University of Gondar Library Profile

   HISTORY: The Gondar College of Medical Science(The former GCMS) Library is located in Gondar, Once the capital city of Ethiopia in the North-Western part Of the country .The College is the oldest health professional training institute in Ethiopia, in due course of time the Gondar College of Medical Science Library was established in 1954 G.C to serve the first of its type Public Health College in the Country.
  Library Effort: The University of Gondar(UGR) Libraries Prior mission is to provide information in its many formats which might support under-graduate and graduate students in relation to the University Curriculum, and it is the largest research and automated Library in Ethiopia with a collection of more than 100,000 items, including microform formats, serial titles, and also e-resources.
  So as to achieve its objectives, the university of Gondar(UGR) Library organized its collection in the (Main College of Medicine and Health Scienceor (CMHS campus),Or former GCMS campus Library And other three Libraries attached to Maraki Campus Faculty of Management Science and Economics(FMSE), Maraki Campus Faculty of Applied Science (FAS)and Lideta Campus Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities(FSSH) and the Main Campus Library serving Faculty of Medicine and Health Science(CMHS)
  Library Building: The newly build Main Library located at the CMHS campus, now the Main campus of the University is on two floors with a study space and seating for 500 students. It is one of the first "open accesses" library in Ethiopia, which means student can browse the shelves by themselves to find books. There are over 40,000 books in the Library, and many books are on order now. The Internet service is available for research On a limited scale, but in the near future it is planned that over 1,000 journals can be accessed from the Internet site. Because of time constraints using E-mails is strictly forbidden.
  Services: Services to our clients are stressed throughout the Library. Experienced professionals are always at hand to help users in a variety Ways, from the selection and acquisition of library materials to provide online searching and alert service. What makes University of Gondar Library special in East Africa is that a new automated catalogue system is currently used by the Library, which means books can be easily located soon enough using computer terminals, as the computer search books by author , Title, subject or keyword. In addition to the automated catalogue system that library is currently using an automated library management system that automates the circulation desk so that books can be easily checked out for returns and loans. All loans are recorded on the computer as a result students who keep books past the due date will not be able to borrow more books until the overdue books are returned completely. The library is monitored by Video camera system to help minimize theft, and ensure security as a result There might be no need to have a checkpoint.
  The Collections: The Library comprises one of the largest collections of scientific, health, business and computer science materials in East Africa. Other areas of strength are information technology, computing, nursing, engineering and medicine. The present collection exceeds 100,000 items in all the University Library branches and bookstore of the University, To which more than 5,000 volumes are added annually. Over 7,000 active Print serial titles are held in the library .The Library also provides internet access to over 10,000 electronic journals, electronic books, video programs e-learning programs, slide images, track music and also many hours of spoken word. And as the Library makes use Library of Congress Classification system collections are classified, catalogued and registered digitally as we are currently using electronic library management system by implementing eLM software. The software is purchased from Newzland in Cooperation with the Canadian Embassy university of Gondar(UGR)and through the cooperation of VSO(Volunteer service Overseas) whichprovide an experianced librarian,Mrs.shirley Lewis, to help the staff to workthrough all stages of automation.

The Library current sources of collection are:

   Information Technology: Information technologies are currently being widely utilized in the Library .the Library provides 16 hours service along with a wide range of Library resources and services. Via the Library homepage, users can access the Library's online public access catalog (OPAC), electronic, Video-on-demand service, digital images online audio libraries, e- learning programs by integrating the Library system with international e-resource organizations, electronic journals and a broad range of abstract and full text database reference tools online or on CD-ROM .To provide the state of the arts tools for our clients to search for information they need, over 10 desktops are going to be installed by near future in the Library .To facilitate the use of computers in the Library and to administer easily a fixed LAN ( local area network ) units are installed through out the building.

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