Dubai Municipality with Dubai eGovernment conduct series of training sessions to accelerate move towards electronic library services

The interactive sessions garnered major participation from 26 participants representing 10 Dubai government departments, which included Al-Awqaf Department, Department of Information, Department of Civil Defense, Dubai Police, Dubai Ports and Customs, Dubai Development Board, Department of Economic Development, Real Estate Department, Chamber of Commerce and Dubai Public Prosecution. The programme was part of the efforts being undertaken by the Dubai Municipality to underline the importance of new technology and systems that will make libraries more effective in providing information and knowledge to larger sections of society.

Salem Al-Shair, Director eServices, Dubai eGovernment and Mohammed El Ereidi, Head of Public Libraries Section, Dubai Municipality, presented certificates to the participants, who had acquired the requisite expertise that is mandatory to initiate the process towards creating an effective eLibrary system. The new automated services demonstrated at the training sessions will offer on-target, efficient searching and browsing of information resources at Dubai libraries. Users will have online access to books, periodicals, audio/video tapes and compact discs. They will be also be able to avail of a variety of facilities such as searching for a title through a range of general, author, series or subject-based keywords, as well as browsing through a wide-ranging collection of subjects, catalogues and websites.

"Dubai Municipality is pleased to be part of a training initiative that underlines the importance and demonstrates the benefits achieved by integrating automated processes that allow both libraries and users to better utilize available information. It is imperative that Dubai government departments work in close coordination to implement the eLibrary programme in Dubai, "said Mohammed El Ereidi, Head of Public Libraries Section, Dubai Municipality.

"This programme was organized in line with the directives of Qassim Sultan Al Banna, Director General of Dubai Municipality to realize the vision of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defense Minister, which necessitates various Dubai government departments to share their expertise and knowledge resources."

The training sessions aimed to provide an understanding of the administrative advantages of using eServices in libraries in order to save time, efforts and provide access to information more effectively. The sessions also focused on ways of implementing integrated management procedures that will provide the necessary tools to manage databases and reduce human error.

"The Dubai Municipality is one of the first government departments to offer comprehensive eServices to the general public in an efficient and prompt manner. The eServices being offered by this department will provide an impetus for other government departments as well," said Salem Al-Shair, Director eServices, Dubai eGovernment. "Such training programmes provide the ideal avenue for government departments to benefit from Dubai Municipality's proficiency in library management. The information and skills gained at these sessions will aid other Dubai government departments to implement similar procedures and systems in their own libraries."

"The session at the Umm Suqueim library is the second in the series. The previous one was held at the Rashidya Library. These training programmes are part of Dubai eGovernment's endeavour to realize our aim of enhancing the learning and knowledge management systems within library environments. The integration of processes and the sharing of expertise between Dubai government departments is essential to the overall success of this initiative", added Al-Shair.

The training programme conducted by Ayman Bastanji of Dubai Public Library, provided attendees with an overview of the technological advancements and automated procedures that can aid systematic functioning of libraries and data centers.