Facilities
Offices, Classrooms and Laboratories
The Department of Information Studies is located on the ground floor of the College of Arts and
Social Sciences. The department occupies 12 rooms that are used as offices for staff members,
and another 3 large rooms that are used as labs.
The three laboratories have been designated for supporting academic and research programs of
the department. These are the Laboratory of Child Literature, Bibliographic Laboratory, and
Computer Laboratory. All these are located in the college building close to the department, and
each has seating capacity for around 35 students.
Laboratory of child literature
The aim of this lab is to support courses that are designed specifically for school libraries.
Materials used include many novels and children’s books and also materials that have
historically been used for writing, such as animal bones, leather, and papyrus. Some materials
made by graduated students are also kept in the lab.
The Bibliographic laboratory
This lab is mainly used for work on topics related to bibliographic control courses: descriptive
cataloguing, classification, and subject analysis. For this reason the materials provided are
mainly relevant to supporting such courses, such as print versions of Anglo-American
Cataloguing Rules, Library of Congress Subject Headings and Classification, and other Arabic
subject headings tools. In addition to the traditional versions of the above materials, online
versions are also available. To enable students to gain practice in the topics covered, various
books and references are provided in the lab, including thesauri, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and
monographs.
The Computer laboratory
This contains 35 computers, a printer, and proxima. The department has subscribed to many
tools required for training in the department and these can be accessed for practice at this lab.
Computing Resources
In addition to computers and programs available through the department's laboratories, the
university offers many other computing services to students. These include computer labs in
teaching buildings F and W, with technical support from the Computer Information Center and
Center of Education Technology. Moreover, the college library and main library of the university
provide students with computer facilities, including equipment and printers. Wifi is available
throughout the university to all its stakeholders, and all faculty members receive a laptop from
the university, for teaching and research purposes.
Guidance
When students enroll at SQU, they should all attend an orientation program, where they listen to
speakers from different units of the university talking about services that their units offer for
students. In the foundation year, which students attend at the beginning of their academic
program, there are courses in teaching computer skills. Moreover, in the course plan for our
department, there are courses specifically designed for improving students’ skills in computer
programs, and tools, including courses on web design, and social media. In addition, there are
courses covering international developments in publishing, including courses on electronic
publishing, open access, and virtual libraries. In all these courses students are taught how to
benefit from these skills in their future jobs. Workshops for different kinds of technical skills are
also provided by university units.
Maintenance and Upgrading of Facilities
The University’s policy is to replace computers every 5 years to ensure that the facilities remain
in good condition. The technical support department at the College of Arts and Social Sciences
has responsibility for maintaining all laboratories and devices in the college in good working
order. CIS and CET, as mentioned earlier, also supply support to university stakeholders when
they need technical advice.
Library Services
Students and faculty members at the Department can use facilities and information resources of
the college library and the university’s main library. The college library hosts a total of 12000
books on various topics relating to library and information science.
The Main Library is part of the cultural center of the University. It holds more than 300.000
titles, including traditional materials, 42000 electronic journals and 37 databases, including LISA
and LISTA. The library also provides electronic books and theses. The seating capacity of the
library is around 1700. The library is also considered a training center for students of Information
Studies.
The Collection Development Policy enables faculty members and students to recommend new
materials. Moreover, periodical subscriptions are operated through close participation with
faculty members. The library receives recommendations orally or through email and social
media networks.