An Exclusive interview with Dr Md. Nazim Uddin
Dr Md. Nazim Uddin
Dr Md. Nazim Uddin, Senior Manager and Head, Library and Information Services, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) has recently talked with the Librarian Times regarding the recent issues of library profession and activities.
Dr Md. Nazim Uddin obtained PhD from Jadavpur University, West Bengal, India. Before that, he completed his Diploma and after that, he also completed Master of Arts in Library Science from the University of Dhaka with a distinction. He published a good number of articles on emerging issues of Library and Information Science in reputed journals. He attended local and international conferences, seminars, and workshops. Dr Nazim travelled to USA, UK, Germany, Italy, Japan, England, France, Thailand, Singapore, Sri Lanka and India as part of the professional development. He worked closely with IFLA and Regional Federation of South Asian Library Associations (REFSALA) for the development of library profession in Bangladesh. He also worked for the development and improvement of Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS) Library. Currently, he engages himself with INASP, Library Consortium of Bangladesh (LiCoB) which is coordinated and supported by Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (BAS), Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC), and collaboration with other organizations for the development of libraries and upgrading library profession in Bangladesh.
Dr Nazim has been working in the field of Library and Information Science for over 30 years. He worked in the government sector for more than seven years respectively in Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC) Library and Forest Directorate Library under the Ministry of Forest, Government of Bangladesh. After that he started, as the head, taking care of BRAC University Library in February 2003 and then he led East West University Library during June 2004-July 2008.
Recently, The Librarian Times conducted an interview with Dr Nazim to discuss openly regarding the contemporary issues of the library profession and activities in Bangladesh. On the behalf of TLT the interview was conducted by Ahasan Habib the Associate Editor of the bulletin.
TLT: Please tell us something about your library.
Dr Nazim: Thank you. If you want to know about our library, please visit https://www.research4life.org/casestudies/nazim-uddin/ the site and know about a modern medical library of icddr,b which is located at Mohakhali, Dhaka, Bangladesh. This site is established by the Research4Life which is the collective name for the five programmes – Hinari, AGORA, OARE, ARDI and GOALI– that provide developing countries with free or low-cost access to academic and professional peer-reviewed content online.
TLT: What sorts of challenges are you currently facing while providing library services to scientists and researchers?
Dr Nazim: We have a huge number of resources that we subscribe through icddr,b; the Library Consortium of Bangladesh (LiCoB); UGC Digital Library (UDL), and explore resources on an individual level. We also access to Research4 Life programme from where we get a huge number of e-resources at free of cost. Some are available through open access. Currently, we are facing budget constraints in our Library which is usual comparing other libraries. At the same time, we are trying our best to accomplish this challenge using different mechanisms.
TLT: How is your library different than other libraries?
Dr Nazim: Our Library is different in terms of facilities, collections, services, environment and professional staff members who are devoted and dedicated. All basic components of the library are available, i.e. individual area or building, budget, all types of collections or resources including Web of Science database, facilities and services, professional researchers are users of this library, and finally, real library environment exists in icddr,b. » Read more
