Establishment of a manuscript bibliographical information sharing network among the major libraries in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The main purpose of this research project has been to investigate the need and, consequently, the perceived feasibility of establishing a cooperative manuscript bibliographical information sharing network among six major libraries in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Perceived feasibility is in this case a good indication of actual feasibility. This is because the perceptions studied here are those of experts. Appeal to an authority is a perfectly legitimate way of gathering information and confirming beliefs. The librarians and directors of the manuscript departments of the six libraries are essentially experts in manuscript and library services. Their opinion, therefore, can be considered as a good indication of the actual feasibility. There is another group who can also provide an indication for feasibility; the users of those manuscript departments. The majority of those users are either university professors or graduate students who rely heavily on manuscripts. Librarians and the users of the libraries were the population of this study. The study went further and compared the attitudes of these two groups to determine whether they are in fact similar. Survey method was used to achieve the goal of this research project. The instruments used are interviews, a questionnaire, and review of related literature. The study showed that the manuscript departments hold large collections of more than 98,700 titles in different forms. In regard to the state of automation, four of the departments are using automated systems, and the other two are planning to. As for library cooperation, none of the departments or the libraries are involved or have been involved in any cooperative library network or any sort of formal cooperation. For bibliographic tools, each of the six departments has developed its own cataloging rules, and only one use one of the major subject lists. Moreover, two departments only use one of the major Arabic authority control lists. The majority of the respondents rate all the suggested functions for the network as very important. Furthermore, they think that these functions can be done without a network but that it would be difficult. The majority also strongly agree with all the listed potential benefits of the network. With regard to the potential obstacles that may face the establishment of the network, the majority of the respondents agree or strongly agree that the listed obstacles are significant barriers, except the idea that there is not need for a network. Ninety-eight percent of the respondents think establishing a manuscript bibliographical information sharing network among the libraries of Riyadh at the present time is both desirable and feasible. The national library of Saudi Arabia, King Fahad National Library, topped the list with 37.7% as the preferred leader and organizer of the network. No significant difference was found between the responses of the librarians and the users except on one case which is that of the interlibrary loan.