SPECIAL LIBRARIES Reham Al-Issa 1. INTRODUCTION
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457 SPECIAL LIBRARIES Reham Al-Issa 1. INTRODUCTION This chapter examines the state of special libraries and information centers in se- lected nations of the Asian Arab world including six countries of the Gulf Coop- eration Council (GCC) namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emir- ates, Oman and Qatar will be reviewed. Special libraries in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine have also been examined. The approach used is that the country’s special libraries have been examined for selected variables of overview and history, re- sources, human resources, automation and IT use, and other pertinent aspects of marketing and quality management. 1.1 Definition and Scope A special library is a library that is not classified as an academic, school or a pub- lic library. Some examples of special libraries include medical libraries, corporate libraries, and museum libraries. The term information centers is also used inter- changeably with special library. The special library deals with specific patrons, and a specialized type of information. Special libraries have existed in the Arab world for quite a while and have continued developing both gradually and pro- gressively. They are usually part of corporate organizations, ministries and gov- ernmental agencies, and other public or private enterprises. 1.2 Overview Generally speaking, special libraries in the region have not flourished as gener- ously as other types of libraries and the funding in many cases has been limited. Very few of them have been patterned along the standards and norms of special li- braries in the West. Human resource polices have also greatly varied from one li- brary to another. One common denominator found among these libraries is an em- phasis on English language in their resource development and service policies and practices. Iraqi occupation of Kuwait stalled the development and growth of special librar- ies in Kuwait and other libraries in the neighboring countries. Salem (1992) exam- ined the state of eight special libraries in Kuwait and their situation after the Iraqi occupation and reported that the estimated cost of damage to these eight libraries was two million Kuwaiti Dinars. The library that was hit the hardest was the Na- tional Scientific and Technological Information Center (NSTIC); also know to be the most technologically advanced and rich in terms of its collection in the region. There are a number of special libraries in various sectors of finance and invest- ment, trade, industry, research and health and law libraries that have been devel- oped. Notable examples of these include NSTIC of KISR, health and law libraries 458 Reham Al-Issa of Kuwait University, Central bank of Kuwait library, and libraries in petroleum companies. Al-Babtain Library is the latest addition and it is dedicated to Arabic poetry and related arts. This library is the world’s first library specializing in Ara- bic poetry. Its uniqueness stems from the interests of its founder and owner, poet Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain, who wanted the library to be a unique resource on the subject. In Saudi Arabia, the majority of special libraries belong to governmental agen- cies. They are expected to provide crucial support to their parent organizations (Siddiqi 1995). Special libraries in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have extensive collections in respective areas of specialization. Additionally, they are well equipped electronically with the latest technology and databases. The libraries are well funded and are most often staffed by a professional librarian. According to Young and Ali (1992), there are around 65 special libraries in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and 24 of these libraries are part of governmental agencies and ministries. Bahrain also has 12 special libraries that are Embassy libraries. Specialized information centers such as the Bait al Qur’an for Quranic research, Bahrain Center for Studies and Research (BCSR), and the Bahrain Historical Document Center (BHDC) are among the well-known special libraries in Bahrain. International information centers such as the United Nations Information Center (UNIC), and the British Council Library (BLDSC), and the American Embassy USIS and Commercial Library are also based in Bahrain. The management of these centers is usually done by expatriates due to a lack of nationals who have a professional degree in librarianship. Qatar is a country encountering a boom in all aspects of education and econ- omy. The infrastructural development has been immense during the recent years. It is estimated that Qatar is the home of about 150 special libraries. Khalifa (1992) examined these libraries and found their state rather discouraging. They are mostly lacking in substance and quality and are considered a place to house small collec- tions. The overall organization and management of these information centers was also found to be poor. Most of the special libraries in Qatar are part of Ministries or government organizations. Some