INTRODUCTION

Pakistan came into being as the result of the partition of India in 1947, when the provinces of Sind, Balochistan, North-West Frontier and the parts of Punjab and Bengal having Muslim majority constituted as a separate country. Pakistan had two wings, West Pakistan and East Pakistan, each separated from the other by a distance of about 1600 kilometers of Indian territory. East Pakistan became an independent country in December, 1971 and is now called Bangladesh. Pakistan

(former West Pakistan) has a total area of 796 095 sq. km, with a population of 131·5 million in 1994. It is a federal Islamic republic and the per capita GNP in 1991 was US$400. This country has progressed through several development plans and has made substantial progress in several vital areas such as education, scientific and technological research, industrialization, rural uplift and several other areas of socio-economic development. Overall literacy is estimated to be 34% in 1992 and the government has extensive programmes for the eradication of illiteracy in the country. The infrastructure of education and research consists of schools, colleges, polytechnics, universities, laboratories and research institutes. There are presently 23 universities, 691 colleges and a fairly large number of research institutes and laboratories in the country. Hamid (1992) estimated the number of libraries in Pakistan to be 1500 which are employing 3000 professional librarians. There are six library schools offering library and information science education at postgraduate level. The 2-year academic programme is divided into 1 year diploma/ bachelor and 1 year Master degree. Total number of diploma and Master degree holders was estimated in 1992 to be 3304 and 2349, respectively.