State Bank of Pakistan Library
AN INTRODUCTION TO ITS RESOURCES & SERVICES

SBP Library was established in 1949 at Karachi to cater the information and research needs of SBP Officials. It was originally housed at the old Victorian-Styled State Bank of Pakistan Building (presently Supreme Court Registry Office) situated opposite of Shaheen Complex at the crossing of I.I. Chundrigar Road (formerly Macleod Road) and M.R. Kayani Road. With the inauguration of new State Bank Building at I.I. Chundrigar Road in 1961, Library was shifted to its 5th floor and remained there until 1995 when due to space constraints it had to move to an adjacent building that was originally constructed for Imperial Reserve Bank of India. On 22nd November 2005, Library witnessed its third time shifting to the Bank Annexe renovated for the purpose of establishing a Learning Resource Centre (LRC). The ground and first floors of LRC are presently occupied by the Library.

Since its inception, Library remained administratively associated with Research Department. However, as a result of restructuring and business process reengineering in SBP in 2005, it was placed under Corporate Services Department (CSD). A few months later, it became a division of Training & Development Department. Later, on 28th August 2008, Library emerged as a separate entity and placed in Monetary Policy and Research Cluster (MP&R) under the direct supervision of Chief Economic Adviser.

Chief Librarian, being the Library Head, takes care of all operational and administrative affairs of the library. A Library Advisory Committee, headed by the Deputy Governor, looks after the policy issues, while all procurements are made with the approval of a five-member Books Selection Committee headed by Chief Economic Adviser (MP&R).

Library comprises of the following units:

A. Technical Services Unit: deals with the procurement and technical processing (i.e. accessioning, classification, cataloguing, indexing, entering holdings’ records into Library Information & Management System, bar coding, and labeling, etc.) of monographs, periodicals and Audiovisual materials.

B. Reader Services Unit: handles the matters pertaining to membership and lending; provides user instruction and guidance on how to use the library; manages the subscription of electronic resources and ensures their bank-wide access.

C. Support Services Unit: formulates yearly business plan; gets track of monthly & quarterly progress on key development initiatives; prepares annual budget and budget variance reports; maintains leave accounts of library officials; manage receipt and dispatch of letters, memos and circulars; maintains payment registers and proper filing of all invoices, approvals and related documents; acquires stationery, maintains imprest account, and provides administrative support to all other units of library.

Over the years, SBP Library has grown into one of the biggest libraries of Pakistan. Its core collections are on the subjects of economics, banking, finance, trade and commerce. However, literature on other auxiliary disciplines such as information technology, statistics, law and management as well as on disciplines of general interest like philosophy, religion, politics, literature, and history, etc. is also adequately maintained. In addition to printed books and periodical collections, library subscribes to a host of digital resources comprising CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, online bibliographic and full-text databases of e-books & e-journals, and various statistical data sources. Below is a summary of present library holdings

A brief description of each category of resources is given as under:

A) Printed Monographs / Books: The monographs collection, comprising of over 78,500 volumes of books & reports, is divided into the following sections:

1. Reference Section: Located at the Ground Floor, this section houses various kinds of atlases, dictionaries, directories, encyclopaedias, concordances, yearbooks, statistical handbooks and manuals, etc. Reference books are not lent but can only be consulted within the library. Some renowned reference works available in the library are:

• General Encyclopaedias, such as: Encyclopaedia Americana, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Collier’s, Encyclopaedia, Everyman’s Encyclopaedia, New Universal Encyclopaedia, Oxford Encyclopedia, etc.
• Subject Encyclopaedias, such as: American Educator, E.J. Brill First Encyclopaedia of Islam, Encyclopaedia of Accounting, Encyclopaedia of Asian History, Encyclopaedia of Chemical Technology, Encyclopaedia of Computer Science and Technology, Encyclopaedia of Economic Development, Encyclopedia of Human Resource Development, Encyclopaedia of Islam, Encyclopaedia of Management for the 21st Century, Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, Encyclopaedia of Religions, Encyclopaedia of Seerah, Encyclopaedia of the Modern Islamic World, Encyclopaedia of World Arts, Encyclopedia of Quran, International Encyclopaedia of Labour Laws & Industrial Relations, International Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences, International Encyclopedia of Statistics, Wiley’s Encyclopedia of Statistical Sciences, Springer’s Encyclopedia of Statistics, Macmillan’s Encyclopedia of Computers, McGraw-Hill Encyclopaedias of Banking, Economics, Management, and Science & Technology, etc
• Leading language dictionaries such as those of Oxford, Chambers, BBC, Ferozesons, National Language Authority, etc.
• Subject dictionaries & encyclopedias of economics, banking, accounting, finance, management, commerce, IT, and other subjects published by different publishers.
• Biographical Sources such as International Who is Who 1950 to 2010, McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography, Dictionary of National Biography, etc
• Banker Almanac 2008
• Guinness Book of World Records (1990 to 2009)
• World of Learning (1948 to 2010)
• Europa World Yearbook (1964 to 2010 )
• Statesman’s Yearbook (1975 to 2010)
• Time Almanacs 2009
• World Almanac and Book of Facts 2009
• Muslim World Almanac 2008
• Educational Guide of Pakistan (2000 to 2005)
• Pakistan Almanacs (2000-01 and 2006-2007)
• Pakistan Yearbook (1971 to 1994-95)
• Various Atlases published by reputed local and foreign publishers

