1. National Digital Library Programme of Higher Education Commission in Pakistan
Midrar Ullah
Librarian & Literature Search Officer
Army Medical College
National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan

2. Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan
University Grants Commission (UGC) was established in 1974
UGC was replaced with HEC in 2002
To regulate the research activities
To upgrade the present infrastructure of universities
To make them world-class centers of education and research

3. National Digital Library Program (NDLP)
Centrally subscribes online resources through International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP)
Accessible by more than 250 institutions in Pakistan

4. Impact of NDLP on Research Output
152% increase in research publications since the establishment of HEC

5. Articles published from Pakistan in journals indexed by ISI WOK, 2001-2007

6. Online Databases Available Through the NDLP
31 databases with over 23,000 full-text journals are made accessible online
Initially usage was very low due to
Unawareness of ICTs
Poor participation of Pakistani institutions in the global knowledge economy

7. Articles downloaded from Digital Library, 2004-2007

8. Online books (e-brary)
Provides access to over 40,000 e-books
of 220 leading international publishers

9. Pakistan Research Repository (PRR) (http://eprints.hec.gov.pk)
Digitization of M.Phil. / Ph.D. theses
Online availability
Currently holds over 1800 Ph.D. theses in digitized format

10. Pakistan Education Research Network (PERN)
Connects Pakistani universities and research institutes through high-speed Internet bandwidth
Facilitates data sharing and video conferencing

11. Electronic Library Information Navigator (ELIN@ system)
Single interface for searching
Search efficiently through different databases

12. Document Delivery Service
Free of cost provision of remote document
delivery through British Library Document Delivery Service (BLDDS) to researchers

13. Open-access Online Portal for Pakistani Journals
Open access to Pakistani research journals:
Digitization
Online publication

14. Procurement of Library Management Software
Procurement of international library software to be installed in concerned libraries for:
Uniformity
Standardization
Resource sharing

15. Recommendations Rationalization of resources
Provision of sufficient number of terminals
Alternate arrangement of power supply
Frequency of orientation courses may be increased
Process of computerization of all the concerned libraries may be undertaken at faster pace
(Contd…)

16. Recommendations
A web portal can also be designed to compile the union catalogue of journals
The Document Delivery System (DDS) may be provided to the libraries for the exchange of documents etc.
Assignments may be given to students in which use of digital library should be made mandatory
Rewards for research publications

17. Thanks for your attention