DHAHRAN: The Kingdom is well on the way to creating electronic libraries in all major universities. "This is the goal set by the deans of university libraries who convened here late last month for their annual workshop," said Talal H. Maghrabi, dean of library affairs at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM).
Maghrabi said digital university libraries are a global trend and an increasingly important part of education all over the world. The Kingdom's universities will not overlook this important development, he added.
"The printed words - the e-book - will last and remain, not only because it is already here, but because it continues to stay as the leading preference in the global education system," Maghrabi said. Of the 11 universities in the Kingdom under the Ministry of Higher education, eight have electronic libraries and receive digital textbooks, reference materials, and journals.
He said digitalized libraries must now be adopted because digital archives are the future of libraries, particularly those within the university environment.
According to Maghrabi, the eight Saudi universities with electronic libraries are linked to international publishers, media organizations, and some printers.
He said electronic sources of books and other educational printing materials supply Saudi universities with the latest editions more quickly than they can by shipping printed copies.
"The library consortium has been established in the Kingdom among state-owned and managed universities to get better prices in the purchase of textbooks and other reading materials from international supplies," Maghrabi said.
He said textbook prices can be better negotiated if all Saudi universities are united in demanding price concessions with suppliers.
"Consortium subscriptions to the Internet-based, full-text and bibliographic databases are now implemented by university libraries in order to get better deals," Maghrabi explained.
Maghrabi said the Saudi library consortium is also being expanded to include the other Gulf universities. "A Gulf library consortium is now being planned, which will have total membership of 36 universities from all the GCC," he said.
Participants in the annual deans of libraries workshop also underscored the sad state of current manpower in Saudi university libraries. Mohammad Ahmed Basaqr of UM Al-Qura University and Sami Mohammad Al-Amounted, assistant dean of library affairs at King Saud University, said that Saudi library personnel is still inadequate to meet the requirements of universities.
There is a big imbalance in the ratio of skilled Saudi librarians versus the number of students and users of university libraries, Basaqr and Hamoud stated in their separate presentations.
Maghrabi said workshop participants cited three reasons for the shortage. First, there is a shortage of qualified Saudis who are educated in library science; second, universities are not funding the training Saudis need to become librarians and library managers; third, there are few Saudi librarians are bilingual in both Arabic and English.
KFUPM hosted the annual workshop, which was attended by the deans of library affairs from Al Qassim University, Imam Mohammad Al-Saud University, Islamic University in Madinah, King Abdulaziz University, King Faisal University, King Khaled University, King Saud University, UM Al-Qura University and KFUPM.
By Joe Avancena
© The Saudi Gazette 2006