2. Government Publications Section: Reports issued by various agencies of the federal government, periodically or occasionally, have been organized in a separate section on the Ground Floor, called Government Publications Section. Being the sources containing primary and official data on different socioeconomic aspects of the country, these reports are extensively consulted by the SBP researchers, statisticians and executives as well as the outsiders including bankers, university students, journalists and free lancers visiting the library in connection with their reference & research work. The library has almost complete archive of the following renowned government publications issued by Planning Commission, Ministry Finance, Federal Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Food, Agriculture & Livestock, Federal Bureau of Revenue, Population Census Organization, Ministry of Industries, etc:

• Acts and Ordinances (1948 to 1984)
• Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan (1951-52 to 2007-08)
• Annual Development Programme (1961 to 1977)
• Annual Establishment Enquiry (1973-74 to 1989-90)
• Annual Plans (1965-66 to 2009-10)
• Annual Report on Public Sector Industries (1984-85 to 2001-2002)
• CBR Yearbook (1986-87 to 2006-07)
• Census of Agriculture, Agricultural Machinery and Livestock (1960, 1972, 1980, 1990, 1994, 2000 & 2004)
• Census of Establishments (1964, 1967)
• Census of Manufacturing Industries (1954 to 2005-06)
• Census of Mining Industries (1969 to 2004-05)
• Economic Survey (1948 to 2008-09)
• Enquiry on Labour Welfare (1971 to 1990)
• Fertilizer Review (1989-90 to 2007-08)
• Five Year Plans including their reviews and evaluation reports (1955-60, 1960-65, 1965-70, 1970-75, 1978-83, 1983-88, 1988-93, 1993-98, and 1998-2003)
• Government Sponsored Corporations (1966 to 1990)
• Labour Force Surveys (1970-71 to 2007-08)
• National Accounts of Pakistan (1969 to 2004-05)
• Pakistan Basic Facts (1949 to 1985)
• Pakistan Customs Tariff (1985 to 2004-2005)
• Pakistan Demographic Survey (1984 to 2005-06)
• Pakistan Energy Yearbook (1983 to 2008)
• Pakistan Insurance Yearbook (1948 to 2007-08)
• Pakistan Rural Credit Survey 1984
• Pakistan Statistical Yearbook (1947 to 2009)
• Population and Housing Census Reports (1951, 1961, 1971, 1981 and 1998)
• Population Growth Surveys (1968 to 1979)
• Public Sector Development Plans (1970-71 to 2009-10)
• Some Socioeconomic Trends (1980 to 1986)
• Statistics Relating to Share Capital of Joint Stock Companies Registered in Pakistan (1956 to 1990)
• The Pakistan Code. 19 Volumes (both old and revised editions)
• The Statutory Rules, Orders made under central Enactment (2 Volumes)
• Un-repealed Central Acts (11 Volumes)

All government documents are generally treated as reference only. However, Chief Librarian may allow the people form Research & Statistics Departments to borrow the reports for a limited period for discharging their official assignments.

3. SBP Publications Section: A separate section has been developed on the Ground Floor for SBP Publications where all publications issued by State Bank of Pakistan since 1948 are placed.

4. Rare Books Section: This section contains over 900 books which have been declared RARE because of their scarcity and old archival value. The oldest book in the collection is “”.

