The library of the Faculty of Economics, Commerce and Management Sciences is the backbone of the faculty, especially after its refurbishment. It is committed to providing outstanding services and strives to achieve the highest levels of quality and excellence in all its activities. It was a pioneer in breaking down barriers and queues for students by adopting open shelves, which put readers in direct contact with books. We present below an overview of the library’s structure, objectives and achievements.
01 – Library Holdings:
The library holds a rich and substantial collection of references and books, as follows:
Arabic-language holdings:
- Number of titles: 9,439
- Number of copies: 59,085
Foreign-language holdings:
- Number of titles: 6,674
- Number of copies: 21,528
02 – Book Acquisitions for 2023:
Arabic-language books:
- Number of titles: 124
- Number of copies: 371
Foreign-language books:
- Number of titles: 61
- Number of copies: 122
03 – Book Acquisitions for 2024:
The focus is on acquiring English-language books and gradually phasing out Arabic and French books. We are also moving toward providing e-books in order to launch a digital library in the future, once a legal and financial framework is found to make this possible, as well as subscribing to national and international databases.
03 – Faculty Course Handouts and Doctoral Theses for the Past Year:
Course handouts: 85 handouts were deposited in the library over the past two years.
Note: The bound copy of the handouts has been dropped in favor of the electronic copy only, following the approval of the faculty’s Scientific Council, as part of the adoption of a zero-paper policy.
University theses: 24 doctoral theses and one master’s thesis (Magister) were deposited in 2022. In 2023, 37 theses were deposited, pending a regulatory decision or a digital platform for depositing theses in electronic form only.
As for master’s dissertations, the traditional paper format has been discontinued in favor of the electronic copy only, with approximately 480 dissertations. Students’ clearance (no-debt certificates) has also been handled electronically.
04 – Library Refurbishment:
To bring students closer to the library and books closer to students, and thereby improve the quality of scientific research, the barriers separating students from books were removed and an open-shelf system was adopted using RFID technology. The faculty, led by the Dean, invested in this project and provided everything needed for its success, such as the RFID devices, which were selected and tested and have proven effective so far. The process went through several stages:
- Re-sorting and rearranging the documentary collection and classifying it by subject, with the help of specialist professors and students.
- Installing RFID electronic tags on the entire documentary collection.
- Removing old and damaged holdings and placing them in the archive room at the doctoral schools, to be consulted when necessary.
- Transferring the doctoral schools’ library holdings to the main library and making them available to students.
- Equipping the library with an AUTOMATE self-checkout device to facilitate lending for professors and doctoral students (self-service lending).
- Equipping the library with an automatic turnstile gate (TOURNIQUET) to control student access and prevent outsiders from entering.
- Equipping the library with entirely new shelves, tables and chairs.
- Creating five (05) reading offices for professors and doctoral students, available by reservation.
- Dedicating a common space for discussion and exchange of ideas among doctoral students.
- Creating ten (10) individual reading rooms (study cubicles).
- Providing free and open internet for students and library visitors. (Note: this service is currently suspended due to network instability.)
- Surveillance cameras will be installed in the coming days, pending the operating permit from the provincial authorities.
- The faculty library has 30 tables for research and reading and 122 chairs.
- The library has nine (09) small tables for individual reading.
- The library has nine (09) computers for bibliographic research.
- The library has twenty-three (23) shelving units for books and theses.
- The library has four (04) small book carts (chariots).
As for the doctoral schools’ library, it includes:
Lending desk, which contains:
- One hundred (100) metal shelving units.
- Five (05) desks with computers for lending.
- Four (04) computers for bibliographic research.
- Two (02) small book carts (chariots).
- The office of the head of department, with its equipment.
- An internet room with thirty (30) computers.
