A study of the factors involved in the development of information technology in higher education libraries in the Arab countries with special reference to Kuwait

• Main Author: Al-Anzi, Khalid Sghayyer
• Published: De Montfort University 1995
• Subjects: 020; Information science & librarianship
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.390979

The developed countries are_moving swiftly and steadily towards electronic information handling and exchange. The speed of this progress needs to be matched in Higher Education libraries in the Arab countries to cope with the advancement of research and scientific activity. There are hundreds of academic libraries in Arab countries with an enormous wealth of library collections and a rapid growth of potential library users. This study aims to investigate the main factors involved in the development of IT, Arabisation, cooperation and telematics, in the AC Higher Education libraries with special reference to Kuwait. Kuwait has suffered severely owing to the Iraqi invasion in August 1990. Most of its Higher Education libraries are in the process of being rebuilt. Therefore, this study comes at a suitable time to analyse the requirements for the implementation of IT at this stage. critical literature review has been carried out to examine the three main aspects namely,, IT, Arabisation, cooperation and telematics. A questionnaire survey was conducted inselected university libraries in AC. A field work study and a comprehensive survey including questionnaires, interviews and observations, were conducted in the Higher Education libraries in Kuwait specif icallY. This included a detailed study of user opinions, regarding IT, Arabised library system and cooperation and telematics The study shows that university libraries in AC are still at an early stage in the development of IT, Arabisation and cooperation and telematics and most of the progress in this field is to be found in certain GCC countries. Although KU and PAAET are the only two Higher Educational institutes in Kuwait their libraries lack IT, Arabisation and cooperation and telematics. Library users are dissatisfied with the current traditional library system and services being used and offered in these libraries. Both librarians and library users, although they have limited IT backgrounds, have high expectations and positive attitudes to the importance of -the above IT facilities for improving their library services. The study identifies the main critical issues affecting IT, Arabisation and cooperation and telematics in Kuwait Higher Education libraries and explores possible solutions and practical recommendations. This study also considers whether the results of the Kuwait study could be generalised to apply to other similar Arab countries