other materials for their
personal use; (5) They also use other sources of obtaining
information in case their own library was unable to supply; (6)
Information was received in 80 percent of the cases; (7) However,
they were not fully satisfied with the services of their library. The

21
Research on Information Seeking and Use in Pakistan

researcher makes several recommendations to improve

information services being provided to these scientists.
Siddique (1976) studied the information needs of chemists
working in the PCSIR Laboratories, Lahore, using a questionnaire.
One hundred usable questionnaires were returned from a total
population of 110, with a response rate of 90.9 percent. His major
findings were: (1) A large majority of the participants (94%) makes
considerable use of oral communication; (2) The participants are
mainly induced to research ideas through reading the literature
related to their subject; (3) Most of them (80%) need specific
information frequently; (4) Most useful information sources to them
are current journals, abstracts, and reviews; (5) The mean number
of journals regularly scanned by these chemists was 5.26; (6)
Their main source (96%) for finding literature was the PCSIR
Library whereas 69 percent used the services of PASTIC also; (7)
On an average, they spend eight hours per week on reading; (8)
Their literature searches were done with the help of librarians; and
(9) Only 51 percent of the participants were satisfied with the
resources and services of the PCSIR Library. Major problems
faced by these participants included: (1) Lack of up to date
material in the library; (2) Shortage of scientific and technical
books and journals; (3) Late arrival of foreign journals; (4)
Inadequate translation facilities; and (5) Non-availability of inter-
library loan services as well as reprographic services. It makes
some pertinent recommendations for the improvement of the
current situation.

Bokhari (1976) explored the information needs of the

engineers working in the Heavy Mechanical Complex (HMC),
Taxila. Two engineers were traveling abroad. All of the remaining
46 engineers were interviewed. Only four (8.7%) engineers have
research experience, therefore, most of their information needs
originate from their ‘production work’ in the ‘shops’. Major results
of this study are: (1) These engineers make heavy use of informal
channels to obtain needed information; (2) Most engineers use
current journals regularly for new ideas and, in addition, they use
books and datasheets for their daily work; (3) On an average up to
5 journals are regularly scanned by these participants; (4) A large
majority of the respondents use the HMC Library in addition to

22
 Mumtaz A. Anwar

manuals available in shops, outside libraries and their personal

collections; (5) Less than half of the information requirements of
these engineers are adequately met; (6) A large majority (95.65%)
lack information searching skills; and (7) A majority of the
respondents do not regard library services as satisfactory. The
researcher makes many important recommendations to improve
the current situation. A comprehensive study of the information
needs of the scientists and technologists working in DESTO
Laboratories, Chaklala, was carried out by Nuzhat (1978). Text of
this study is not available at this time for review.

Bashir (1975) conducted an investigation of the information

needs of veterinary surgeons working in the district veterinary
hospitals of the Punjab. A questionnaire was used to collect data
from 16 respondents. The findings of this study were very
disturbing and included: (1) These hospitals possess a very small
collection of out-dated books and the respondents do not have
access to any other library with literature of their interest; (2)
These respondents have no access to current professional
journals; (3) No funds are provided to the hospitals for the
purchase of related literature; (4) They mainly depend on the
literature provided by the pharmaceutical companies; and (5) The
respondents are unable to keep themselves up to date and are not
happy with the role played by the Directorate of Livestock and the
Pakistan Veterinary Association in helping them update their
knowledge. Some recommendations are made to improve
information supply to the veterinary hospitals.

A study of the information needs of dental surgeons

working in the Dental College and Hospitals of Lahore was
conducted by Parvez (1975). The respondents’ need for
information arises from: keeping themselves up to date (68%),
learning about new medicines and techniques (48%), solving
problems faced in daily practice (28%), and to become familiar
with what has already been done in the field (24%). They keep
themselves up to date by scanning current journals (88%), using
citations in other papers (24%), and searching abstracting and
indexing services (16%). In addition to the above, consultation with
colleagues (80%) was a major source of information. A large

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Research on Information Seeking and Use in Pakistan

majority of the respondents (92%) use their institutional library to

obtain information. They prefer to receive from their library current
contents lists, bibliographies on desired topics, and photocopies of
papers. Most respondents (88%) complain of a shortage of
literature in their field but do not seek help from PASTIC (92%).
On an average, the respondents spend 12 hours a week in
reading current literature. It makes some recommendations to
improve the existing situation.

Fazlul-Haq (1976) examined the information needs of the

faculty members of the University of Engineering and Technology
(UET), Lahore, using a questionnaire. Out of a total of 145
respondents, 132 returned their questionnaires, with a response
rate of 91 percent. The major findings of this study are: (1) Their
information needs arise out of gaining ‘current awareness’,
‘exhaustive literature survey’, and ‘the need for some specific
information’; (2) The participants use a variety of sources to meet
their information needs, with a large majority using standard
textbooks, current journals, and monographs, with reviews used
occasionally; (3) Discussions with colleagues was mentioned as
the next most useful source of ideas for research; (4) Strangely,
the least used source are the abstracts; (5) Their literature
searchers, with the assistance of the staff, were successful in 50
percent of the cases; (6) Twenty percent of the respondents hardly
ever sought assistance from library staff; (7) Services offered by
PASTIC leave much to be desired; (8) According to the results,
only 25 percent of the needs are satisfied by the UET Library, 50
percent by their departmental library, and 25 percent by other
libraries of Lahore; and (9) On an average, the respondents spent
five hours per week on reading. Major problems facing these
respondents were: (1) Non-availability of latest reading materials;
(2) Exorbitant prices of books and journals in their field; (3) Bottle-
necks in mailing current journal issues; (4) Incomplete back-files of
journals; (5) Defective organization of materials on shelves; and
(6) Lack of translation facilities.

An investigation of the information needs of the science

faculty members of the University of the Punjab, Lahore, was
conducted by Aslam Mujahid (1977). This study was conducted

24
 Mumtaz A. Anwar

using both a questionnaire and an interview for gathering

additional data. Out of a total of 108 respondents, 104 (96.29%)
provided the data. The major findings were: (1) Participants are
very active in research in addition to their other duties and almost
76 percent of the respondents have published research, with 39
(37.5%) publishing anywhere from 9 to more than 30 papers each;
(2) In order to keep themselves up to date, these respondents
make use of current journals, abstracts, and reviews; (3) About 70
percent of the participants regularly scan up to 4 journals while 20
percent scan from 5 to 8; (4) They make use of abstracts to search
a specific piece of information (74.15%), to keep abreast of new
developments (68.53%), and to select current material to read
(64.04%); (5) They also make heavy use of informal channels of
information exchange such as conferences (69%), consulting
colleagues (59%), and mutual exchange of publications (33%); (6)
A majority spends up to five hours per week on reading; (7) Almost
all use their departmental library while 64.42 percent also use the
main university library; (8) A majority of the participants (63.33%)
are not satisfied with library services; (9) Almost all (97.12%)
respondents know how to search for scientific information. A set of
recommendations is made to improve information services
provided to these respondents.

Parveen (1976) explored the information needs of social

sciences faculty members of the University of the Punjab using a
questionnaire. Out of 80 faculty members, 75 participants returned
the questionnaires, a response rate of 93.75 percent. Her major
findings are: (1) Information needs of these respondents mainly
emerge from their teaching and research activity, (2) Over 70
percent are actively engaged in research; (3) Almost all (97.3%)
use informal sources to obtain information; (4) Formal sources
include: news magazines (98.6%), books (97.3%), research
reports (97.2%), current journals (93.2%), and abstracting and
indexing services (77%); (5) Their use of libraries is extensive:
departmental library (96.0%), personal library (66.7%), libraries
outside the university (61.3%), and the university library (56%);
and (6) Most of them (65%) spend anywhere from nine to more
than 16 hours per week on personal study and research. She

25
Research on Information Seeking and Use in Pakistan

makes some recommendation for the improvement of service to

the faculty.

Information needs of the humanities faculty members of

the University of the Punjab were investigated by Anjum (1978)
using a questionnaire supplemented by selected interviews.
Thirty-eight of the 43 respondents returned the questionnaire, a
response rate of 88.37 percent. An interesting feature of this
research is that it compares its results with those of Samia
Parveen (1976) and Aslam Mujahid (1977). Major findings of this
study are: (1) Humanities scholars are less interested in informal
sources of information; (2) Most of the respondents are actively
engaged in research (68.42% have published papers and 45%
have published books); (3) Humanities scholars spend more time
on personal study and research as compared to their colleagues in
the social sciences and sciences; (4) They mostly use original
texts (78.94%), textbooks (63.15%), journals (60.25%), and edited
books (57.89%); (5) They use libraries and their staff more than
the social scientists and scientists do; (6) They come to know
about the existence of a document they need through
bibliographies (92.11%), catalogues (84.22%), and librarians
(78.95%); (7) A large majority of the respondents (80.9%)
possesses reasonably good personal collections; and (8) In
general, they are not fully satisfied with the services offered by the
university libraries.

Jonathan (1975) studied the information needs of the

Senior Population Planning Officers of the Punjab. The study
concluded that (1) The basic information needs of the respondents
are of the literature required in connection with their training and
supervisory duties and the publicity material needed to publicize
their programmes; (2) Publications produced by their department
are considered as essential and 69.8 percent of the respondents
consider their department as the main source for meeting their
information needs; (3) A majority (75.4%) is not satisfied with
quality of the population planning literature produced in the
country; (4) They consider the libraries as the least important
source to meet their information needs; (5) A majority of the
respondents (65%) possess and use their personal collections for

26
 Mumtaz A. Anwar

their job-related needs, indicating that library resources are not

attuned to their needs; (6) Films dealing with population planning
are considered the best publicity material; and (7) There is a need
of an agency that is responsible to collect, consolidate, reproduce,
and disseminate population planning information systematically
and to inform the producers of such information about the
consumer needs.

An investigation of the information needs of Pakistan

Television news producers located in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar,
Quetta, and Rawalpindi was conducted by Butt (1975) using a
questionnaire. Out of the 34 respondents, 20 (58.8%) returned the
questionnaires. His major findings were: (1) A large majority of the
respondents (95%) use radio, press releases, official notifications,
news received from APP/PPI, newspapers, foreign journals and
professional books as sources of information; (2) A majority of the
participants (85%) use TV centre and other libraries but in general
are not satisfied with the available resources and services
received; (3) Inadequacy and lack of current materials and a
shortage of AV materials are the major reasons for dissatisfaction;
and (4) Lack of qualified librarians forces them to search
information on their own which is very difficult and affects the
quality of their production.

Gureja (1975) explored the information needs of 30

newspaper editors in Lahore using a questionnaire. Major findings
of the study were: (1) Mostly used sources of information include:
dictionaries (96.67%), government reports (66.67%), old
newspaper files (53.33%), handbooks (40%), gazetteers and
directories (36.67%), abstracts (30%), and indexes (23.33%); (2)
The respondents use libraries for: reference (73.33%), editorial
writing (66.67%), data collection (60%), news verification
(56.67%), and researching topics (50%); (3) For keeping
themselves up to date in their field they attend meetings (86.67%),
use personal contacts (83.33%), attend conferences (66.67%) and
seminars (56.67%), and use correspondence (30%); (4) Other
libraries are considered more useful by 73.34% of the respondents
while 26.67% are unable to find information in their own libraries;

27
Research on Information Seeking and Use in Pakistan

and (5) Most of the respondents (73.33%) seek the assistance of

librarians to gather information.

