medical libraries are fundamental and essential to the practice of health care, medical education...
TRANSCRIPT
Literature on Medical Librarianship
in Pakistan : A Bibliometrics Analysis
By Ikramul Haq,
Librarian, Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology, Rawalpindi,
Introduction - Medical Librarianship
Medical libraries are fundamental and essential to the practice of health care, medical education and research.
A medical library is unique in terms of holdings, budget, services and functions.
Medical librarianship has been very slow to emerge as a distinct branch of the LIS profession. Literature on Pakistan Medical Librarianship not only shows the strength and development of such a distinct profession but also helpful for policy and decision maker.
When Pakistan came into being, there were three medical/dental libraries, namely; › 1. King Edward Medical College Library Lahore, (Estb. 1860)› 2. De’Montmorency College of Dentistry Library, Lahore (Estb. 1904) and› 3. Dow Medical College Library, Karachi (Estb. 1945).
Now there are more than 100 medical colleges / universities
in Pakistan with well stocked libraries. Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center Library Karachi is the
premier medical library (Estb. 1958). Its foundation was laid
by American Medical Librarian Mrs. Eileem R Cunningham.
Bibliometrics Alan Pritchard coins the term bibliometrics in
1969, previously known as statistical bibliography. It is quantitative research method applied to physically published items related to library and information science (Hertzel, 2003).
Harrod’s Librarians’ Glossary and Reference Book (2005) describes bibliometrics as “application of statistics and mathematics to the study of the use made of books and other media within and between library systems.”
Aim of the study
The aim of this study is to review the literature and apply bibliometrics method on the published/unpublished material of Pakistan Medical Librarianship from 1947 to Aug 2013. Researcher prepared first ever index on the literature of Pakistan Medical Librarianship and this paper is based on this index.
Objectives of the study
The objectives of this study are: To organize the scattered literature on
Pakistan medical librarianship and present its statistical and bibliographical results.
To highlight period wise distribution, author’s contribution, affiliated institute, geographical identity, type of items, journals and area of research interest etc.
Research Methodology
Data on Pakistani medical librarianship was collected from various sources, e.g. Internet, various bibliographies, indexes and the references cited at the end of articles.
Author of this paper utmost tried to cover most of the items on targeted subject, it might be a chance that some items have been missed.
The traditional method of bibliometrics was used for this study, based on quantitative approach and employs essential formula of statistics like percentage and frequency distribution.
Review of literature
Number of national and international studies have been carried out on bibliometrics.
Four international and nine national studies have been used in literature review.
ResultsDescription and distribution of literature
on Pakistan Medical Librarianship
1. Published Article
Article in English Language 57 63 57.79%
Article in Urdu Language 03
Book Reviews 03
2. Theses Thesis in English Language, including 2 M.Phil thesis
20 29 26.60%
Thesis in Urdu Language 06
Thesis in Sindhi Language 03
3. Conference Papers
Published Conference Papers 10 14 12.84%
Unpublished Conference Papers 04
4. Books Books 02 02 1.83%
5. Book Chapter Book Chapter 01 01 0.91%
Total 109 100%
Period Wise Quantitative Growth of Literature
Period Articles ThesesConf papers Books
Book Chapter Total Percentage
1947-1959 No item of Medical Librarianship in Pakistan traced
1960-1969 05 04 04 13 11.92%
1970-1979 02 05 - 07 6.42%
1980-1989 09 05 01 01 16 14.67%
1990-1999 17 05 01 01 01 25 22.93%
2000- 2009 19 08 04 31 28.44%
2010 to Aug 2013
11 02 M Phil 04 17 15.59%
63 29 14 02 01 109 100%
National and Intrernational publications - Comparison of
Literature
Period National International
1947-1959 0 0
1960-1969 12 1
1970-1979 07 0
1980-1989 14 2
