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Abstract

Library education in Pakistan started in 1915. The first library school at a university level in Asia was set up in the area that is now Pakistan. In spite of a long history, library education in the country does not fulfill the needs of the new information era. This paper gives an account of efforts made to impart education and training of information technology (IT) at six library schools in Pakistan. It presents a brief history of library education in the country, and describes the rationale of IT education for Pakistani librarians. It provides recommendations for improvement in IT training, discussing factors involved in LIS education, such as curriculum, faculty, teaching methods. hardware and software facilities, continuing education, and documentation. Finally, it suggests how IT education can be started with low budgets in Pakistani library schools.
... In the study we therefore focus on the standardization and uniformity of curricula's for the program Master in Library and Information Science (MLIS). Mahmood (1997) also explains the curricula's in terms of "Every good educational program need strong curriculum". For this purpose Higher Education Commission (HEC) Islamabad also call a meeting in 1995 to discuss the MLIS curricula's of LIS schools in Pakistan. ...
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ABSTRACT: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare Pakistani LIS schools curricula with Higher Education Commission designed curriculum for LIS schools in Pakistan. The paper identified the most common course titles and the most unique course titles taught in Pakistani LIS schools. Design/methodology/approach – The author requested to the responsible focal persons of the LIS schools in Pakistan through personal phone calls and emails and collects the data through email and personal visits of LIS schools. Findings–The paper finds gaps of LIS schools curricula’s, most common course titles and the most unique titles. Practical implications–The paper helps in the design of LIS schools curricula according to the market needs. It also enables the higher authorities to know their LIS schools status on the world level. It helps in the LIS schools accreditation at International level. Originality/value – The study shows level of LIS schools with the help of course titles they offered. It is the first comprehensive study and based on pure research. Keywords – Curriculum, LIS Schools Curricula, LIS Education in Pakistan, Development of Education, Uniformity of LIS Education Paper type – Research paper
... Teachers contribute papers on the subject of information technology to various conferences and professional journals, inside and outside the country. Khalid (1996g) outlines some proposals to start information technology education in Pakistani library schools with no increase in costs. In addition to the usual faculty at schools, computer science teachers at the universities and working librarians can be hired for teaching library automation. ...
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Computer technology in libraries has revolutionised the concept of rapid and accurate information services. In Pakistan, though, computer technology is new and is being successfully introduced in all types of libraries and information centres. This article reviews the literature on the use of computers in Pakistan’s libraries. The literature includes monographs, journal articles, reports, etc. published inside and outside Pakistan, discussing information technology, specific library applications, the activities of individual libraries and automation education. The need for library automation and the problems faced by Pakistani professionals in this respect are also discussed.
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Purpose – In addition to quantitative analysis, the purpose of this paper is to measure the quality of articles published in foreign LIS journals by Pakistani authors based on their Impact Factor (IF) scores reported in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) of 2010; also to discuss the significance and implications of this study for the current and potential authors in Pakistan and other developing countries. Design/methodology/approach – The data for this study were collected from two sets of sources: first, online sources of Google Scholar, LISA, LISTA, an online 50‐year cumulative index of Pakistani LIS literature, and web pages of several authors; and second, printed indexes and bibliographies. The data collected were manually entered into MS Excel for tabulation and created nine tables, which formed the basis of discussion in the paper. Findings – The contribution of Pakistani authors to foreign LIS journals is reasonable in number and below average in quality, according to the JCR IF scores. The authorship patterns show that there is a shift from single‐authorship to collaborative authorship. The contribution of academics is several times higher than that of library practitioners. Likewise the non‐resident Pakistani authors' share in the global LIS literature is much larger as compared to their counterparts living in Pakistan. Originality/value – This is the first study that evaluates the quality of Pakistani LIS literature using the more popular journal ranking method, JCR IF. The results of this study are expected to have a positive impact on Pakistani authors as they start preparing articles according to the quality requirements of JCR‐ranked journals in the future.
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This paper presents bio-bibliometric analysis of the contributions of Dr. Khalid Mahmood in the field of Library and Information Science through his publications. The analysis includes geographical and year wise distribution of publications; collaboration for publication; publications by type; language and journal preferences for the publication; and coverage of different subject areas. Results of the study indicate that Dr. Khalid Mahmood is a prolific writer in the field of library and information science. He contributed 115 items including 99 articles, six books, eight conference papers and two papers in newsletters till December 31, 2011. Research work by Dr. Khalid Mahmood is well accepted in developed countries like United Kingdom and United States of America. He used English language to disseminate majority of his research work. He believes in teamwork and about two third of his research work was result of collaboration.
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