ISLAMABAD: Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has upgraded its central library that will be the country’s most modern one while meeting the academic research needs of the students.
Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Shahid Siddiqui while inaugurating a two-day capacity-building training workshop of the library staff pledged that the university’s twenty-four regional offices will have the same facility.
During the training, the participants from the regional offices will use digital resources and library technology for an effective and efficient management of the library network.
This is the part of the library and books’ reading culture being promoted by the university to overcome the knowledge-gap that could help the country to come at par with the developed nations in the educational sector, he added.
Dr Siddiqui said the promotion of library culture was his main focus. Now, the central, as well as the regional libraries, are well-equipped with a modernised and automation system.
Currently, the central library is considered the best in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. It is also open to general public, and the university provides best library facilities to the readers through an online automatic digital system as well.
The books’ data of the library has been made operational through an advanced software system. There is an automatic system for the circulation of books among the readers, and a radio frequency identification system has also been introduced for the safety of the books.
The vice chancellor said the AIOU’s library is the first-ever in the country which has scanned around 4,000 theses of PhD, MPhil, and Masters’, and has made them available to the students with full text, through an online digital system.
The inaugural session was also addressed by Dean Social Sciences Dr Samina Awan, Dean Sciences Dr Zafar Ilyas and Director Regional Services Dr Arif Saleem Arif.
