Khurshid, Part 2
Library education
Khurshid received his first Certificate in Librarianship from the Karachi Library Association in 1952 and entered into the library profession by joining the Karachi University (KU) Library (now Dr. Mahmud Husain Library) as classifier in 1954. He continued his library studies and passed the Diploma Course in Library Science in 1957 and secured first position. Khurshid’s outstanding performance as librarian at the KU Library earned him a joint Fulbright–Asia Foundation Scholarship for graduate study in library science at Rutgers University in 1959. At Rutgers, he got the opportunity to meet and work with some renowned personalities, including Ralph Shaw, Mary V. Gaver, Lowell Martin, and Margaret E. Monroe.
Upon return from America with a Masters degree in Library Science (MLS), Khurshid joined the Department of Library Science at KU as Lecturer in 1962 and continued his teaching career until he retired as Professor in 1986. During his studies in America, he was impressed by the standard of library education there and was motivated to start the first ever MLS program in Pakistan in 1962. He hired some young and bright librarians as lecturers and sent them on scholarships to get graduate degrees in Library and Information Science (LIS) from American Library Association–accredited library schools in the United States. Due to the shortage of teachers caused by the departure of new recruits for higher studies, he took upon himself the teaching load of five courses per week. He developed the MLS curriculum based on the American model and made the preparation of a thesis as one of the requirements of the Master’s program. The objective was to develop research skills in students. Some of the Master’s theses of good quality were published during his tenure as Chairman of the LIS Department. The level of this program was so high that several students got library jobs even before they were graduated. Many went on lucrative jobs to North America, Middle East, and North Africa causing brain drain in Pakistan. Khurshid’s contribution to library education in Pakistan has been summed up by Kaula in these words: “He is the best known library educator of Pakistan whose pioneering services have made librarianship a graduate profession in Pakistan.” [1]
His quest for knowledge took him to the University of Pittsburgh in 1966 where he completed his Advance Certificate in LIS in 1967 and Ph.D in 1969 under the guidance and supervision of another group of able teachers, including Harold Lancour, Roy Stokes, J.C. Harrison, William. V. Jackson, Allen Kent, Andrew Osborn, and Nasser Sharify. His Ph.D dissertation entitled “Standards for Library Education in Burma, Ceylon, India and Pakistan” was a comprehensive study spanning over 740 pages, in which Khurshid not only reviewed the state of library education in South Asia, but also compared the pace of library development with those of other fields in each country.
Upon return to Pakistan after completing his Ph.D in 1969, he was promoted to Associate Professor in 1970 and to Professor in 1979. He also served as Chairman of the LIS Department for two terms in 1979–82 and 1984–86. During his first term, he organized the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the department and issued a commemorative volume [2] on this occasion, which included contributions from Jesse H. Shera, Harold Goldstein, P. Havard–Williams, Mohammed M. Aman, Abdul Moid and others. After his retirement in 1986, he continued teaching as a cooperative teacher for about two years.
Khurshid’s departure from the LIS department created a vacuum which has not been filled yet. As a result, the administration of the department, the quality of academic programs, the standard of teaching, and everything else is going down. The new education policy, which requires the chairmanship of the department to rotate among senior teachers every two years, has made the situation even worse. The policy opened the door for those teachers who lacked education and training from North America or Europe to take control of the department. They are promoted to the rank of professor if they acquire a doctorate degree, not necessarily from an accredited school. The Ph.D program, which was already in place for many years but had not yet awarded a degree, got several candidates registered. The program requires a candidate to prepare a dissertation without doing any course work. The first few candidates prepared their dissertations in Urdu, got their Ph.D degrees, and were promoted to the rank of professor. This would not have been possible if Khurshid was managing the department. He always believed in quality research and encouraged his students to write and publish research papers in reputed international journals. Many of his students, including the author, regularly contribute articles to professional journals.