ACADEMIC LIBRARIES AND THEIR SERVICES IN THE ARABIAN GULF

Abstract

Academic institutions and their libraries in the Middle East have taken a new turn after the petrodollar boom. Prior to this boom these institutions and their libraries were very poor in many respects. The most noteworthy changes occurred in the Arab OAPEC countries, especially in the Arabian Gulf, and became possible because of the generous budget allocated to the development of education. At present there are 17 universities in the Arabian Gulf and they are divided among six countries, as follows: Saudi Arabia 7, Iraq 6, United Arab Emirates 1, Kuwait 1, Qatar 1 and Bahrain 1. The oldest universities are King Saud University (KSU) (formerly the University of Riyadh) in Saudi Arabia, and the University of Baghdad in Iraq; both were founded in 1957. Most universities came into existence in the 1960s and 1970s (nine universities in the 1960s and six in the 1970s). The most recent is the Arabian Gulf University (AGU) in Bahrain, supported by the Arab Bureau of Education for the Arabian Gulf states. Another university which is under construction is the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in Oman; this will be inaugurated formally in Autumn 1986. In Bahrain a university was announced on May 24, 1986 to be formed by merging the two existing major institutions: University College of Arts, Science and Education (UCB) and the Gulf Polytechnic (GP). Plans have already been approved for the construction of a university library building to merge the collections of the UCB and GP libraries.