5. IMF Publications Section: Placed at the Ground Floor, this section holds publications of International Monetary Fund. Some of the regular publication series are:

• Balance of Payments Statistics (1947-2008)
• Direction of Trade Statistics (1981-2008)
• Foreign Direct Investment Statistics 2003
• Global Financial Stability Report (2002-2009)
• Government Finance Statistics (1977-2008)
• International Capital Markets (1986-1998)
• International Financial Statistics (1979-2008)
• World Economic Outlook (1980-2010)

6. World Bank Publications Section: The World Bank Publications are also placed at the Ground Floor in a separate section. Some prominent monographic series of the world bank are:

• Doing Business (2004-2010)
• Financial Performance and Soundness Indicators of South Asia(2004-2005)
• Global Development Finance (1997-2009)
• Global Economic Prospects (1991-2009)
• Global Monitoring Report (2005-2009)
• International Financial Reporting Standards (2005-2006)
• World Debt Tables (1975-1996)
• World Development Indicators (1997-2009)
• World Development Report (1978-2010)

7. UN Publications Section: The UN Publications section holds research reports of United Nations Agencies and its other organs like UNCTAD, WTO, ESCAP, FAO, World Economic Forum, etc. The most frequently consulted titles in this section are:

• Demographic Yearbook 1948 to 2006
• Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 1976 to 2009
• Economic Survey of Europe 1948 to 1994-95
• Emerging Stock Markets Facts Book 1991 to 2008
• Foreign Trade Statistics of Asia and the Pacific 1971 to 2004
• Global Competitiveness Report 1999-2008
• Global Information Technology Report 2003 to 2007
• Handbook of International Trade and Development Statistics (1976-1999)
• Human Development Report (1992-2008)
• International Trade (1953-1993)
• International Trade Statistics (2003-2009)
• International Trade Statistics Yearbook (1950-2004)
• National Accounts Statistics (1957-2006)
• Small Industry Bulletin for Asia and the Pacific (1977-1993)
• Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific (1974-2008)
• Trade and Development Report (1981-2009)
• UNCTAD Commodity Yearbook (1990-1995)
• UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics (2000-2008)
• Yearbook of the United Nations (1947-1995)
• World Debt Tables (1975-1996)
• World Economic and Social Surveys (1936-37 to 2005)
• World Economic Situation and Prospects (2002-2003)
• World Investment Report (1991-2008)
• World Trade Report (2004-2009)

8. ADB Publications Section: As depository library of Asian Development Bank, SBP Library receives all official publications of ADB comprising of books, selected country and economic studies, technical papers, annual reports, statistical publications, documents on loans and technical assistance projects, environmental impact assessments, and public information materials. A separate section for ADB publications has been established at the ground floor of library. Some key statistical publication besides monograph series in ADB holdings are:

• Asian Development Outlook (1989-2009)
• Key Indicators (1991, 2000-2008)

9. PIDE Publications Section: PIDE is the leading research and teaching institute of Pakistan that focuses on theoretical and empirical research in Development Economics in general and on Pakistan-related economic issues in particular. SBP Library maintains a separate section for PIDE publications in which all books, research reports, policy notes, and working papers of PIDE have been displayed.

10. Budgets Section: This section maintains archives of the following budget documents:

• Federal Government (1947-48 to 2009-10)
• Punjab Province (1970-71 to 2009-10)
• Sindh Province (1970-71 to 2009-10)
• N.W.F.P. (1970-71 to 2009-10)
• Baluchistan Province (1970-71 to 2009-10)
• Azad Jammu & Kashmir (2008-09 to 2009-10)
• Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (1974-75 to 2001-2002)

11. Gazettes Section: This section maintains archives of the following gazette documents:

• Government of India (1938-1965)
• West Pakistan Gazette (1954-1969)
• Dacca Gazette (1949-1970)
• Government of Pakistan (1970 to 2009)
• Government of Punjab (1950-1998)
• Government of Sindh (1950-1992)
• Government of N.W.F.P. (1950-1983)
• Government of Baluchistan (1971-1983)

12. General Section: Books that do not fall in the above listed sections are placed in the General Section in the following sub-categories:

• Arabic Language Collection
• English / Western Languages Collection
• Regional Languages Collection
• Urdu Collection

B) Periodicals: Periodicals are categorized into the following:

1	Foreign Journals / Magazines	(view complete list)
2	Local Journals / Magazines	(view complete list)
3	Annual Reports of Central Banks	(view complete list)
4	Annual Reports of Commercial Banks	(view complete list)
5	Annual Reports of Companies	(view complete list)
6	Newspapers	(view complete list)

