Biographical Directory of Kuwait Librarians/Information Specialists

We are glad to let you know that two MLIS graduates (Asma J. Yaqoub and Alyaa Al-Mousawi) are working on a project under the supervision of professor Mumtaz Ali Anwar to prepare a bi-lingual (Arabic/English) biographical directory of LIS professionals in Kuwait. It will provide essential biographical and contact information about those who practice librarianship in Kuwait. Since no such work has been done in this area before, there is an urgent need to compile and publish it in print, electronically or both formats. It will be of interest to the general public and an essential tool for information specialists.

We have sent forms in both electronic and paper formats to a quite good number of librarians and information specialists. If you have not recieved your copy yet, please contact us as soon as possible. We urge you to participate in this project and encourage others to do the same. Your participation is valuable for the success of this project and would be most appreciated. If you need any clarification, feel free to contact us at
Asma_project@hotmail.com
Alyaa_project@hotmail.com

يسرنا أن نعلمكم أننا بصدد إعداد دليل ثنائي اللغة (عربي/انجليزي) خاص بأخصائيي المكتبات و المعلومات في الكويت. كما نود أن نحيطكم علما بأن هذا الدليل سيغطي كافة المعلومات الخاصة بالسيرة الذاتية لأخصائيي المكتبات والمعلومات في الكويت و بيانات الاتصال الخاصة بكل منهم. نظرا لعدم وجود مثل هذا النوع من الأدلة التي تغطي هذا الجانب, فقد ارتأينا ضرورة إعداد نسخة مطبوعة أو الكترونية أو كلتاهما من هذا الدليل, و سيكون هذا الدليل محل اهتمام المستخدمين بشكل عام و أخصائيي المكتبات بشكل خاص.

وقد قمنا بإرسال نسخ الكترونية ومطبوعة من الاستمارات لعدد كبير من أخصائيي المكتبات. وفي حال عدم حصولكم على نسخة من الاستمارة, نرجو منكم مراسلتنا في أقرب وقت ممكن. نتمنى منكم المشاركة في هذا المشروع وحث زملائكم على المشاركة وتعبئة الاستمارة بالعربية أو الانجليزية, حيث أن مشاركتكم ستسهم في نجاح المشروع.

لمزيد من التفاصيلو الجاء مراسلتنا على العناوين التالية

Asma_project@hotmail.com

Alyaa_project@hotmail.com

E-form_Arabic.doc

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E-form_English.doc

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Updated on Monday, November 27, 2006

Kuwait University Graduation Ceremony

College of Graduate Studies Open Day

The College of Graduate Studies celebrated its open day. Dr. Anas Al-Rasheed and the Dean of the College opened the ceremony.

Bashayer Al-Khateeb represented the Department of LIS and has presented an interesting topic about " Library Anxiety"

If any one is interested in the topic and would like to have more informatoin about , you can contact Bashayer @ :
chopard1@hotmail.com

A research project on the current situation of Master in Library & Information Science

Conduct of Focus Groups

The LIS Department in Kuwait University is conducting a research project about the current situation of Master in Library and Information Science and the ways in which it needs to be developed, considering the needs of the Kuwaiti market. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered among alumni and both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered. An analysis of the data indicated that there was a need for focused discussion in the form of focus groups on most vital issues that needed further deliberation. Three focus group sessions have been conducted on 17th, 23rd, and 25th April. Altogether, 33 participants took part in the sessions. The participants represented employers from both public and corporate sectors, managers of library and information organizations, DLIS alumni, current students of Master’s, and faculty members.

Questions

The following questions have been discussed in the three sessions. Deliberations were audio-recorded and some notes were taken.

What are the specific areas in which Kuwaiti companies have a need to recruit information professionals? The possible areas could include: knowledge management, portal and Intranet management, databases, digitization, document management, indexing, archiving, workflow management, etc.?

What are the best ways, in your view, in which the Kuwaiti companies and the Department of Library and Information Science can create meaningful partnership?

What are the primary deficiencies in the LIS graduates that need to be addressed in the current MLIS program?

What are the specific skills/competencies you wish to recommend to be taught in the MLIS program that are absent from the current coursework?

Do you think that the names of the department and degree need to be changed from DLIS and MLIS? Will any change help in improving the image of the profession?

Keeping in view the needs of the market, in what way the MLIS program needs to be changed during the next five years?

Deliberations and Results

These focus group discussions have generated highly rich data. Deliberations were lively and engaging. Concerns and viewpoints of different stake-holders have been highlighted. These data will be analyzed during the next month. The results will appear in different forms such as seminars, conference papers, journal articles, and a research report. We will be delighted to post an essence of these results on "LIS Café".

By Prof. Sajjad ur Rehman