A study of the information needs of the teachers of the

religious schools of Lahore was conducted by Aseer (1982). This
thesis should be of much interest these days but unfortunately the
text is not available to the writer to give further details.

Concluding Remarks

The review presented above adequately proves that very

little attention has been given to ‘information needs’ research in
Pakistan by both the academics and the practitioners. As a result,
no research on this critical topic has thus far been published. The
strong impetus given in 1974-75 to ‘information needs’ as a
significant subject of student research activity at the University of
the Punjab produced within a short period of two years 10
substantial research reports on a variety of sectors. That push was
soon lost and the following 6 years produced only four such
studies. And the land has been barren since 1983. Unfortunately,
the results of these studies have remained unpublished. If the
momentum of 1974-75 was maintained and the results of research
had been published, by now we would have had a large amount of
quality research literature on this topic.

There is a critical need for the LIS academics and

practitioners in Pakistan to take note of the current state of affairs
and take steps to promote and conduct research in this area. At
least University of the Punjab has the seeds lying dormant for
quite long in its scholarly soil. If properly nurtured these dormant
seeds should have the potential to sprout soon.

References

Anjum, M. A. (1978). Information needs of [the] humanities

teachers of [the] University of the Punjab, Lahore. Unpublished
Master’s thesis, Department of Library Science, University of
the Punjab, Lahore.

28
 Mumtaz A. Anwar

Anwar M. A. (1982). Research in library science at the University of

the Punjab, Lahore (Pakistan). Libri, 32 (4), 284-287.

Anwar, M. A. & Saeed, H. (1999). Pakistani librarians as authors: A

bibliometric study of citations in LISA-PLUS. Asian Libraries, 8
(1), 35-42.

Anwar, M. A. & Asghar, M. (in preparation). Information seeking

behaviour of Pakistani journalists.

Aseer, N. A. (1982). Information needs of the teachers of deeni

madaris of Lahore. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department
of Library and Information Science, University of the Punjab,
Lahore.

Aslam Mujahid, M. (1977). Information needs of science teachers

of the University of the Punjab, Lahore. Unpublished Master’s
thesis, Department of Library Science, University of the
Punjab, Lahore.

Bashir, M. (1975). Information needs of veterinary assistant

surgeons posted at the veterinary hospitals at the District
Headquarters in the Punjab. Unpublished Master’s research
report, Department of Library Science, University of the
Punjab, Lahore.

Bernal, J. D. (1948). Preliminary analysis of pilot questionnaire on

the use of scientific literature. Royal Society Scientific
Information Conference: Report.

Bokhari, S. A. (1976). Information needs of the engineers of Heavy

Mechanical Complex, Taxila. Unpublished Master’s thesis,
Department of Library Science, University of the Punjab.

Butt, A.W. (1975). Information needs of Pakistan Television news

producers. Unpublished Master’s research report, Department
of Library Science, University of the Punjab, Lahore.

29
Research on Information Seeking and Use in Pakistan

Fazlul-Haq, M. (1976). Information needs of [the] teachers of the

University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore. Unpublished
Master’s thesis, Department of Library Science, University of
the Punjab.

Gureja, M. S. (1975). The information needs of newspaper editors.

Unpublished Master’s research report, Department of Library
Science, University of the Punjab, Lahore.

Haider, S. J. (1995). Library planning in Third World: The case of

Pakistan. Pakistan Library Bulletin, 26 (2), 1-17.

Hurych, J. (1986). After Bath: Scientists, social scientists, and

humanists in the context of online searching. Journal of
Academic Librarianship, 12 (3), 158-165.

IDRC (International Development Research Centre, Canada) and

UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). (1978).
Report of a Joint IDRC/UNDP Mission, Oct-Nov 1976:
Scientific and Technical Information in Pakistan. Islamabad:
International Development Centre. Unpublished report.

Jonathan, H. (1975). Information needs of the senior population

planning officers of the Punjab. Unpublished Master’s research
report, Department of Library Science, University of the
Punjab, Lahore.

Khan, M. F. (1996). Information society and its status in Pakistan.

Pakistan Library Bulletin, 27 (1-2), 1-9.

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into information requirements of the social sciences: Research
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Line, M. B., Brittain, J. M. & Cranmer, F. A. (1971b). Investigation

into information requirements of the social sciences: Research
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Majid, S. (1993). Strengthening agricultural libraries in Pakistan:

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technology. In: Proceedings of the seminar on scientific and
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Mohajir, A. R. (1977). Information needs of science and

technology. Pakistan Library Bulletin, 8 (1-2), 1-11.

Moinuddin, K. (1986). Role of libraries in a developing society (with

a particular reference to medical libraries). Pakistan Library
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Nasim F., Mahmood, K. & Hashmi, N. H. (2004). Library and

Information Science Research in Pakistani Universities.
Karachi: Pakistan Bibliographical Organization.

Nazli, S. (2001). Information seeking behavior of community of IUB

Library users. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of
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Bahawalpur.

Nighat A. (1975). The information needs of scientists working in the

Oils, Fats and Waxes Division of the PCSIR Laboratories,
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Nuzhat Y. (1978). Information Needs of [the] Scientists and

Technologists Working in DESTO Laboratories, Chaklala.
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Bethlehem, PA: Center for the Information Sciences, Lehigh
University. Unpublished report.

32
 Freedom of Expression and Freedom
of Access to Information in Egypt

Shawky Salem*

Abstract

This paper discusses the issues of intellectual freedom and the

security of information and documents in Egypt. It establishes that
there are no policies in the country about both keeping secrecy of
the sensitive governmental data and providing access to
information. The administrative fear of providing information,
bureaucratic procedures, security levels on distribution and the
human nature of hiding information lead to tight security of
information and censorship. This situation raises many rational
inquiries. Do we need “Internet Archives” for Egyptian websites?
Who will do it? Do we need “Internet Archives” specifically for Arab
world websites and who will do it? The paper attempts to make
suggestions to improve the free access to information.

Keywords: Freedom of expression; Freedom of access to

information; Censorship; Internet; Egypt;
Bibliotheca Alexandria

A Brief Context

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries were marked

worldwide by the granting of substantial numbers of patents,
copyrights and trademarks for modern information and
communication technologies (ICTs) and products. The
appearance of giant multi-national companies mass-producing
information products and services, many of which incorporated

*
Chairman, Alex Centre for Multimedia and Libraries (ACML),
Professor, Information Technology, LIS Department, Alexandria
University & Knowledge Management and Informatics Department,
Beirut Arab University.

33
Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Access to Information in Egypt

sophisticated artificial intelligence components, and the

proliferation of many small and medium-sized entrepreneurial
organizations played a strategic role in evolving of the “information
industry” during 1960s; however, the notion of the development of
a distinct economic sub-sector called the “information industry” is
still not universally accepted.

Nonetheless, the emerging sector comprised of the

software sector and the communication industry is increasingly
being regarded as a strategic sector in the economies of many
developed and developing countries. The information technology,
initially called ‘IT’ is increasingly emerging as ‘ICT’, wherein
information and communications are being integrated into the
various products and services such as telecommunications
networks and sub-networks. The internet is prime example of this
phenomenon.

Now, as we enter into the twenty-first century, we notice

that computer and communication hardware and software
products are being manufactured at a very swift pace and are
widely available at economical rates. At the same time, after
every few years there is a significant reduction in the hardware
size, a substantial increase in capacity and speed, and significant
improvements in software versatility. Furthermore, during the last
few years especially, a dramatic development in mobility,
interconnectivity and interoperability of the devices has occurred.

Librarians and other information professionals have

contributed actively to the planning, designing, developing,
manufacturing, testing, and evaluating of these modern
information and communication products and services. It may be
said that the traditional skills and expertise of this profession have
added information literacy value to these products and services.
To mention but a few areas where librarians and information
professionals have been intimately involved are as follows:
Distance Learning; Distance Education; Search Engines; Online
Access Tools; Online Database Design and Development;
Computer-assisted Indexing and Abstracting; Knowledge
Management or Content Management.

34
 Shawky Salem

In all these fields, librarians and related information

professionals such as archivists, museum curators, records
professionals and information scientists regularly work as
instructors and practitioners. It can be fairly asserted that together
with computer scientists and communication scientists, they
represent all the core profession of the Internet Age. The Internet
Age requires a very broad, multi-disciplinary mix of many kinds of
professionals. Information professions, including librarianship, are
the professions most often responsible for incorporating the
information literacy component, the freedom of access to
information and the freedom of expression in the evolving digital
era.

What is needed is to formalize, systematize, and prioritize

the free access to information in the Internet Age. The public
policy strategies, programs, and projects in countries such as
Egypt, should give attention to the importance of information
industry, literacy and freedom of access to information at the very
top levels of government. The responsibility and accountability for
formulating these policies, strategies, programs and projects must
be vested clearly in named ministries and named senior officials.
Although Egyptian government is giving priority to ICTs but much
more remains to be done.

Some Baseline Facts and Figures about Egypt

Since this is a case study on Egyptian situation, it is

essential to provide readers with a profile of some key economic
and social facts and figures in order to present the discussions
and analyses in a meaningful and clear context:

Egypt population in 1993: 60.7 million

GNP/Per Capita Income: US$ 640
GNP Average growth rate: 1.80%
Unemployment rate: 15%

Internet access since 2001 is free for any person in the

country. The National Library is reactivating its role in national

35
Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Access to Information in Egypt

economic development. Special libraries have been increasing 4%

yearly. New public libraries joined the cultural scenario and the
inauguration of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina took place in 2003.

In 1980, The Egyptian Government adopted a policy aimed

at condensing and concentrating the PC industry. In 1994, the
invested capital in PCs alone reached USD$61.8 million, and
added 36,350 PC units to the installed base of 194,300 PCs (an
increase estimated at 23%) (Ismail, 1995a). The total software
market grew to USD$33.5 million in revenues, 55% of which
comes from reselling imported software. The local revenues
derived from internally (within country) developed and in house
software was US$ 15 million (about 25% of which came from
exports in 1995) (Ismail, 1995b)

Programs in support of the country’s telecommunication

infrastructure have been developed and implemented rapidly over
the last 15 years, increasing the telephone line capacity from
510,000 to 3,121,500 units between 1981 and 1994. The United
States Agency for International Development (USAID) worked
closely in this expansion with the Egyptian National Telephone
Monopoly (ARENTO) to improve management and control of
communication units and equipment. The breakdown of IT sales in
Egypt is as follows:

IT services 24%
Software Packages 12%
Data Communication Equipment 5%
Single-User Systems 42%
Multi-User Systems 17%

By the year 2005, ‘The Technological Valley’, as it is

sometimes called in Egypt, including ‘Smart Villages’, is expected
to increase the national income by USD$2.5 Billion annually, and
create at the same time 250,000 new jobs in the manufacturing
segment of the IT industries and 50,000 new jobs in the services
sector of IT. It is expected that this project will acquire USD$25
Billion in export revenues by the year 2017. The IT training
programs in the country create, yearly, 5000 trained professionals

36
 Shawky Salem

in different IT activities. Following figures demonstrate the growth

rate of the IT market in Egypt in millions:

1996 US$427.3
1997 US$515.9
2001 US$630.3
2003 US$1495.3

Censorship and its Impact on the Cultural, Educational and

Research Activities

The Justice of Information Human Rights addresses: The

Right to Freedom of Expression, The Right to Freedom of Access
to Information, The Right to Control and Own Intellectual Property,
The Right to Freedom of Association, The Right to Freedom of
Communication and The Priority Effectiveness to Access
information legislation. Some milestones in the history of freedom
of access to information were laid down by the United Nations
article 19 which addresses “The Public’s Right to Know” and
considers it the core of Freedom of Access to Information. Other
milestones were: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
The Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa,
The Inter-American Declaration of Principles on Freedom of
Expression; The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe
to Member States on Access to Official Documents; The
recommendations of the UN Special Reporter on Freedom of
Opinion and Expression; The freedom of information standards
developed by the Commonwealth; and the Principles for an
Informed Democracy drawn up by the CPA Study Group on
Parliament and the Media in Perth-Africa.