C) Electronic Resources:

1. E-book Databases

• Ebrary
• GetAbstract
• IMF e-Library
• McGrawHill Access Science
• McGrawHill Engineering Digital Library
• World Bank e-Library

2. E-Journals Databases

• ACM Digital Library
• Blackwell Journals on Wiley Interscience
• Business Source Corporate
• EconLit with Full Text
• JSTOR
• SpringerLink
• Taylor and Francis Journals

3. Statistical Databases

• Balance of Payments Statistics
• Direction of Trade Statistics
• Government Finance Statistics
• International Financial Statistics
• Global Economic Monitor
• Global Development Finance
• World Development Indicators
• Commodity Price Statistics
• COMRADE

4. CD-ROM Databases

• EconLit (1969-2008)
• Encyclopaedia Britannica (Delux Edition)
• TradeCan
• World Development Reports 1978-2006

5. Other E-Resources

• BIS International Directory of Central Banks
• Islamic Finance Information Service
• SHRM Knowledge Centre
  

Different classification schemes are being used for effective organization of various kinds of literature. The book collections are categorized into Reference, Rare, Government Documents, United Nations, World Bank, IMF, and General Sections for Arabic, Urdu, English and Regional Languages. Within each section the books are classified according to Dewey Decimal Classification Scheme. A separate section is being maintained for periodicals where back volumes of all the journals have been arranged, primarily in alphabetical order (title wise) and then within each title, the issues are arranged in chronological order (date wise). The Budget and Gazette documents have been placed province wise and further arranged in chronological order. Newspapers archives are housed in a separate room and placed title wise in chronological order.

Bibliographic records of all library holdings have been computerized using in-housely developed software (LIMS) and are searchable across the Bank on its local intranet through Library’s Online Public Access Catalogue. Library has adopted open shelf system to encourage independent browsing.

Presently, following services are being offered to users by the library:

A) Lending, Renewal and Reservation Service: All registered members are entitled to borrow items from the library in accordance with their borrowing privileges set forth in Library Lending Policy. Book(s) loaned to a member can be reserved by other members themselves through library portal on SBP intranet or assistance can be had from library’s circulation desk for the same. Similarly, members can ask for re-issuance of book(s), if not reserved by other members, upon expiry of the loan period.

B) Reprographic Service: Within the limitations of copyright legislations, photocopy services are available in the library at very cheap rates. However, library does not provide scanning and printing services at the moment.

C) Current Awareness Service: In order to inform the members about current acquisitions, monthly Fresh Arrivals and Content Alerts are broadcasted through email to all State Bank Employees. The same are posted on library website for non-employees.

D) Citation Verification / Searching Assistance / General Reference Services: The staff of Reader Services Unit in particular and other library staff in general can be contacted for assistance in literature search, citation verification or any other type of general reference queries.

E) Inter-Library Loan Service: Though no formal inter-library loan agreements exist between the State Bank Library and other libraries of the region, yet every possible effort is made to arrange the needed material from partner libraries like AERC, PIDE, LUMs, etc, on reciprocal basis.

    
Library offers membership to the following:

A) SBP Active Employees: Membership applications of all active SBP employees are forwarded to the Library on prescribed forms through Human Resource Department at the time of induction.

Employees can borrow as many books as they require, each for a period of 30 days, further extendable if not reserved by other members.

[click here to download the membership application form for SBP Active Emplouees]

B) SBP Retired Employees: Retired Employees are required to provide surety of an active SBP Employee having at least 10 years service at SBP. They are entitled to borrow 3 books at a time for a period of 30 days further extendable if not reserved by other members.

[click here to download the membership application form for Retired Employee]

C) Library Friends (Non-Employees): Includes students and faculty members of various business schools, bankers, business professionals, etc. The membership is absolutely free but requires applicants to submit surety of any active SBP employee. Applications for Friends Membership can be submitted to the Library on prescribed forms along with two colored photographs and a copy of CNIC. Friends members are also entitled to borrow 3 books at a time for a of period of 30 days further extendable if not reserved by other members.

[click here to download the membership application form for Outsiders]

For further details / enquiries please contact:

Mr. Bashir Ahmed Zia  Chief Librarian  Ph: 021-99212460 & 021-32453069  Fax: 021-99211009  E-mail bashir.zia@sbp.org.pk