Librarians rejoice at new books policy

Implementation of fresh rules sends waves of happiness among librarians

RAWALPINDI:

The Punjab Higher Education Department has approved the implementation of a new policy for 600 librarians at the girls' and boys' colleges across the province regarding the issuance, misplacement and damage to the books.

The 75-year-old sword that was hanging over librarians' heads for the lost books at the time of retirement has been taken down as a result of the implementation of new rules. This has spread a wave of happiness among the librarians and the Punjab Librarians Association has declared its full support for the new rules and regulations policy.

According to the new policy, two per cent of annual book wastage has been declared legal. An eight-member committee will be formed in this regard, whose convener will be the deputy director of colleges and secretary colleges, two senior college principals of the said city, two senior librarians of the said college and a senior most faculty member of the college will be its members. Under the new rules, the college libraries will have only one entrance and closed-circuit television cameras will be installed in all the libraries.

The rules state that the records of every college library must be in modern library style while no reference books will be allowed to be taken home. Security devices will be installed in the windows and books will be issued to students and teachers for 15 days only. In case of need, these books must be returned first and then re-issued, otherwise, a fine of Rs10 per day will be charged.

All book records must be updated before summer vacations. It will be obligatory to take back the issued books from the students and teachers before the summer vacations. In this regard, the librarian will be required to submit a complete record to their respective principal.

All old books with damaged pages and prone to tearing will be digitised. Similarly, all old books can be issued only on computers and laptops. Books with old damaged pages will not be issued to anyone for home. E-library or its digital access could be received.

Punjab Librarians Association patron-in-chief Agha Shabbir Sabir, provincial president Banafsha Kiran, secretary general Hasnain Haider Haral and Fayyaz Bukhari said: “We thank DPI Colleges Dr Ansar Azhar and Higher Education Secretary Javed Akhtar for the new rules.”

“Earlier, at the time of retirement, double and triple amount was deducted from every librarian’s pension for all torn, worn out, lost and unreturned books,” they said. “Now, permission has been given to write off two per cent of the books annually, which will be given a final approval by a high-level committee,” they said.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2023.