citing different sources, refers to the quite critical deficiencies in Eyptian physical facilities, including inadequate laboratory equipment, problems of maintenance, and underutilization of sophisticated equipment because faculty are inadequately trained. In the poorer countries, supplies of imported equipment, arparatus, and spare parts depend on the government authorities in charge of allocating foreign-exchange.

A review of available figures on Arab university library collections in Annex I reveals a wide range of acquisitions. This varies from an impressive collection of 1.1 million in King Saud University, I million in Cairo University, and 920,000 in University of Helwan to 92,000 in Ain Shams University (which has the highest enrollment of all universities). The universities of Basrah, Jordan, Kuwait, King Abdul Aziz, and the American University of Beirut have collections exceeding 300,000 volumes. Some of the provincial universities like Al-Mansoura in Egypt, Al-Fateh in Libya, and Al-Baath in Syria do not seem to have adequate libraries. A number of the universities did not provide figures for their library collections.

Special mention has to be made of efforts to modernize certain libraries in the oil-rich countries -- particularly in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Safi (1986) argues that the twelve libraries of Kuwait University should be integrated into one central library for better service of the University community. But, as they are, Kuwait University libraries have an online access for databases through the Kuwait University computer services system. In addition, the National Scientific and Technical Information Center (NSllC) in Kuwait had nine regional universities and many research centers among its participating libraries in 1983. With online catalog and a machine-readable database of book collections. It utilizes an information storage and retrieval IBM system called srAiRs and was, in 1983, developing a version that allows user retrieval of Araoic documents using Arabic commands. In 1983 a program was launched in NSlC to catalog and store online all Arabic material pertf,ining to Kuwait (Khalid, 1983).

Another bright library spot is in the University of Petroleum and Minerals (vPM) in Saudi Arabia where careful planning has made its library a leading science information system in the Middle East. In 1980, the UPM library began utilizing an online integrated, interactive system licensed by tBM supporting all major library operations. Searching of international databases became online. In 1983, the library had about 3500 titles of periodical subscriptions. (Ashoor, 1983) Many universities have facilities for student dormitories and faculty housing. Of the seventy two universities listed in Annex 1, forty three reported having residential facilities for students with twenty five of them having also residential facilities for academic staff. Faculty residential facilities are not likely to be found in capital cities like Algiers, Cairo, Baghdad, and Damascus, and are usually found in the provincial universities. On the other hand, universities which recruit a high proportion of non-nationals, such as the universities in the Arabian Gulf, have housing provisions as part of their benefits packages. One extreme is represented by UPM in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia where the whole student body, faculty, and staff live on campus, according to Ijaz and Khan (1981).

# Research and Graduate Study

Back in the mid-1960s, Qubain (p. 507) wrote that "For all practical purposes, universities in the Arab world are still transmitters rather than producers of knowledge." Graduate studies were a recent introduction in most universities existing at the time or they were in the process of being introduced. In Egypt, the bulk of research was undertaken outside the university system at the National Research Center, established in 1956, and in other similar organizations. The Center had laboratories and equipment which were quite advanced and generally far superior in number, variety, and quality to anything in the state universities. Many faculty members and some graduate students used to carry out their research projects at the Center. Moving to the 1970s, Szyliowicz (1973, pp. 319320) pointed out that graduate training in Egypt has been almost totally neglected. He attributed this to the general feeling of professors that their responsibility is to undergraduate teaching and the fact that few professors ever carried on any research. It was recognized that attempts were being made to reverse the lack of research through financial grants.

Although, at present, there are indications of more research and greater involvement in graduate study in many Arab countries, the _16_