1990-1999 24 1
2000- 2009 25 62010 to Aug 2013 12 5
94 15
Research conducted on Medical Librarianship at Master’s/M.Phil Level- Unpublished Thesis
Period PU KU Dacca Uni
UoS IUB BU AIOU Others
1960-1969 2 2 04
1970-1979 1 2 2 05
1980-1989 1 3 1* 05
1990-1999 1 3 1 05
2000- 2009 1 2 1 1 2 1** 08
2010 to Aug 2013
2 M.Phil
02
Total 5 10 2 5 1 2 2 2 29
Literature published in various journals
Journal Name Items produced
Pakistan Library Bulletin (BLB) Now Pakistan Library and Information Science Journal (PLISJ)
31
Health Libraries Review (HLR) Now Health Information and Libraries Journal (HILJ)
5
Journal of Pakistan Medical Association (JPMA) 4Pakistan Library Association Journal (PLAJ) 4Rawal Medical Journal (RMJ) 4Bulletin of Medical Library Association (BMLA) Now Journal of Medical Library Association (JMLA)
3
Pakistan Armed Forces Medical Journal (PAFMJ) 3Pakistan Journal of Library and Information Science (PJLIS) 2PULSAA News 2Education and Information 1Eastern Librarian 1International Library Review (ILR) 1Pakistan Journal of Medical Research (PJMR) 1Pakistan Library Review (PLR) 1
63
Gender Wise Distribution
Male Authors 66 75.86%Female Authors 17 19.54%Not Known 4 4.59%Total Authors 87 100%
Authorship Pattern
Single Author 81 74.31%2 Authors 16 14.67%3 Authors 11 10.09%More than three 1 0.91%
109 100%
Pakistani Author’s Geographical Affiliation
Area Qty Karachi 34Lahore 18Rawalpindi (6), Islamabad (6) 12Jamshoro 5Bahawalpur 3Peshawar 2Quetta 2Bengal (East Pakistan) 2Faisalabad 1
Foreign Author’s Geographical Association
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) 4UK 2USA 2France 1Canada 1
Prolific authorS.No Author Association No of
Articles1 Midrar-Ullah PhD Scholar University of the Punjab and
Librarian Army Medical College (NUST) Rawalpindi
14
2 Azra Qureshi Aga Khan University Karachi 08
3 Shakil Ahmed Khalil King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz University for Health Sciences, KSA
06
4 Moinuddin Khan Aga Khan University Karachi 05
5 Zakiuddin Ahmed Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Institute 04
6 Sain Muhammad Malik Khyber Medical College Peshawar 04
7 Haq, Ikramul Armed Forces Post Graduate Medical Institute Rawalpindi
04
8 Syed Ahmed Naqvi Ziauddin Medical University Karachi 03
9 Syed Attaullah Shah Aga Khan University Karachi 03
10 Idress Farooq Butt (Medical Doctor)
Army Medical College 03
12 Naeem A. Jafarey (Editor) Doctor & Editor and Medical Journalist 03
13 Shoukat Sultana Imam Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Institute Karachi 03
14 Muhammad Khurshid Alam Aga Khan University Karachi 03
Major areas of interest1 Information Communication Technologies 182 Medical Librarianship, Medical Library Services 133 Case Study 124 Survey 105 Competencies – Medical Librarians 56 Medical Education 57 Resource Sharing 58 Citation Analysis 49 User’s Satisfaction 410 Bibliography & Union Catalogue 311 Information Needs, Information Seeking Behaviour 312 Medical Information, Medical Information Retrieval 313 Medical Library Standards 314 Human Resources 215 Information Resources 216 Accuracy of References 117 Acquisition 118 Bibliometrics Study 119 Collection Development 120 Biography – Eileen R Cunningham 121 Library Legislation 122 Management of Electronic Resources 1
Recommendations
We can increase the growth of research productivity by conducting continuing professional development session especially in research methodology.
Legislation for National Library of Medicine, resource-sharing and better service structure can also motivate the young professional to carry out research.
Strong and active medical library association is necessary to develop research culture by organizing conferences and workshops.
Conclusion
Bibliometrics analysis of related literature shows that Information Communication Technologies is getting top priority in writing because of changing scenario of librarianship. It is evident that our library community is fully aware of rapidly increasing, dynamic and complex situation of medical sciences and ready to face the challenges. The literature of medical sciences is elevating, however, more efforts are required to produce quality research of international standard.
