Dhaka University’s e-library, located in its Faculty of Business Studies building, is arguably the largest of its kind in South Asia.
The library, offering both printed and e-books, was established in August 2015 through the joint initiative of DU, University Grants Commission, Dell, Onion Group and private mobile operator Robi Axiata Limited.
Around 50 overseas universities and international publishers including Taylor and Francis, De Gruyter LIS books collection, Emerald eBook Series, Oxford Online, SAGE, Cambridge, World Scientific, Gale Virtual Reference Library, McGraw Hill, MyiLibrary, Springer, and Pearson are affiliated with the e-library.
“This e-library creates a new level of academic excellence at Dhaka University,” said Professor Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam, dean of Faculty of Business Studies. “With it, we will be able to create business leaders who can lead the country in the digital era.”
The 12,000 square feet library has three sections: computer section, silent zone and discussion zone. It has sitting arrangement for 400 people, which some students said was inadequate. Prof Shibli said they had plans to increase the number of seats.
However, the library is only accessible to business studies students from Saturday to Thursday (8am to 10pm). Students of evening and professional courses under business studies and researchers can also use this library.
“At this library, one can get the soft copy of any book or publication,” Librarian Ferdusy Begum informed. “Researchers and students can save time and money by using this library.”
Some 7,000 students and 208 teachers of the faculty are being directly benefited from the facility.
Dean Shibli hoped that the library would help the university to produce human resources who can compete with the best anywhere in the world.
Zubaier Rabbi, a masters-level student of management department, said, “We are getting free access to e-books, scientific journals and research papers through this e-library. It is a lifesaver. I hope this e-library will help the university to reach new height in terms of academic excellence.”