Problems with censorship

We can look into the matter from several angles noticing

the censorship situation and the royalties of intellectual properties
in Egypt. The censorship still works as a strong governmental
body in the cultural activities of the society. The government
controls all forms of media coming through any mode of
transportation such as air mail, service mail, courier, air and sea

37
Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Access to Information in Egypt

freight, and ground transportation. At each point of physical

transportation there is a censorship office to review all media
forms: books, journals, magazines, videos, CDs, DVDs,
microforms, etc. Fortunately these offices cannot control the
internet otherwise it could block all information dissemination
within the country.

Though these offices are needed to protect the Egyptian

culture, tradition and religion from invaded products, but at the
same time they create severe obstacles towards the access to
educational materials and freedom of access to information. Many
educational and cultural projects get postponed for uncertain
period due to the bureaucratic and complicated procedures of
these offices. They ask for many documents as proof of the
sources of these cultural and information products. These offices
interfere in the import of all kinds of materials such as:
educational books, journals, CDs, videos, media products from
any country including Arab States. They consider themselves the
guards of the Egyptian society; there is no provision for
procedures or rules to discuss the consequences of their
decisions. These products are destroyed as soon as the decisions
are made against their use in Egypt. Thus, the censorship officers
need to be educated regarding the theory and practice of access
to information and how to save society from the unwanted
information; which is by knowing it and not by ignoring it, as
unwanted information penetrates to any society through other
means of communication i.e., internet or satellite sources and ICT
communications.

Problems with data and intellectual property

There are several types of intellectual property or

ownership of information including copyright, patents, trademarks,
trade secrets, design rights and plant breeders’ rights. The
Egyptian government bodies generate large quantities of
information. They produce statistics on population, economic
production, health, laws and regulations and numbers of reports
which should be available to any Egyptian citizen. But, citizens
need permission to access the information from these

38
 Shawky Salem

governmental bodies, and they bodies never allow for copying or

obtaining information. The postgraduate research students in LIS
departments get official letters from their faculties and institutes to
visit government organizations for obtaining the real data and
information relevant to their studies, but these organizations never
give them the required data. This is one of the reasons that MA
and PhD researches are weak in contents and analysis, because
the minimum required information is not available due to the
security policy of government information agencies.

On the contrary, intellectual workers fear of being

plagiarized and theft of intellectual property. After all, without
copyright, why wouldn’t someone put one’s name on others’
writings and publishes it? Actually, copyright law provides very
little protection against plagiarism (Stearns, 1992). Plagiarism
means using the ideas of others without adequate
acknowledgment. There are several types of plagiarism: someone
takes your original idea and uses different expression and
presents it as one’s own work. Copyright provides no protection at
all against this form of plagiarism. Another type of plagiarism is
word-for-word plagiarism, where someone copies all words, a
paragraph or even just a sentence without any modifications. In
practice, copyright law is hardly ever used for protecting rights.

There is a fundamental reason why copyright provides no

protection against plagiarism in Egypt, especially in the research
and education activities as the most common sort of plagiarism is
built into social hierarchies. Government and corporate reports are
released under the names of top bureaucrats or politicians and
corporate executives. These are examples of misrepresentation of
authorship. These people get credit for the work of their
employees. Copyright law is not effective for this sort of
institutionalized plagiarism, especially in higher education
community. It should be mentioned that only a very few individuals
make enough money from royalties to live on. There should be
freedom of access as well as an environment where people can
meet their information needs but may not gain undue power or
wealth by exploiting the work of others.

39
Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Access to Information in Egypt

National Information and Research Infrastructure

The term “information infrastructure” denotes to the entire

array of hardware, software, telecommunications, human,
financial, material and other resources required to support the
creation, storage, handling, dissemination, archiving of a country’s
data, document, and literature resources (or, more simply,
“information resources”), and how these resources are
organizationally, physically and systemically arranged to be
interconnect. Over the last two decades, the utilization of ICT has
observed the tremendous growth. Some of the prominently
emerged organizations include:

1. ENSTINET: Egyptian National Scientific & Technical

Information Network.
2. NIDOC: National Information & Documentation Center.
3. IDSC: Information and Decision Support Center (Cabinet).
4. RITSEC: Regional Information Technology & Software
Engineering Centre.
5. NLE: National Library of Egypt.
6. EUN: Egyptian Universities Network.
7. Public Libraries: Greater Cairo Public Library, Mubarek
Public Library, Heliopolis Public Library, etc.
8. University Libraries: About 18 university central libraries
and branched college libraries.
9. The new Library of Alexandria (Bibliotheca Alexandrina or
BA) with its unique worldwide role in information literacy
and free access to information.

Many of these principal organizations belong to public

sector. But it must be noted that private sector organizations have
also begun to play an active role in the information sector,
especially in the establishment of sophisticated information
industry. And, in some cases we are seeing the emergence of the
newer “civil society,” a blend of hybrid public-private sector, which
can be more effective than the traditional formats of simple
partnerships. During 1990s, the real “revolution of information”
began in Egypt, specifically after the Egyptian First Lady led an
aggressive and strong campaign to stress the importance of the

40
 Shawky Salem

new technologies to Egypt. The government has announced the

start of highly visible national information services programs in
such areas as an E-Commerce program, an integrated financial
information system for the entire country, a medical information
services program, an E-Government program, creating new
culture & heritage databases, including:

1. The Archeological Map of Egypt.

2. Cairo Architectural Heritage.
3. The National Heritage Program.
4. The Musical Heritage Program.
5. The Egyptian Folklore.
6. The Photographic Heritage of Egypt.

The ‘Smart Village’ program has been established, wherein

the government supplies the land and facilities equal to 20% in
value for any given project and the balance is provided by the
private sector. A union law for participating in information activities
is being developed.

Impacts of the Internet Age on Egyptian Society

During 1990’s Egypt achieved a significant level of

information and information technology investment and
application, primarily due to the strong support from government
and university based networks. However, the pace of development
has not been as fast as initially expected, especially in rural areas.
Yet, the upgraded and modernized Egyptian information
infrastructure is considered one of the strongest in the region. The
impacts of this strengthened information infrastructure are
extensive and we will examine some of the more noteworthy here.
It should be noted that Egypt has the largest population in the
Arab World, and also has the largest number of educated
population (post secondary & university communities) and the
highest teledensity (i.e. 5%) in North Africa.

The experience in implementing a data communication

program demonstrated the reliability of skilled Egyptian
manpower. These professionals are capable of establishing and

41
Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Access to Information in Egypt

maintaining a trouble-shooting capability for rapidly solving

problems encountered in the operation of telecommunications and
electronic networks. The Egyptian National Network provides
online services to 10 universities, dozens of institutions and official
Public Authorities, plus 2400 schools (Dunford, 1987). The newest
government information and information technology projects are
as follows (Egypt, 1999):

1. The “Government Online” project which aims to enhance

all ministry information infrastructures, and create an
integrated national information network for the ministries,
linked to the Cabinet Information Decision Support Center
(IDSC).
2. The “Integrated Network” project aims to incorporate the
information resources into various decision support
centers.
3. The “National Database for Legislation” project aims to
build an integrated database containing Egyptian codes
and decrees with daily updates, including legislation
enacted since 1828 until the present time.
4. The “National ID” project which intends to provide a
national ID for all Egyptians, and involves building a
database including birth, death, marriage, and divorce
cases since 1900 to the present.
5. The “Human Resources Development” program, which
aims to develop highly, qualified Egyptian human
resources capable of producing Egyptian IT technologies.
6. The “Tourism National Network” program, which aims to
increase tourism revenues, and market Egypt as a tourist
region globally.
7. The “Health National Network” program, which aims to
improve health services.
8. The “Banking Services Development” program, which aims
to increase the level of automation in the banking sector.

Library and publishing industry

The following indications represent the current

infrastructure of libraries in Egypt, and its rapid growth:

42
 Shawky Salem

1. Development of the National Library.

2. Establishing of four new public libraries, some of them are
very sophisticated and implementing IT infrastructure.
3. 18 central university libraries and about 320 college
libraries.
4. About 3500 special libraries.
5. 22000 school libraries (Salem, 2000)

National Bibliography of Egypt (NBE)

The National Library of Egypt and ACML (Alexandria

Centre for Multimedia & Libraries) cooperated to mount a very
important project to develop a database for the “Legal Deposit”
products and load it on CD-ROM (National Library of Egypt,
1995).The project is still in its planning stage and is expected to be
launched very soon.

Revival of public libraries in Egypt

A new and well-organized public library was created under

the name “Great Cairo Public Library” (GCPL). Its holdings are
extensive and have grown significantly.

Revival of Alexandria Library

The Egyptian government, in cooperation with UNESCO,

announced a plan in 1998 to “revive the ancient Bibliotheca
Alexandrina by restating its universal legacy in modern terms.” In
the presence of heads of states at Aswan on the Nile, an
international appeal for funds was launched to build a new library
in Alexandria, on the site of the old one. The first objective was to
maintain collections of works likely to have been contained in the
Ptolemaic Library. But the purpose behind the objective was
revival, not restoration, of the ancient institution as a “temple of
learning.” The revived institution will focus mainly on the history,
geography and culture of the eastern Mediterranean world and the
Near East. Special emphasis will be put on Greek and Egyptian
civilizations, Coptic Christianity and the heritage of Islam. The

43
Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Access to Information in Egypt

basic collections in the history of science and medicine in the

present library of the University of Alexandria will be expanded
and added to the new institution. Subsequently, each of the
world’s governments will be invited to donate a selection of books.

A new conceptual challenge for library and information

services was posed by the revival of Alexandrina. The experts
prepared various studies on its roles and programs and presented
a new defining role for Alexandrina as a World Academic Public
Library. Although both academic libraries and public libraries are
well established types of libraries, but the idea of putting the two
together in a new institutional role is novel at the world level. A
number of countries are beginning to experiment with this idea
where universities have important collections and services that
could be utilized to support public, not just academic needs. The
reason for this concept and term is closely related to the fact that
Alexandrina’s expected primary user would be the Alexandria
University with its 40,000 teaching staff and 150,000 students. In
brief, Alexandrina will serve the role of a public as well as
academic library.

