ISLAMIC STATES: E-networking among universities

Heads of university central libraries have recommended the establishment of a strategic alliance between the central libraries of universities in Islamic countries to help promote scientific research and teaching and improve computer literacy among students and teachers.

It would be created through the electronic networking of the member universities of Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World, FUIW.

The library heads also called for cooperation in the development of standardised bibliographical databases and indexes, ensuring the downloading of manuscripts and rare books, and providing technical services such as inter-borrowing, exchange and photocopying.

The recommendations were made during the first regional conference of the heads of the central libraries of the universities of the Islamic world held in Cairo, Egypt, in December under the theme "Towards a strategic alliance for building knowledge societies". More than 100 heads of libraries or their representatives attended from Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Niger, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

In a parallel development, the US GIST initiative is currently working with counterparts in the Islamic world - Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia - to develop a US$1.5 million Maghreb Digital Science Library (DSL) that is comprehensive, easy to use, financially sustainable, and innovative. The DSL will build capacity for knowledge resource systems by improving access to information, technology and training.

At the Islamic countries level, the Inter-Library Resource Network Service was established two years ago. The main objective of this service is to create a network of libraries that can share their journal holdings with the scientific community of the Islamic states and provide free photocopies of research articles to active research scientists. The updated list - comprising more than 28,000 journal holdings from 48 major libraries spread across the Islamic world - is now available.

At the national level, Saudi Arabia has launched a research database, which contains abstracts of research projects and CVs of Saudi Arabian researchers. The information contained in the database is available to anyone who has completed a free registration process.

Qatar is also sharing its scientific research in an online database to promote international and regional scientific collaboration. It is a repository of 37 years - from 1970 to 2007 - of Qatari science and technology research in a range of disciplines and also includes abstracts of masters and PhD theses.

Tarek Saif, a researcher at Egypt's National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, said the problem was that most Arab and Islamic universities libraries did not have databases about their research.

"Thus, universities must first make their research more accessible by placing information about it, including summaries of research projects and any results to emerge from them, on easily searchable electronic databases," he said.

A regional database could then be built up from national databases already established within universities such as the ones located in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Saif said.

Abdulkader Alfantookh, Saudi Arabia IT senior consultant and deputy minister of higher education for planning and information, said the creation of an alliance of libraries would be a vital step for knowledge transfer and sharing among universities.

"Ideally, in the long run, this e-networking among Islamic universities must expand beyond Islamic world borders and network with similar initiatives around the world - namely, Worldwide Universities Network, Global University Network for Innovation and the Global Academic Innovation Network to leverage experience and learning to create economic and social value," he said.