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| April 19, 2003 | Saturday | Safar 16, 1424 |
Varsity students complain of poor library facilities
RAWALPINDI, April 18: University students have complained about non-availability of latest books and other facilities in the libraries of their institutions.
The libraries of the University of Arid Agriculture and Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) have thousands of books, journals and magazines, but most of these are old and not beneficial for the students.
Only the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) has a well-equipped library which has the latest books, new editions and recent journals. It also has no financial problems and has regular annual budget for purchasing new books and other latest material.
Nust has about 5,000 books mostly on professional disciplines as well as science, commerce, management, administration and other fields. It also arranges all the latest journals.
“We have no shortage of books. New books are arranged whenever a demand comes from the students or faculty members. We also have no budget constraints,” librarian Hafiz Noor said. About 30 per cent of the university students depend on library books, he added.
However, the library has inadequate computer facility. There are four computers that are used by the students by turn. However, only one computer has internet connection. This is of great inconvenience to the students, who have to wait for a long time for their turn.
The FJWU library has about 10,000 books, mostly related to the disciplines of English, economics, Islamic studies, behavioural sciences, communication studies, education, BSc software engineering, BSc honours and BSc computer science.
Ms Shazia, the librarian, said the library had the required number of books for the students.
She said the library arranged 300 books every year. “We buy books whenever there is a demand from the students. For a library, there is always room for more books,” she added.
The students, on the other hand, claimed that the library was neither spacious nor well-maintained. Most of us are unable to avail the facility because of limited capacity. We have to wait for months to get the books, they said.
The library has eight computers, but only limited number of students are able to benefit from the facility, they added.
The University of Arid Agriculture has about 30,000 books, mostly on the subjects taught in the university. However, these books are old.
The university had recently received a Rs2 million grant from the Punjab government. Out of this amount, about Rs1.6 million was fixed for the purchase of books, while the remaining for establishing a full-fledge information centre with computers and other necessary equipment.
The university finds it difficult to arrange the latest journals, especially international magazines, which contain research work on new discoveries, the overall in charge of the library affairs, Prof Zamarud, said.
The library has about six computers with internet facility. But, like other libraries, these are not sufficient for a large number of students. There is a need for more computers, each having internet facility.
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