Since the primary role of all libraries is to disseminate

information, Alexandrina will have a modern printing facility with
orthographies of Hieroglyphic, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Coptic,
Arabic and other languages, as well as photographic services, and
assembly rooms for major international congresses. It will also
house a centre for the conservation of the thousands of
manuscripts threatened with destruction held by Egyptian
monasteries, mosques and museums.

With the heritage of the Ptolemy’s as its inspiration, the

new Alexandrina will build a sum of knowledge embracing “the
writings of all peoples.” But unlike its ancient ancestor, the Library
will join the international information networks accessible to
researchers all over the world. Plans also call for the
establishment of a school of information sciences. Ptolemy Soter’s
order at the end of the fourth century BC to “collect all books in the
world” is now echoed at the end of the twentieth century A.D. by
the call to collect “the writings of all peoples.” To this end, the new

44
 Shawky Salem

Library will continue the legacy of the old one: to collect and
preserve the records of the totality of human achievement. The
Library aims to provide information literacy and free access to
information in the following respects:

1. By playing a key role as a center of excellence to assist in

reforming the LIS curriculums worldwide by convening
meetings of curriculum reform experts and educators.
2. By assisting information transfer between Egypt and the
corresponding information resources outside Egypt.
3. By playing a leadership role for the whole community of
Egyptian libraries in:
a. Professional activities.
b. Library services.
c. Library networking.
d. Document delivery and Inter library Loan (ILL).
4. Convening congresses, seminars, meetings and
workshops on different scientific, technological, business,
industry, socio-culture and other topics.
5. Serving as an open gateway for information in Egypt and a
focal point for exchange of information, free access to
information, free expression through its activities and
meetings.

Conclusions

Egypt is rapidly introducing modern ICTs into all sectors of

its economy and society. However, this pace is still not fast
enough to fully exploit all of the technologies. Full exploitation of
the state-of-the-art technologies depends largely on the
information industry and literacy level of elite cadre of skilled
information professionals. The need to train an elite cadre of
information professionals is the foundation on which
comprehensive Egyptian Internet Age plans, programs and
policies should be based. The human resource remains the most
challenging aspect of Egypt’s development plans for the future.

We must acknowledge that the freedom of information

have essential rules. It is a fundamental human right and

45
Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Access to Information in Egypt

backbone of democracy and good governance. The recognition of

this key right is essential to empower all members of society and
to improve the relationship between government organizations
and the media. The public bodies should be enforced by law to
publish and disseminate a wide range of key information in a
manner easily accessible to the public; urgent steps be taken to
review the present legislation restricting access to information.
The public should be made aware of their right of access to
information and the civil society must not misuse and waste public
funds. The freedom of information in Egypt needs appropriate
legislation for playing a leading role in the region by promoting free
access to information. Therefore, recommendations such as
follows must be adopted.

Recommendations

1. Freedom of information is a fundamental human right;

therefore citizens have the Right of Access (giving
everyone a right to access information held by public
authorities).
2. Promoting access to information should apply to all public
bodies regardless of their form or designation.
3. Public bodies should be required by law to publish and
disseminate widely a range of key information in a manner
that is easily accessible to the public. The amount of
information subject to such disclosure should be increased.
4. Processes to Facilitate Access should be simple. The
users should not be compelled to state reasons for their
request for information. Public bodies should respond to
requests within set time periods. A failure to respond to a
request within that time period should be considered as
refusal. Any refusal to provide information should be
accompanied by the justified reasons.
5. Requesters should have the right to appeal any refusal to
provide information to an independent administrative body.
A final appeal should also lie to the court. Willful
obstruction of the right of access to information should be a
criminal offence.

46
 Shawky Salem

6. Costs for access to information should not be as high to

deter requesters; costs be waived for requesters who are
unable to pay.
7. Urgent steps should be taken to review, repeal or amend
legislation restricting access to information.
8. Effective systems of record management are must for
effective functioning and good governance in this regard.
9. New ICTs have the potential to make important
contribution in the area of access to information and open
governance. New technologies should be used to facilitate
record management and maintenance.
10. There should be a concerted effort by government and
public bodies to address the problem of the culture of
secrecy. This should include comprehensive training
programmes on implementation of the access to
information as well as the importance of openness in
society. Such training should focus to promote an
understanding among civil servants about two-way flow of
information.
11. Public education campaigns should be undertaken to
ensure that the public is aware of their right to access to
information. There should be an effective independent
administrative body to ensure appropriate implementation
of access to information legislation. This may be either an
existing body or a body specifically created to serve that
function.
12. The access to information legislation should be reviewed
on a regular basis to ensure that it is effective in ensuring
the public’s right to know.
13. Promoting awareness of the right of access to information,
developing public educational materials, training public
officials, addressing the issue of laws that are inconsistent
with the right to access to information and improving record
maintenance.
14. Promoting awareness to develop principles of dealing with
credit for intellectual rights and protect intellectual works
from piracy.

47
Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Access to Information in Egypt

References

Dunford, R. (1987). The suppression of technology as a strategy

for controlling resource dependence. Administrative Science
Quarterly, 32, 512-525.

Egypt. Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.

(1999). Web page of Ministry of Communication and
Information Technology 2007, Retrieved March 23, 2007,
from http://www.mcit.gov.eg.

Ismail, A. (1995a). Software in 1994-. Framingham MA:

International Data Corporation.

Ismail, A. (1995b). The Egyptian PC market 1994-1999.

Framingham MA: International Data Corporation.

National Library of Egypt (1995). Legal deposit 1952-1995. NLE

yearly issue.

Salem, S. (2000). The drive towards a national information

infrastructure in Egypt: An overview. Journal of Information
Science, 26 (1), 71-74.

Stearns, L. (1992). Copy wrong: Plagiarism, process, property,

and the law. California Law Review, 80 (2), 513-553.

48
 User Education Programme in the John Rylands University
Library of Manchester: A Case Study

Rubina Bhatti*

Abstract

The paper reports a case study which was conducted during the
doctoral research by the author. It aimed to find out the relevance
of user education programme in academic libraries to the teaching
and learning process. Data for the study was collected through the
questionnaires, interviews with the library user-education
specialists, other library staff, students and faculty. The multi-
disciplinary approach was applied to investigate the library’s
activities in providing user education to new students. It emerged
from the findings that for students to become truly information
literate, the best way is to integrate the user education
programmes into the university’s core curriculum.

Keywords: User education; Information literacy; University

libraries;

Introduction

Changes in technology, society and educational systems

are having a considerable impact on libraries and their instruction
programmes. These changes require information literacy
programmes for users to become more effective, efficient and
independent in their information searching. The goals of library
user education have expanded from teaching tools to teaching
concepts and from library instruction to information literacy and
life-long learning. This case study about the user education
programme offered by the John Rylands University Library of

*
Assistant Professor, Department of Library and Information Science,
Islamia University of Bahawalpur

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User Education Programme in the John Rylands University Library

Manchester (JRULM) attempts to find out its relevance with the

users’ academic achievements and learning process. Case study
technique was used to get the “accurate data, understood outside
the scholarly research community” (Winegardner, 2001). Yin
(1994) defines case study in terms of the research process as an
empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon
within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between
phenomenon and context are not clearly evident.

Defining User Education

User education, bibliographic instruction, library instruction,

library orientation, reader instruction, information literacy are all
terms which are used in the field of librarianship to describe
educating library users in the independent use of library resources
effectively and efficiently. Several experts, authors and library
professionals have created different definitional structures for the
concept of user education or bibliographic instruction. Salony
(1995) considers it as follows:
The systematic nature of the efforts to teach something - a
set of principles or search strategies relating to the library,
its collections or services - using pre-determined methods
in order to accomplish a pre-defined set of objectives
(p.32).

Need of User Education

The literature (Koenig, 2003; Nicholas, 2003)

demonstrates that many students in higher education institutions
need this help because the courses are becoming interdisciplinary
and their pattern is changing. It makes imperative for students to
become better library literate so that they can make the optimum
use of the available sources of information. Fleming (1990)
defined user education as “…various programmes of instruction,
education and exploration provided by libraries to users to enable
them to make more effective, efficient and independent use of
information sources, resources and services to which these
libraries provide access.” He emphasized the need for

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 Rubina Bhatti

comprehensive programmes that aim to teach the concepts, skills

and techniques of searching.

Orientation sessions, handouts, workshops, and course

related and course integrated instruction are the activities aimed to
achieve the goals of user education. The term ‘bibliographic
instruction’ has more recently broadened to include the concept of
information literacy. Library user education supports the concept
of educating for a lifetime (life-long learning). The Think Tank II
report on bibliographic instruction (Tiefel, 1995, p. 326) defined
‘information literacy’ as encompassing the entire world of
information and seeking to prepare people to pursue the concept
of lifelong learning. Information literacy extends its objectives to
teaching information-seeking skills to all ages and at all times.

Research Design and Data Collection

This case study was conducted during the doctoral

research by the present author. One-day study visit was fixed with
the library ‘user-educator’ to obtain the detailed information
regarding the user education system of the JRULM. The multi-
method approach was used for collecting the data (questionnaires
and semi-structured interviews were used in the study together
with interview and discussion with the experts, library staff, library
members) using two different instruments (quantitative
questionnaires and qualitative interview techniques) with three of
these sample types. The observation, opinions, perceptions and
comments by students, faculty and library science specialists
concerned with higher education libraries provided a great deal of
information. The literature related to the information regarding
user education programme in the above stated library, the library’s
policy documents, information leaflets, handbooks and guide
maps available in the library were consulted. The JRULM Website
(http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk) was found useful for
supplementing the information on this study.

This library is the one used by the writer as the principal

library in this research. Some of the information was therefore

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User Education Programme in the John Rylands University Library

gathered in advance during the normal course of using the library.

A half-day appointment was fixed with Mrs. Sheila C.R. Padden to
conduct interview and discussion session. She was both the
specialist Faculty Librarian for Education and the JRULM Training
Officer and was actively involved nationally and locally with
projects for the enhancement of library education as well as
internationally with two projects in Africa. The researcher prepared
a series of starting points for discussion and the interview was
tape-recorded for later analysis. The planned scheme was very
flexible to let the speaker express freely to obtain interesting
information and details.

John Rylands University Library of Manchester (JRULM)

Manchester University’s origin goes back in 1851 in the

foundation of Owens College, created by a bequest from the local
textile magnate, John Owens. Its library initially relied heavily on
endowments. In 1903, the Owens College became the Victoria
University of Manchester.

Introduction

The JRULM is the largest, non-legal-deposit academic

library in the United Kingdom and supports all subjects in the
University. It offers its members with a variety of services and
resources – including the most extensive range of electronic
resources. The JRULM also provides a range of services to the
members of the public, schools and commercial companies.

The JRULM is using the best information systems available

to offer an all-embracing range of services and resources:
physical, virtual, current resources as well as ancient manuscripts
in “the neo-gothic splendour.” The JRULM is member of a number
of international and national consortia. Internationally, it is a
member of the Research Libraries Group (RLG). It is also a very
active member of the Consortium of University Research Libraries
(CURL). JRULM also participates in a number of national
initiatives, including delivery of the ISI Web of Science (JRULM,
2001).

