Islamabad: 14 ^th, Jan, 2009

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has revised curriculum of Library and Information Sciences being taught at universities and Institutions of higher learning of Pakistan at graduate levels. In this regard a preliminary meeting of National Curriculum Revision Committee (NARC) of the HEC held recently at HEC Regional Centre, Lahore.

HEC is concerned to develop BS 4-year programme in all the subjects under a uniform template developed by experts for BS programme. The NCRC developed a framework for 4-year BS programme with a total of 133 credit hours which includes 25 credit hours for compulsory, 21 credit hours for general course from other disciplines, 30 credit hours for foundation courses, 43 credit hours for major and 12 credit hours for elective courses. The committee also recommended research project and internship as basic requirement of the programme.

All the members of the NCRC were of the view that this course would enable students to develop understanding about the “properties of literatures” in the field of Mathematics, Social Sciences, pure & applied sciences, Pakistan Studies and Islamic Studies. It would also inculcate skills about the research methodology and promote problem oriented skills in the field of Library and Information Sciences.

This new course in Library Science will introduce the young students to the new technologies of resource management and delivery. New trends in the library science especially Digital Library, e-resources and Library Automation Systems have been given special emphasis and specialized courses in this regard have been recommended. This would help in providing efficient and unrestricted access to the information the students & faculty may need in their studies and research.  

The committee also recommended to organize teachers training programmes at appropriate levels on the new areas of curriculum. The committee members expressed concern about the mushrooming growth of library science departments/institutes in the country and asked for some sort of control on standards so that quality should not suffer.

This NCRC meeting was attended by Ms. Azra Qureshi, Agha Khan University, Karachi; Ms. Shireen Gul Somroo, University of Sindh, Jamshoro; Ms. Khadija Ansari, University of Sindh, Jamshoro; Dr. Kanwal Amin, University of the Punjab, Lahore; Mr. Manzoor Anjum, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad; Ch. Muhammad Nazir, D.G. National Library, Islamabad; Syed Ghayour Hussain and some other prominent experts of the discipline.