Buwayhid Library and its Management: A Historical Analysis

Like the ancient Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Roman library, Muslim library has been introduced from the early age of Islam in demand of time. In the meantime, the emergence of Hazrat Muhammad (Sm.) had started a new era of knowledge and science in Islam. From the very beginning of Islamic civilization many institutions were established and renowned intellectuals and scholars of different fields were associated with those institutions. They made various worthy researches for the development of Muslim knowledge and sciences, in badly need of many libraries. So after several years when the Muslims came closer to the Persian literature and Greek sciences the Islamic library started its journey in the 7th century. So, for the acquisition of knowledge Muslim library has been initiated from the very beginning of Islamic heritage which was started with the mosque though formally introduced by the Baitul Hikmah, by Abbasid khalifa Al-Mamun (813-833). Gradually by the expansion of Islam it was circulated in various countries of the world. In these process Buwayhid ruler came closer to the Abbasid and taught the process of establishing various royal, private and public library. After the inception of royal library the Buwayhid introduced various important functions such as, collection of books, preservation system, translation, cataloguing, inclusion and clarification of the books. Besides these, recruitment, promotion, management of archives and modern system of budgeting were also salient features of their library management. The present study is an attempt to analyze the nature of the Buwayhid royal, private and public libraries. The study will also cover exclusively its library management and its various administrative functions. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/el.v23i1.12120 Eastern Librarian Vol.23(1) 2012 pp.51-63

Status of Non-Government Public Libraries in Bangladesh

Public libraries are very important social organizations in building knowledge based society. There are two types of public libraries in Bangladesh i.e. Government public libraries and Non-Government public libraries. This article concentrates on the status of Non-Government public libraries in Bangladesh. There is very few literature on Non-Government public libraries in Bangladesh. Currently there are 972 Non-Government public libraries running in Bangladesh. In gathering data on Non-Government public libraries in Bangladesh, the Directory of Non-Government Public Libraries published by National Book Centre is considered. A Focus Group Discussion (FGD) has been conducted to acquire comprehensive information about the status of Non-Government public libraries in Bangladesh. Eventually some problems of Non-Government public libraries have been addressed and as remedial measures a number of recommendations have been put forward by the authors. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/el.v23i1.12119 Eastern Librarian Vol.23(1) 2012 pp.91-104

Changing Paradigms in Library Education: From Library Science to Information Science to Knowledge Science

The main objective of this paper is to explore the changes in library education in the context of the emergence of both ‘information science’ and ‘knowledge management’. This paper is based on the review of scientific literature published in books, journals, websites, and other secondary sources and on the author’s own viewpoints. The review discusses library science’s encounter with information science, and shows the changes in the paradigm of library science from library-orientation to information focus. In the context of renaming the discipline of library science as library and information science (LIS), this paper explores the curricular trends and the changes in the professional practice of librarianship. The discipline of LIS is now encountering with the emergence of knowledge management (KM), and is moving towards knowledge paradigm. The review also identifies some factors that influenced the change in library education and practice. The paper concludes with the prediction of a new discipline of “knowledge science” suggesting the renaming of library and information science as “library and knowledge science”. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/el.v23i1.12115 Eastern Librarian Vol.23(1) 2012 pp.1-23

The Determination of Value in Archival Science and the Ever Evolving Theories of Records Selection

The task of purging some records and retaining others for long term preservation in an archival repository has not been an easy one for records professionals. This task is even made more difficult by the fact that what is destroyed as useless by today’s standards can prove to be of invaluable use tomorrow. Ideally, archivists would want to keep everything to avoid such errors of judgment. However, the reality of limited storage facilities and the rate at which records are generated makes it impossible to preserve each and every record produced. This paper, co- authored by a graduate student and his mentor, discusses theories of records selection to help shape the difficult decisions of “to keep” and “what to eliminate” in an archival repository. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/el.v23i1.12116 Eastern Librarian Vol.23(1) 2012 pp.24-36

Use of Electronic Resources and its Impact: A Study of Dhaka University Library Users

This paper presents and analyses the status of electronic resources facilities and services provided by the Dhaka University Library (DUL). It also discusses the purpose of using e-resources, benefits, subject coverage status, overall user satisfactions, problems that are faced by DUL users while accessing e-resources and perceived impact of e-resources on users. Finally, it reports the results from questionnaire-based survey of e-resources use and its impact on DUL users. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/el.v23i1.12122 Eastern Librarian Vol.23(1) 2012 pp.74-90

The Journal of Poultry Science: An Analysis of Citation Pattern

This paper reports the results of the citation analysis of “The Journal of Poultry Science (JPS).” The major objectives of the study from the year 2001 to 2010 are to find out the authorship and citation patterns of articles appeared in the JPS. The total 425 articles were published during the period. Overall 13012 citations featuring 425 contributors have been made. Among the citations, journal articles accounted for 84%, books 8% and another’s 8%. The ratio of Author Self Citation to total citations is 1:16. The ratio of Journal Self Citation to total citations 1:58. It is also clear that majority of the documents 10102 (78%) cited in these issues were published not more than 20 years ago. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/el.v23i1.12121 Eastern Librarian Vol.23(1) 2012 pp.64-73

Measuring the Job Satisfaction of Female Library Professionals Working in the Health Libraries in Dhaka City

Job satisfaction is an important area to determine the view of the library professionals towards their job in the library. The study has been under taken to measure the level of job satisfaction of female health library professionals in Dhaka city and how do the job facets (MSQ, 1967) affect on job satisfaction of female health library professionals. There is a cross sectional observational study to see the level of job satisfaction among health library professionals. A standard questionnaire (MSQ, 1967) is used to measure the level of job satisfaction of the sample. The result shows that out of twenty job facets eleven facets are highly significant for the job satisfaction and nine facets quite insignificant for job satisfaction. The study shows independence, variety of work, social status of the job, supervision-human relation supervision-technical, moral values, authority, ability utilization, library policies and practices, scope of advancement, relation with co-workers, recognition of job done and achievement has significant effect on job satisfaction. Further more it noticed females are less satisfied at their job. Finally, the significant recommendations have been put forth to improve the level of job satisfaction of female health library professionals in Bangladesh. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/el.v23i1.12117 Eastern Librarian Vol.23(1) 2012 pp.37-50