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 Rubina Bhatti

Collection and users

The University library includes the principal working

collections for teaching and research in every branch of human
knowledge: e.g. humanities, education, law, medicine, science
and social sciences. The JRULM (2000) gives up-to-date
information showing the extensive use of the library. The library
serves 11,000 users a day, and at peak times over 1000 users an
hour. One can understand the busyness of the library by this.
Table 1 demonstrates the status of collection.

Table 1. Resources Information on the JRULM (Year 1999-2000)

Stock Additions
year from
2000 1999
Printed books including volumes of bound 3767 49029
periodicals 252
Printed periodical titles 8918 68
Microforms 352 10742
599
Audio-visual (audio and video cassettes, 37558 169
slides, films, records, photographs, floppy
discs)
Electronic journals 2900 *
Manuscripts and archival items 1306 108641
704
* Data not recorded prior to 2000
Source: http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk

Membership and access in the main and departmental libraries

Membership covers a wide variety of users. The main

categories are as follows:

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User Education Programme in the John Rylands University Library

a) All students of the University of Manchester, after initial

registration, obtain a University of Manchester swipe
card carrying their student details, photograph, bar
code and magnetic stripe. This card also functions as a
Library membership card.
b) Staff members of the University of Manchester are
(normally) entitled to a staff swipe card similar to those
of the students.
c) Alumni, private individuals and companies that are
interested can take advantage of the various other
categories of membership available. For example, a
librarian elsewhere might wish to have access for
career development; a school teacher participating in
the training of teachers with the university might wish to
have access for curriculum development purposes.

Data Analysis

The library offers a wide variety of user education facilities

to make use of its vast collection. The purpose of the library
instruction programme is to acquaint the users with the
mechanisms of searching, analysing and utilising the resources
held in the library in all forms. In the JRULM a full user education
programme is organised besides student’s access to the reference
desk for help and individual consultation at any time. Moreover,
there are a number of help points within the main library building.
Students take advantage of the instruction programmes arranged
for accomplishing their desired results. The user-education
specialists emphasised the fact that the defined priority for the
library, particularly in the first part of each academic year, is user
education, and this will normally have importance over all other
library activities in organising the work schedules of the staff.

The responses from the questionnaires and interview

showed that at the beginning of the academic year, the Library
endeavours to give all new students a brief introduction to the
array of services available to enable them make a confident and

54
 Rubina Bhatti

intelligent start on their study programmes. Induction programmes

are organised each by a subject specialist or a user education
librarian in consultation with the academic staff. The user
education programme is arranged on a departmental or faculty
basis. Attendance in the programme is compulsory and listed in
the students’ timetable.

The data indicated that the library aims to foster

information skills among students. The respondents stated that in
this age of information explosion, when libraries are becoming
increasingly sophisticated, these skills are needed to exploit their
resources. By having recognised this fact, the JRULM set up a first
PC cluster in 1983 for students’ practical training in the use of
databases, catalogues and bibliographic management packages.
The use of computers in the JRULM has since been greatly
extended (presently in excess of 250 work stations).The subject
specialists and other library staffs are thus keen to arrange
workshops for library users, tailored to the requirements of their
degree programme.

Rationale and objectives of user education

Data collected through employees questionnaire discover

that students, even if knowledgeable and skilled in using their high
school libraries, are intimidated by the massive size of the
university library system, and the arrangement of its extensive
print, non-print and electronic information resources. Therefore,
students’ frustration and anxiety needs to be reduced by making
the information finding and retrieval process easier. The task of
the User Education Programme at the library is accomplished by:

1) Assessing instruction needs of users.

2) Introducing new types of instruction programmes to
meet the individual needs of specific group of users.
3) Promoting the awareness about the benefits of
information literacy and importance of user education
activities to support users’ educational, research, and
other information needs.

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User Education Programme in the John Rylands University Library

4) Co-ordinating, monitoring and continuously improving

instruction activities and materials helpful in meeting
the users’ instructional needs.
5) Advertising and promoting user education activities
among users.
6) Assessing and revising the instructional format,
content, use of materials and handouts, class
attendance, and schedule of user education
programme and maintaining instructional materials for
currency, accuracy and format.
7) Maintaining an adequate supply of printed handouts,
instructional materials and supplies for use in user
education activities.
8) Reviewing and compiling results of evaluations for user
education activities for the purpose of evaluation of
goals and objectives.

Orientation programmes

For all students, library orientation programmes are offered

in the library. Although these introductory sessions are designed
for new students, the user education staff welcomes all interested
in learning about libraries and their usage. For the orientation, two
days of scheduled electronic demonstrations and library tours are
held in the library the week before classes begin. The library also
conducts orientation sessions specifically for international
students. Students are given information leaflets and receive a
demonstration of the library’s web site and a tour of the library.

A two-hour programme is designed to provide new

graduate students with the chance to meet their subject librarians,
other library staff and other graduate students. Students are given
a tour of the library, an introduction to the library’s services and
resources and information packs.

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 Rubina Bhatti

International students’ orientation

An orientation to the library is given to the overseas

students, in cooperation with the Office of International Students,
at the beginning of their course. Its aim is to reduce their anxiety
and make them confident and effective users of the library. It was
pointed out by the interviewees that some overseas students face
particular problems due to their background, previous library
experiences, training and culture. For example, it was mentioned
that overseas students frequently show shyness, a cultural
uncommunicativeness and unwillingness to admit lack of
knowledge and unfamiliarity with the advanced computerised
systems used in the library. For some students, being taught by a
member of the opposite sex is a new experience requiring a
difficult cultural adaptation.

Size of class

In the JRULM, for classes with up to 25 students, sessions

are held in the Electronic Reading Room, which allows students to
learn in a hands-on environment with the computers, in the
presence of a user educator. This instruction is related to their
courses work, preparing assignments (essays, projects,
dissertations, theses, etc.) and other academic needs. The staff
demonstrates examples of all kinds of material including areas
such as creating a search strategy, finding books and articles on a
particular topic, using specific subject databases and valuating
print and electronic sources.

Course-related instruction

The JRULM offers course-related instruction for most

users. This type of instruction works best for classes with research
assignments because students feel a genuine need for the
information that is directly related to their course. Library
instructors and subject specialists in the JRULM believe that user
education should be scheduled as closely as possible to the time
when students begin working on their assignments and other
projects. If this instruction session occurs too ahead of time of the

57
User Education Programme in the John Rylands University Library

commencement of their research, they may not benefit as much

from the instruction programme.

Library user education expert in the JRULM expressed that

library and information skills improve when those skills are course
related. The benefits of course related instruction is that students
may lead to earn better grades as they will know how to find
relevant and better information resources to support their research
papers, projects, proposals and other assignments.

Library instruction for the public or external users

The JRULM runs an extensive exhibition programme for

the public to help in using the library through guided tours of the
library for groups of up to 20 people only for nominal charges. This
may either be of a general nature or customized for a particular
subject interest. In the library many rooms are available, including
the Muriel Stott Conference Centre built in the central quadrangle
of the library, to hire for conducting seminars, talks and private
functions. The library also publishes a free six-monthly newsletter
which is sent to all interested ones.

Inter library loans (ILL) service

The users are informed in the user education programme

about the ILL facility. In the JRULM the ILL service is run by the
Document Supply Unit, which endeavours to supply readers with
material necessary for academic purposes but is not existed in the
library. Most items are acquired from the British Library Document
Supply Centre (BLDSC), despite close cooperation with
neighbouring universities in Greater Manchester. ‘Deliver’ is a
service for photocopies and loans by post. That is available to
authorised members of the University of Manchester. ‘Deliver for
all’ is available to any person, whether or not a member of the
university.

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 Rubina Bhatti

The need of user education for faculty / academic staff

Data were also collected on the need for user education for
academic staff. It was established that academic staff was
providing education for a better guidance to students by their
teachers and for strengthening the scholarly output of research by
academic staff. Respondents suggested that attempts should be
made to convince the academic staff about the need and worth of
user education and librarianship. However, there is no compulsion
on new staff for receiving any library user training or giving
evidence that they already possess the necessary skills.

Feedback from the users

The question was asked as to whether there is a serious

need to study the basic composite requirements of all groups of
library users in university libraries. According to the library user
education experts in the JRULM, overseas students face serious
problems in identifying and assessing resources in electronic
networks. The librarian asserted that there is a great need of
investigating the users’ demands from the user perspective so that
user-friendly systems are developed in system design. The
JRULM has not conducted any such formal study about the needs
of its users. This appears to be a weak area of the programme.

However, some subject specialists invite informal or formal

feedback to seek improvement of the user education they provide.
Analysis shows that the students’ response to user education is
positive. Students have found the programme enjoyable if it was
related to their specialist field’s related problems. It was also
pointed out that students did not want to spend much time
attending the instruction sessions for learning a system; they want
to start using it.

Interaction between library and academic staff

The user-education library expert in JRULM stated that the

role of the academic staff is vital in an effective user education
programme. To achieve the goal of user education library and

59
User Education Programme in the John Rylands University Library

academic staff must work closely. Academic staff can cooperate

with the library staff in motivating and directing students in
academic library use. There must be collaboration between the
library staff and academic staff to develop teaching strategies
using the latest technologies.

The study suggests that the ideal situation would be that

faculty members set exercises for their students (and that carry
marks towards their progress). These could be at the beginning of
the year or during the course. This would motivate them towards
good practice.

Should user education be compulsory?

The user education experts recommended strongly that

user education must be compulsory for all users, because user
education helps developing information seeking and critical skills
independently. Students and teachers responses also emphasised
on that as a lot of latest information is accessible via Internet. The
information explosion has accelerated the need for development
of such expert system. The concept of library user education has
also transformed and expanded to information literacy and
learning for life. It reduces the library staff’s time and efforts in
solving individual problems regarding the use of library services.
The JRULM Library user education programme supports the
concept of information literacy. It prepares library users to exploit
information effectively in any circumstances.

Conclusion

The developed countries have very advanced library

systems (as in the JRULM) with extensive instructional services
programmes planned to educate students, faculty and
administrative staff. They strive to support the teaching, learning
and research goals of the university. One of their goals is to
provide reference and instructional services for the university
community. It supports each individual’s ability to use research
information resources effectively.

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 Rubina Bhatti

In JRULM, the instructional services programme is

considered important to all the members of its university
community, but the student community (both engaged in course
work and research) is its key focus. The specialist professionals
recommended that for students to become truly information
literate, the best way is for information literacy to be integrated into
the university’s core curriculum. The empirical research has
shown a number of factors that affect the successful execution of
user education i.e., students’ previous library use experience,
provision of library use instruction in school and college libraries,
library staff’s attitudes, collaboration among faculty and library
staff, provision of library facilities for educating the users, library
expenditures and technological change.

User education programmes in Pakistani university

libraries. New technology must not only be seen as providing new
ways of data communication but also be applied to new
administrative structure and systems of supply of traditional
materials. It is shown clearly that no further effective planning for
development can take place without a better assessment of the
context in which the university libraries of Pakistan are functioning.

