Connecting Aga Khan University’s nine campus libraries across three continents through a shared library system

Abstract

The Aga Khan University (AKU) is the only university in the developing world that is serving through its eleven campuses spread across eight countries and three continents. It has a network of nine libraries, although small in size, in four developing countries in two regions (South Asia and East Africa). The university has recently implemented a library management system to integrate all nine libraries in four countries using a single shared database. The purpose of this paper is to share our experience of implementing an industry standard-base state-of-the-art library system. The geographical location of AKU libraries and multilingual collections makes this experience more significant. Keeping in view the complexity of geographical locations, multilingual collections, different time zones, and diversity of staff involved, one can consider it a unique occurrence in the field of library and information science.