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Libraries in major universities in Lebanon.

Al Khatib, Sahar; Johnson, Ian M.

Authors

Sahar Al Khatib

Ian M. Johnson



Abstract

This paper puts the contemporary situation of some Lebanese university libraries in a broader context. It introduces the country, and outlines its higher education system, library science education, professional association, and publishing activity. It reviews the varying situations in the libraries of 3 selected Universities - the American University of Beirut, the Beirut Arab University and the Lebanese University, and contrasts this with other university libraries in the Arab world. It adds to the body of published knowledge about the current situation in respect of management, staffing, buildings, automation, information retrieval, bibliographic records, online and CD databases, and document delivery. The limited published information was supplemented by interviews with a number of staff to elicit their views on the current situation and a survey of students experiences of using the libraries. With the exception of the American University of Beirut, the libraries facilities and services are not comparable to best practice in other Arab countries or the western world. This work highlighted some of the difficulties encountered by the libraries and their users, perhaps not entirely the result of the civil war, but indicates that plans are in place to take the libraries to the next step of development.

Citation

AL-KHATIB, S. and JOHNSON, I.M. 2001. Libraries in major universities in Lebanon. Libri [online], 51(4), pages 209-224. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1515/LIBR.2001.209

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 31, 2001
Online Publication Date Dec 31, 2001
Publication Date Dec 31, 2001
Deposit Date May 20, 2014
Publicly Available Date May 20, 2014
Journal Libri
Print ISSN 0024-2667
Electronic ISSN 1865-8423
Publisher De Gruyter Open
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 51
Issue 4
Pages 209-224
DOI https://doi.org/10.1515/LIBR.2001.209
Keywords Lebanon; Higher education institutions; Libraries
Public URL http://hdl.handle.net/10059/975

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