References and Bibliography

Bartol, K., & Martin, D. (1991). Management. New York: McGraw

Hill.

Bassey, M. (1981). Pedagogic research: On the relative merits of

the search for generalization and study of single events.
Oxford Review of Education, 7 (1), 73-94.

Rubina Bhatti. (2003). Perceptions of user education in the

university libraries of Pakistan. Unpublished PhD thesis,
University of Manchester, Manchester.

Fleming, H. (1990). User education in academic libraries. London:

Library Association.

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User Education Programme in the John Rylands University Library

Henry, J. (1992). Training in the use of online databases. Aslib

Information, 20 (11-12), 416-419.

JRULM (John Rylands University Library) (2000). John Rylands

University Library home page. 2000. Retrieved March 25,
2007, from http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk.

JRULM. (2001). John Rylands University Library home page.

2001. Retrieved April 25, 2007, from
http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk.

Koenig , M. E. D. (2003). Knowledge management, user education

and librarianship. Retrieved April 25, 2007, from
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/00242530310456979

Merriam, S. B. (1988). Case study research in education: A

qualitative approach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Nicholas, J. (2003). Information literacy evaluation: Moving

towards virtual learning environments. Retrieved April 25,
2007, from
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/02640470310491559

Salony, M. F. (1995). Library instruction revisited - Bibliographic

instruction comes of age: New York: The Haworth Press.

Tiefel, V. M. (1995). Library user education: Examining its past,

projecting its future. Library Trends, 44 (2), 318-338.

Winegardner, K. E. (2001). The case study method of scholarly

research. The Graduate School of America.

Yin, R. K. (1993). Case study research. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

62
 Online Consumer Health Information in Pakistan

Khawaja Mustafa &

Syed Attaullah Shah*

Abstract

The intrinsic potential of online consumer health information has

been realized in recent times by the public and private health
sector establishment and personnel in Pakistan. However this
realization is still not as widespread or phenomenal as its
penetration and impact on the general public is concerned. This
article outlines a review of online health resources available in
Pakistan, with an analysis of their demand and use. This is not an
exhaustive survey that would include all health websites. It covers
only the most popular and useful websites available. It is
comprehendible that the content as well as the information
available through these websites varies and could not be analyzed
uniformly.

Keywords: Consumer health; Health information; Online health

information; Pakistan

Introduction

Most people use the term Consumer Health Information

(CHI) as an umbrella term which may include patient information,
health information, health guidelines or clues to reach an informed
and quality decision about their health. In this study we will discuss
the definition of the term CHI, its possible connotations and its
effect on society and peoples health. Online Consumer Health
Information (OCHI) in Pakistan is in its formative phase and still

*
Assistant Librarians, Faculty of Health Sciences Library, Aga Khan
University, Karachi.

63
Online Consumer Health Information in Pakistan

has not emerged as a popular method of health information

gathering and access. Nevertheless, it is expected to be an
extensively reliable medium for accessing Information within a
decade due to the increase in computer-literate population and a
wider access to the internet. This study aims to investigate the
web-based OCHI scenario in the country.

Objectives of the Study

1) To identify benefits of OCHI in an informed society.

2) To review the developments in OCHI in Pakistan during
last decade.
3) To identify the salient features of popular Consumer Health
Information websites in Pakistan.

Design of Study

A survey of OCHI Websites in Pakistan was conducted by

selecting the most popular websites and analyzing them on the
basis their information content rather than their design and
appearance. A number of health institutions, NGOs and
individuals are untiringly determined to spread health information
to the general public through the Internet. We have not critically
evaluated individual websites because these efforts are still in
their infancy, and at this early stage they are more in need of
approval than otherwise. Therefore, this study is more of an
introduction of the available OCHI Websites. The selection of
websites is based on the personal consultations with physicians,
medical students and library friends.

Defining ‘Consumer Health Information’

The term, “Consumer Health Information” is understood

differently by different people belonging to various socio-economic
backgrounds. Harris (2006) has emphasized the need for coining
a proper definition in this regard as follows:

64
 Khawaja Mustafa & Syed Attaullah Shah

The term CHI needs definition. It is imprecise and

ambiguous; we may think of it as patient information, but
that can sometimes mean instructions, at other times
patient records. In the patient’s mind, it’s anything they
need or want in healthcare access. The true scope of
consumer health information is huge and diverse – broad,
personal, and specific needs.

Rees (1998) in his book “Consumer Health: Information

Source Book,” quotes a comprehensive definition of the concept
by Kevin Patrick and Shannah Koss as follows:

CHI is defined as any information that enables individuals

to understand their health and make health-related
decisions for themselves and families. This includes
information supporting individual and community-based
health promotion and enhancement, self-care, shared
(professional-patient) decision making, patient education
and rehabilitation, using the health care system and
selecting insurance or a provider, and peer-group support
… The nature of CHI can be economic, technical, logistical
and/or qualitative. It is available in health care settings as
well as such locations as homes, schools, libraries,
worksites, stores, and other arena open and accessible to
all (p. 1).

Online Health Information

More and more people today use the Internet. According to

an estimate, there are about one billion computers connected to
the Internet. Greenberg, et al. (2004) state that “Searches for
health information are among the most common reasons that
consumers use the Internet.” Baker, et al. (2003) mention that
according to a National Survey in USA, “40% people who have
Internet access use it to access health and medical information.”

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Online Consumer Health Information in Pakistan

Cline & Haynes (2001) state that globally there were “more
than 70,000 websites that disseminate health information, in
excess of 50 million people seek health information online.”

It is obvious from this discussion that people in developed

countries heavily depend on the Internet for searching the health
information. This is becoming true also for computer literate
populations in developing countries in South Asia and other
regions of the world.

Use of Internet in Pakistan

In Pakistan, the consumers seeking health information,

counseling and guidance have been traditionally relying heavily on
print, radio or television. Books have also been a primary source
for CHI. Books such as Family Health Encyclopedias, and general
books on health and fitness have been used for long. Health
literature published in local languages of Pakistan is mostly based
on the translations of health literature from developed countries.
Institutions such as Hamdard Foundation also play important role
in health awareness for public; their emphasis, however, resides
primarily on the Unani or Eastern System of Medicine.

The public use of Internet in Pakistan started from the city

of Karachi in 1995, ‘Digicom’ being the first company to provide
public Internet connections. In 1996 Pakistan Telecommunication
Corporation Limited issued licenses to 16 companies for supply of
e-mail and Internet services. Pakistan, at that time was the first
country in South Asia to open up ISP market for the private sector.
Musharraf (2006), the President of Pakistan, traces the
development of telecommunication in the country during last
seven years as follows:

In 1999, only thirty-nine cities in Pakistan were connected

to the Internet. By 2006, 2,000 cities and towns were
connected to it. In 1999, fiber-optic connectivity was limited
to only about forty towns; today 1,000 towns have it, ....In
only three years, from 2003 to 2006, teledensity, which is

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 Khawaja Mustafa & Syed Attaullah Shah

the number of telephones as a percentage of the

population, has increased from a meager 2.9 percent to 16
percent; cell phones have increased from 600,000 to over
30 million; and wireless local loop is taking root in the rural
areas (p. 198).

The Ministry of Finance (2005-2006), quoting The Pakistan

Telecommunication Authority (PTA), has mentioned the number of
Internet subscribers in Pakistan to be 2.1 million. However, the
real number of Internet users is much more than that, as most of
the home subscribers share the same telephone connection for all
family members in one household and institutional users such as
schools and colleges provide access to several users including
their students and faculty through limited connection subscriptions.
Due to compulsory computer and Internet education as a
curriculum component at high school level, there is a tremendous
increase in the number of computer literate teens and young
adults.

Similarly, the Internet-cafes provide Internet access to a

large number of public users. A marketing agency has put the
number of active Internet users in Pakistan to 8 million. Keeping in
view such a high number of Internet users in a population of 140
million people in a developing country, it is difficult to under-
estimate the importance of Internet as a useful medium of OCHI in
Pakistan.

Health Information Websites in Pakistan

Pakistan is a developing country where there is a dire need

for improvement in existing health education & awareness
services in order to improve the social and economic condition of
the public. However, like other developing countries of South
Asian region, Pakistan is also facing complex challenges
especially in the health sector. Our health information needs are
different from those of the developed countries; for example, our
priority issues are: high infant & maternal mortality rates; nutrition;
infectious diseases and so on.

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Online Consumer Health Information in Pakistan

In Pakistan, the public, private and NGO sectors and the

World Health Organization are playing a vital role to increase
awareness about Health and Nutrition and Infectious diseases.
Due to low literacy rate (i.e., 40-45%) in the country, a majority of
people are not aware of the CHI resources.

The role of CHI is vital for the Health of people. CHI keeps
people informed of their rights, enabling their participation in
decision-making regarding their health and their right of equal
access to health care. The CHI ought to be concise, reliable,
meaningful, racially and linguistically appropriate. If the people get
timely access to CHI, they can make comparison among the
available choices and able to make right decisions.

The CHI has for long been available in the country through
conventional media such as print (books, booklets, brochures,
pamphlets, handouts); radio and television. Recently, the use of
Internet for access and spread of health information is gaining
momentum because it is a quick and easy to access medium. The
other reason is that many health institutions, NGOs and
individuals are working hard to make useful health information
available to the general public on missionary grounds. This article
provides an introduction of selected health websites that are
popular in Pakistan. This review may not be comprehensive and
there is a possibility that some useful website/s might have been
overlooked. Nevertheless, the current selection is to a great
extent, representative of indigenous CHI available on the Internet
for the people of Pakistan.

Health Websites

1. Pakmedinet (www.pakmedinet.com)

PakMediNet (2006) is a voluntary website, maintained

by Pakistani physicians volunteering to promote Pakistan-
based researches and medical journals on Internet. The
website provides instant access to the Pakistani Drug Index,
Pakistani Medical Journals Index and Abstracts Online, and

68
 Khawaja Mustafa & Syed Attaullah Shah

also a searchable list of 42 Pakistani health journals. The

Online Pakistani Drug Index is easy to use and drugs can be
searched by generic as well as trade names. The Pakistani
medical journals can be searched online by keywords, author, title
and abstracts. This website provides access to current research
on local and national health problems. Pharmaceutical Company
Description includes company address, phone and contact details.
The pakmedinet.com also provides online discussion forum
regarding topics of public interest for registered users and the
registration is free.

2. Telemedpak (www.telmedpak.com)

Telemedpak (2006) is maintained by the students of

Rawalpindi Medical College and provides health news, articles
and links to other medical websites. Registration is required to
obtain full access to the discussion forum and clinical articles.
There is plenty of information for lay persons on mother & child
health, family planning, nutrition, healthy living, etc. The website
also provides ‘Ask A Doctor’ service for general public on
dermatology, pain, and healthy mom & healthy child clinic.

3. Medisure (www.medisure.com.pk)

Medisure (2006) claims to be Pakistan’s first medical

information portal, launched in year 2000. The portal enables
physicians and consumers to access health information. The
Medical Emergencies is a must read section. The website
provides daily health news and articles. List of online doctors is
available for selection by the patients and online queries can be
sent to the doctors. The website provides links to Pakistani
medical colleges, pharmaceutical companies and a number of
Pakistani hospitals.