of the best special libraries in Qatar include the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consultations, Al Diwan Al Amiri, the Minis- try of Foreign Affairs, just to name a few. The Gulf Organization for Industrial Consultations was founded in 1976 and is regarded as the best information center in Qatar because of its rich collection. Al-Mufaraji (1992) reported that there are four major special libraries in Oman. He also mentioned that 22 of such libraries existed in government departments and ministries. He found that these libraries generally lacked in organization and management. The deficiencies were attrib- uted to the absence of professional librarians. Libraries located within corporate setup included the Central Bank of Oman Library, the Oman Mining Company Middle East: Special Libraries 459 Library, the Oman Institute of Bankers, and the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry Library. Little information was available in literature about special libraries in Syria, Amman, Palestine and Lebanon. The earliest special libraries in Syria were founded in during 1950’s. A number of such libraries are located in government departments. Primary purpose of these libraries is reported to be supporting offi- cial work and academic and research activities. These are also reported to support cultural activities, typical of the nature of Syrian government and society. (Al- Laham 1992) In Jordan as well, early special libraries were instituted back in 1950s. Subeihi (2001) reported the development of ten special libraries during this phase. It is re- ported that by the end of the 20th century, Jordan had a total of 104 special librar- ies out of a total of 1527 libraries. A main motivator for the progress in Amman is the Jordanian Library Association (JLA), which was established in 1963. The as- sociation has contributed toward cultivating professionalism “in these libraries. The association has been conducting training courses, issuing a quarterly newslet- ter (Risalat Al-Maktaba), hosting conferences and seminars, and cooperating with sister agencies in the region. Thus has contributed to the development of special libraries as well. Bergan (2000) conducted a survey in 1996 and reported the existence of 295 li- braries in Palestine, one third of which are supposed to be special in nature. Of these 295 over 100 are special libraries (Bergan 2000). It was maintained that ma- jority of these libraries are rich in their collection and usually have a high number of users from the organization they serve. According to the researcher these insti- tutions also have a symbolic expression of the will of the people in these countries. Some notable examples of these institutions include Women’s Studies Center Li- brary, Human Right Organization Library, and the Arab Studies Society in Orient House (Bergan 2000). 2. RESOURCES The collections in the special libraries of this region vary in size and scope accord- ing to the role and status of the library itself and its parent organization. In Kuwait, (Al-Ansari, 2008) surveyed 14 special libraries and reported that each of them had a collection of less than 15,000 volumes. Many of the special libraries in Kuwait have small monographic collections, typical about this type of libraries. In terms of journal subscriptions, majority of these libraries subscribed to less than 100 pe- riodical. The library with the richest collection in Kuwait and the GCC is the Health Center Library; it has the largest number of subscriptions to periodicals be- tween 750-1599. 460 Reham Al-Issa As a result of the Gulf war, many of the libraries were looted and burned; the total loss to special libraries was calculated to be about 2 million items at a cost of about 1.3 Kuwaiti Dinars. The center that was hit the hardest was National Scien- tific and Technological Center (NSTIC), another information center in Kuwait with an extensive collection. This center suffered great losses during the Gulf war, but the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research has formulated a strategic plan to rebuild and develop their collection, and they have been keeping in line with their strategic plan. (Salem, 1992) In Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco has a collection of over 55,000 volumes and 1,600 journal subscriptions. The average collection of 25 special libraries in Saudi Arabia is less than 10,000 volumes. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Tech- nology has a strong collection in research management, solar energy, nuclear en- ergy and related fields. In 1992 they had over 11,100 books, over 350,000 techni- cal reports (Microfiche) and over 60,000 source documents. At that time the li- brary subscribed to over 340 periodicals. They have also developed several data- bases to promote resource sharing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Al-Tasan 1992). In Bahrain, according to Young and Ali (1992) the College of Health Science, Al-Farsi Library (AFL) has the largest collection in the group of special libraries. Other sizable collections are reported in the Arabian Gulf University Medicine and Medical Science Library.