4. Pakdoctor (2006) ( www.pakdoctor.com)

The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) maintains this

portal. PMA has the largest number of physician members in the

69
Online Consumer Health Information in Pakistan

country. The portal is equally important for the physicians and

general public due to its following rich contents:

a) General Public Section provides general tips for health

issues, personal care and health advice.
b) Ask the expert feature provides free health advice.
Information is available for various groups such as kids
health, teenage health, men’s health, women health,
maternity guide, etc. It provides articles, complete guides
and useful health tips for each category.

5. Ministry of Health (http://www.health.gov.pk/)

The Ministry of Health (2006), Government of Pakistan’s

website has only one feature for general public consumers. The
Health News Section provides recent health guideline and news,
guideline for recent outbreak of Dengue fever is also available on
the website.

6. Aga Khan University Hospital

(http://www.aku.edu/akuh/patientcare/pinfo/index.shtml)

The patient care section of Aga Khan University (2006)

website provides online brochures for various health topics and
procedures related to heart diseases, family medicine, neurology,
obstetrics & gynecology, psychiatry, radiology, emergency
medicine and surgery. Clinical schedules, information about
surgical procedures and the hospital registration procedure is also
available.

7. Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research

Centre (http://www.shaukatkhanum.org.pk/cancer
facts.htm)

The Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and

Research Centre (2006) is the biggest cancer hospital in the
country. Its website provides information about cancer and links to
international resources. Information on procedures and packages,
clinical schedules and registration procedures with cancer

70
 Khawaja Mustafa & Syed Attaullah Shah

statistics are available. Information brochures on breast cancer,

chemotherapy, having an operation, mammography, post mast-
tectomy exercises and radiotherapy are available.

8. Sindh Institute of Urology & Transplantation (SIUT)

(http://www.siut.org/Patient_Information.htm)

SIUT is the largest health organization in Pakistan which

provides free and comprehensive services in urology, nephrology,
and transplantation & gastroenterology. The SIUT website
presents patient guidance through clinical schedules. Patient
information includes topics such as dialysis, stone diseases and
hematuria (blood in urine). Annual report of SIUT, patient statistics
and information about patient services is also available.

9. Daily Dawn (http://www.dawn.com/weekly/dmag/dmag.htm)

The most popular English language daily Dawn’s Sunday

magazine publishes health section. Doctors answer health
questions asked by general public. This feature creates
awareness on general and particular health issues.

10. Daily Jang (http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/nov2006-

weekly/sunmag-12-11-2006/page6.htm)

The most popular and generally read international Urdu

language newspaper “Jang” publishes “Health and Fitness” page/s
in its weekly Sunday magazine. This weekly feature is popular for
simplicity of its language and lay treatment of subjects with most
recent expert knowledge.

Some Shortcomings

The review of these websites reveals following

shortcomings:

71
Online Consumer Health Information in Pakistan

ƒ The websites under review do not provide expert literature

or content; similarly these websites also do not provide
comprehensive coverage of the subject/s.

ƒ Users are usually not directed towards other important

reference sources and literature on the subject or topic.

ƒ Another obvious short coming is that most of the websites

are not updated regularly for providing current information
and literature.

Conclusion & Recommendations

The OCHI has made a humble but interesting beginning in

Pakistan. The consumers are slowly becoming aware of local
health information available on the Internet. Presently, most of the
Internet users rely heavily on international search engines like
Google, Yahoo, etc. Due to the spread and use of Internet to rural
& remote areas of Pakistan, now consumers have a choice to get
health-related information and expert advice without wasting time,
and money.

The number of information providers, in general, is

increasing. Hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, health service
related associations and NGOs have initiated a few websites
within their limited resources to provide Consumer Health
Information.

The Ministry of Health, Government of Pakistan has yet to

play its role to provide financial and infrastructural support to
hospitals and health institutions for online health information
projects in public & private sector. It is our understanding that with
the increase in computer literate population, the OCHI will be a
highly reliable resource for health information in Pakistan in near
future.

72
 Khawaja Mustafa & Syed Attaullah Shah

References

Aga Khan University. (2006). Retrieved November 10, 2006, from

http://www.aku.edu/akuh/patientcare/pinfo/index.shtml

Baker, L. C., Wagner, T. H., Singer, S. J., & Bundorf, M. K. (2003).

Use of internet and e-mail for health care information: Results
from a national survey. Journal of the American Medical
Association, 289, 2400-2406.

Cline, R. J., & Haynes, K. M. (2001). Consumer health information

seeking on the internet: The state of the art. Health Education
Research: Theory & Practice, 16, 671-692.

Dawn Group of Newspapers (2006). Daily Dawn. Retrieved

November 01, 2006, from
http://www.dawn.com/weekly/dmag/dmag.htm

Greenberg, L., D’andrea, G., & Lorence, D. (2004). Setting the

public agenda for online health search: A white paper and
action agenda. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 6 (2), e-
18.

Harris, J. (2006).Report on national assessment of consumer

health information demand and delivery.Retreived on
September 18, 2006, from
http://odphp.osophs.dhhs.gov/harris.htm

Jang Group of Newspapers. (2006).Daily Jang. Retrieved

November 03, 2006, from
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/nov2006-weekly/sunmag-12-11-
2006/page6.htm

Medisure. (2006). Retrieved November 08, 2006, from

www.medisure.com.pk

Ministry of Health, Government of Pakistan. (2006). Retrieved

November 07, 2006, from http://www.health.gov.pk

73
Online Consumer Health Information in Pakistan

Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan. (2005-2006)

Economic Survey 2005-06: Islamabad: The Ministry.

Musharraf, P. (2006). In the line of fire: A memoir. London: Simon

& Schuster.

Pakdoctor. (2006). Retrieved November 06, 2006, from

www.pakdoctor.com

Pakmedinet. (2006). Retrieved September 25, 2006, from

www.pakmedinet.com

Rees, A. M. (1998) Consumer health information: Source book.

Phoenix, AZ: The Oryx Press.

Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre.

(2006). Retrieved November 06, 2006, from
http://www.shaukatkhanum.org.pk/cancer_facts.htm

Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation. (2006). Retrieved

November 02, 2006, from
http://www.siut.org/Patient_Information.htm.

The Symmetry. Internet in Pakistan. Retrieved November 02,

2006, from http://www.thesymmetry.com/internet-in-
pakistan.php

Telemedpak. (2006). Retrieved October 26, 2006, from

www.telmedpak.com

74
 ABSTRACT

Ansari, Muneera N. (2007). Information needs and information

seeking behavior of the media practitioners in Pakistan.
Unpublished PhD thesis. University of Karachi, Karachi.

This study focuses attention on the information needs and

information seeking behavior of the media practitioners (MPs) in
Karachi. Information need is felt when an individual comes to know
that his knowledge is not enough or is insufficient subject. When a
user recognizes an information need, he consults an information
system, library or interpersonal source for satisfaction of his need.
These actions constitute his information seeking behavior. Media
Practitioners (MPs) are the staff members of mass media i.e.
radio, television and newspaper involved in professional activities.

Objectives of the study are to explore and understand the nature

of information needs of media practitioners in Karachi. A very
formatted and empirical effort has been made to:

1. Identify various types of information sources in use by

the media practitioners in Karachi, 2. Examine how MPs learn to
know about the existence of various information sources, 3.
Explore the reasons and factors that motivate these media
practitioners to seek and consume information 4. Find out various
sources and information channels used by these media
practitioners in Karachi, 5. Find out how these MPs use and
disseminate information once they get it, and 6. Suggest research
based principles for improvement in the quality of acquisition and
collection of information through libraries.

Sample consisted of 185 MPs selected randomly from four local

media houses i.e. radio, television, newspapers, news agencies. A
questionnaire was developed as the instrument for data collection.
Data were gathered through structured interview. For analysis of
data sampled participants were grouped into five categories i.e. 1.
Complete Sample 2. Media house wise i.e. television, radio and

75
Information Needs and Info. Seeking Behavior of Media Practitioners

newspapers/ news agencies 3. Policy makers, policy executors

and workers 4. Participants working in fields, on desks and those
who work on both and 5. According to beats.

Results obtained from this study indicate that reports of various

organizations, government departments, NGOs and assignment
committees, etc. are the form of information that are used and
sought most often. After the reports come original documents,
tables and graphs, etc.

Most of the practitioners require selective information

rather than exhaustive type. Feature writers, producers of
research oriented programs and policy executors look for
exhaustive information. For all groups of media practitioners,
belonging to any type of mass communication, priority of
information is very high.

Internet is the channel, which is being used increasingly by

media practitioners; however, practitioners working in the fields
use other library services more than Internet. Quite surprisingly,
the use of libraries among radio practitioners was found to be
particularly low. Use of Internet among newspaper practitioners is
high as compared to radio and T.V. practitioners. Majority of the
practitioners require reference service but media house libraries
seldom provide this service. Newspaper clipping service is also
needed by all groups of practitioners. Library and Internet are the
channels of information, which are mostly used by all group of
practitioners. Most of the practitioners mentioned reading of book
reviews published in newspapers to know the existence of an
information source.

All practitioners read periodicals regularly to keep

themselves informed about current affairs and events. They collect
information in libraries by asking the librarian or searching the
shelves. They also consult colleagues to know whether needed
information exists somewhere in some form. Generally they go to
a library, which is nearest to their office or home. Information
seeking behavior of the practitioners involved in research-based
programs was found to be very distinct than others.

76
 Department of LIS at a Glance:
From PJLIS 2006 onward

Shafiq-ur-Rehman*

Mr. Afzal Haq Qarshi, Assistant Professor and Incharge of the

Dept. got retired on 15 November 2005 after a long spell of
commendable services to the department and students. The DLIS
arranged a grand farewell party to pay him tribute. It is worth
reminding to the readers that he initiated the publishing of PJLIS in
1995 with the title “Pakistani Librarian.”

Dr. Khalid Mahmood joined the Dept. as Associate Professor on

April 23, 2005 and as Chairman on May 25, 2006. The position
has been filled after a very long period

Research

PhD Under old system

Ms. Umera Shah, Assistant Professor, DLIS, is working on her

PhD thesis entitled “A model for public library system in Pakistan”
under the supervision of Dr. Khalid Mahmood.

Regular MPhil Leading to PhD Program

Four students, Farzana Shafiq, Muhammad Rafiq, Nosheen

Fatima and Shafiq ur Rehman, from the first batch of MPhil
leading to PhD Program have been converted into PhD Program.

MPhil

The Doctoral Program Committee of the DLIS approved the

research proposal of the following students for MPhil study:

*
Senior Librarian Research, Hailey College of Banking & Finance,
University of the Punjab and PhD Student at DLIS

77
Department of LIS at a Glance

Mian Muhammad Ilyas (Resource sharing model for libraries);

Muzamil Tahira (Information need and seeking behavior of

science & technology teachers of Punjab University);

Muhammad Arif (The role of libraries in distance learning: A case

of Allama Iqbal Open University).

Publications

Following articles of different faculty members and students have

been published during this period:

Dr. Khalid Mahmood

Mahmood, K., Hameed, A., & Haider, S. J. (2006). Alternative

funding model for libraries in Pakistan. Research Journal
University of Balochistan, 4 (1), 127-136.

Mahmood, K., Hameed, A., & Haider, S. J. (2006). Funding

dilemma in Pakistani libraries: Causes, effects, responses.
Pakistan Journal of Library & Information Science, 7, 33-56.

Mahmood, K., Hameed, A., & Haider, S. J. (2006). How library

leaders perceive about funding dilemma in Pakistani libraries.
Pakistan Library & Information Science Journal, 37 (2), 4-13.

Mahmood, K., Hameed, A., & Haider, S. J. (2006). Libraries in

Pakistan: A systemic study. Library Review, 55 (1), 20-34.

Haider, S. J., & Mahmood, K. (2006). Post - master LIS education

at Punjab University (Lahore). Pakistan Library and
Information Science Journal, 37 (3), 3-8.

Sharif, A., & Mahmood, K. (2006). A citation analysis of Pakistan

Economic and Social Review. Research Journal: Social
Sciences, 1 (4), 1-12.

78
 Shafiq-ur-Rehman

Haider, S. J., & Mahmood, K. (2007). MPhil and PhD library and
information science research in Pakistan: an evaluation.
Library Review, 56 (5), 407-417.

Dr. Kanwal Ameen

Ameen, K. & Haider, S. J. (2007). Evolving paradigm and

challenges of collection management (CM) in university
libraries of Pakistan. Collection Building, 26 (2), 54-58.

Ameen, K. (2006). Challenges of preparing LIS professionals for

leadership roles in Pakistan. Journal of Education in Library
and Information Science, 47 (2), 200-217.

Ameen, K. (2006). From acquisition to collection management:

Mere semantic or reflection of expanded framework.
Collection Building, 25 (2), 56-60.

Ameen, K. (2006). Marketing of library and information services in

Pakistan: A Profile. In D. K. Gupta, et al. (Eds.), Marketing
Library and Information Services: International Perspectives
(pp. 111-119). Munchen: K.G. Saur.

Ameen, K. (2006). University libraries in Pakistan and status of

collection management policy: Views of library managers.
Library Collections, Acquisitions, and Technical Services, 30
(3), 154-161.

MPhil Students

Bhatti, M. A., & Arif, M. (2006). Information science distance

education and continuing professional development in
Pakistan. Library Review, 55 (5), 307-313.

Khan, M. F., & Ahmad, P. (2007). University library services in

Pakistan: A survey. Pakistan Library and Information Science
Journal, 38 (1), 3-10.

79
Department of LIS at a Glance

Ahmad, P. (2007). LIS education in Pakistan at post-graduate

level. Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal, 38
(2), 12-23.

Papers/Presentations

Dr. Khalid Mahmood

1. “ICT Skills for Library Professionals” in a workshop organized

by International Islamic Medical College, Rawalpindi, Dec. 5-6,
2006.

2. “Electronic Library Tools” in a workshop organized by the

DLIS, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Sep. 20-21, 2006.

3. “Multilingual Library & Information Management System

(MLIMS) Training Workshop” organized by the University of
the Punjab Library, Lahore, May 30 – June 2, 2006.

4. “Improvement of Standards of Libraries in Pakistan” in a

seminar organized by the Quaid-e-Azam Library, Lahore, May
8, 2006.

Dr. Kanwal Ameen

1. “LIS Education in Pakistan: An overview” in a conference on

“Curriculum Development for the 21st Century,” organized by
DLIS, Punjabi University, Patiala, India, November 3-6, 2006.

2. “Challenges of Preparing LIS Professionals for Leadership

Roles in Pakistan: An analysis of the status” at Asia-pacific
Conference on Library and Information Education & Practice
(A-LIEP), at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore,
April 2006.

3. Participated in 72nd IFLA Conference on “Libraries: Dynamic

Engines for the Knowledge and Information Society”
conference organized by 72nd IFLA Conference, August 20-
24, 2006, South Korea.

80
 Shafiq-ur-Rehman

4. “Role of Marketing in Libraries of Pakistan” in 17th All Pakistan

Library Conference on the “Role of Libraries in 21st Century”
organized by the PLA, Islamabad, March 26-28, 2007.

5. “Marketing Orientation/Knowing Marketing” in one day

workshop on Marketing of LIS in Pakistan organized by DLIPU
on 28th February 2007.

Guest Lectures

1. Mr. Shahzad Siddiqui, Librarian, King Fahad University of

Petroleum & Minerals, Dahran, Saudi Arabia delivered a
lecture to MPhil students on “Librarianship Abroad” on 21st
August, 2006.

2. Dr. Abdus Sattar Chaudhry, Head, Information Division,

School of Communication and Information Studies, Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore addressed on the “Role of
supervisor in research” on 19th December, 2006.

3. Prof. Dr. Mumtaz Ali Anwar University of Kuwait delivered a

lecture on “Research Ethics” on 9th August, 2006.

4. Mr. Muhammad Zafarullah, Assistant Professor, College of Art

& Design, PU delivered a lecture to MLIS students on
“Information Needs and Seeking Behavior of Artists” on 24th
January, 2007.

5. Mr. Farrukh Ameen, Officer, Human Resource Operation, Sui

Northern Gas, Lahore delivered a presentation on
“Fundamentals of Business Communication” on 14th May,
2007 to the PhD students.

81
Department of LIS at a Glance

Continuing Professional Development

1. A two-day workshop on “Automated Technical Services in

Libraries” for students of MPhil Leading to PhD Program (2005
and 2006 sessions) was held at DLIS PU on 16-17 March,
2007. The Resource persons were Mr. Muhammad Ajmal
Khan, Mr. Shafiq-ur-Rehman, Mr. Muhammad Rafiq and Mr.
Nadeem Siddique.

2. A two-day workshop on “Electronic Library Tools” was held on

20-21 September, 2006. Dr. Khalid Mahmood, Muhammad
Ajmal Khan, Shafiq-ur-Rehman, Muhammad Rafiq, and
Nadeem Siddique were among the resource persons.

3. A one-day workshop on “Marketing of Library and Information

Services” was held on 28th February 2007. This was the first
ever workshop in Pakistan on this topic. Mr. Muhammad Taj,
Chief Librarian of Quaid-e-Azam Library, and Dr. Ehsan Malik,
Director, PU Institute of Business Administration were the chief
guests. Dr. Kanwal Ameen, Farzana Shafique and Nosheen
Fatima were among the resource persons.

4. A one-day seminar on “LIS Career Counseling” was organized

on 7th February, 2007. The resource persons were Dr.
Muhammad Ramzan, Chief Librarian, Lahore University of
Management Sciences (LUMS), Ch. Muhammad Hanif, Chief
Librarian, PU Library, Dr. Khalid Mahmood and Dr. Kanwal
Ameen.

Panel Discussion on Revival of Library Associations in Pakistan

Dr. Kanwal Ameen coordinated a panel discussion as part of

MPhil coursework on “Role of Library Associations in Pakistan” in
March 2006. The office bearers of different library associations
were invited for discussion regarding revival of PLA and other local
library associations. The participants and MPhil students
discussed the stagnated situation of associations and suggested

82
 Shafiq-ur-Rehman

many viable measures for the revival of PLA and other

associations.

Panel Discussions on MLIS Curriculum

Keeping in view the rapidly changing market trends, strengths and

weaknesses of existing curriculum, two focus group meetings on
MLIS curriculum were held. One in the DLIS on January 15, 2007
and the other in the National Library of Pakistan, Islamabad on
May 24, 2007. The renowned and senior library experts attended
the meetings. The panel discussed in details the needed contents
and implementation strategies of new curriculum. In the light of
recommendations of these panel discussions the department will
very soon revise its curriculum.

Meeting of MPhil and PhD Students with

Prof. Dr. Syed Jalaluddin Haider

A meeting of MPhil and PhD scholars and doctoral committee

faculty members of DLIS was held at National Library of Pakistan
with Prof. Dr. Syed Jalaluddin Haider on March 27, 2007 during
PLA conference. Dr. Haider guided the researchers regarding their
studies and answered different questions of young researchers in
the light of his vast foreign and local experience.

Professional Activities Outside the DLIS

1. 17th PLA Conference

Students of MPhil leading to PhD session 2005 and 2006

along with Dr. Khalid Mahmood, Dr. Kanwal Ameen and Miss
Umera Shah actively participated in 17th All Pakistan Library
Conference on the “Role of Libraries in 21st Century,”
Islamabad, March 26-28, 2007. Dr. Kanwal Ameen, Mr.
Shafiq-ur-Rehman (PhD Student) and Mr. Pervaiz Ahmad
presented papers which were very well attended and much
appreciated.

83
Department of LIS at a Glance

2. Dr. Khalid Mahmood and Dr. Kanwal Ameen participated in a

panel discussion held on 18-19 September, 2006 to celebrate
the Golden Jubilee of the Department of Library and
Information Science, University of Karachi.

3. The Daily “Jinnah” invited Dr. Kanwal Ameen and major PLA
(Punjab) office bearers in a panel discussion on the situation of
Libraries in Pakistan on April 6, 2007.

Scholarships/Grants

1. Dr. Kanwal Ameen was awarded HEC Scholarship twice to

participate in A-LIEP in Singapore in April 2006 and 72nd IFLA
Conference in South Korea in August 2006.

2. Mr. Khalid Mahmood Sangera student of MPhil leading to PhD

got HEC indigenous scholarship.

Developing Infrastructure

PC-1 worth Rs.42 millions for the construction of new building and
purchase of equipment, furniture, etc. for the department has been
submitted to higher authorities for approval.

The DLIS PU has installed its own Local Area Network with a
server and 35 nodes. High speed internet connectivity and HEC
digital resources are available in the library, computer lab, faculty
and staff offices and classrooms.

Library Developments

The departmental library other than the routine activities has made
some developments, i.e., use of Bar-codes for computerized
circulation, OPAC, Internet and air conditioning facilities.

84
 Call for Papers
Dear ones:
You are encouraged to send your papers for the next issue.
Following section gives an overview of the journal and its policy for
your kind information.

Instructions to Authors
All material should be sent exclusively to the PJLIS. Work which
has already been reported in a published paper or is described in
a paper sent or accepted elsewhere for publication should not be
submitted.

Paper submission: Manuscripts must be typed in font 12 on one

side of single A4 or letter size, white, good quality paper, double-
spaced throughout, including the reference section. One hard copy
of a manuscript, in addition to an electronic version by email at
[email protected], must be submitted. Length of the
manuscript should not exceed more than 15 pages including
references (approximately 5000 words). Contributor’s name,
telephone and fax numbers, and email addresses must be given
only on the cover page of manuscript.

Abstract: Papers must be accompanied by an abstract not

exceeding 100-150 words and along with maximum of five
keywords. It should be embedded in simple language setting forth
the objectives of the study and the results achieved.

Tables and figures, with title, should be typed on a separate page.

References: References must be normally given at the end of text

following APA Publication Manual (5th ed., 2001). For details of
how to cite references please check the following link:
http://www.wooster.edu/psychology/apa-crib.html

Write for any queries to the Chief Editor at [email protected]

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