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 of Pakistan 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 was placed in Monetary Policy Group under the direct supervision of Chief Economic Adviser (MP). However, since re-alignment of SBP organizational structure and functions on 25th July, 2015, library now reports to the Chief Economist & Executive Director (MPRG) through the Director Research.

Chief Librarian, being the Library Head, takes care of all operational and administrative affairs of the library. A 5-member Library Committee, headed by the Chief Economist & Executive Director (MPRG) is mandated with the following TORs:

• To select and approve the reading materials for library including: books, journals, newspapers, reports, electronic databases & audio-visual resources;
  
• To oversee the weeding process i.e. removal of outdated, duplicate, worn out, dilapidated items from the library;
  
• To formulate or change the library policies and processes relating with membership, readers services, imposition of fines, borrowing limits, recovery of replacement cost of lost books, stock taking, etc. when deemed necessary; and
  
• To provide general guidelines for efficient functioning of SBP Library in terms of environment, facilities, resources, etc.

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, and business management, etc. 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. are 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 around 98,700 volumes of books & reports, is divided into the following sections:

1. Quran Section: Contains a growing collection of 1800 books on Quranic Studies including Quranic texts, translations, and commentaries in various languages; Quranic indices, dictionaries and encyclopaedias; and some rare manuscripts/publications like:

•Handwritten manuscript of the Holy Quran in Arabic by Mirza Husain, a calligraphist of the Moghul Period, under the supervision of Sheikh Imam Uddin; copied during the reign of the Emperor Bahaur Shah Zafar, the last of the Moghuls. The date of completion is 1263 A.H. which corresponds to the year 1846 of the Christian era.
•Holy Quran in Arabic published by Muhammad Amanatullah Munsarim from Calcutta in 1306 A.H corresponding to 1888 CE. It starts every line from the Arabic Alphabet “Wao” and finishes each chapter on two pages only.
•Holy Quran in Arabic with Brief Notes in Persian published by Gulzar Hasnie in 1311 A.H corresponding to 1893 CE. It starts every line from the Arabic Alphabet “Alif”.
•Swateh-ul-Ilham – a Persian commentary of the Holy Quran without any dotted letters authored by Malik-us-Shura Abul-Faiz Faizi and published from Lukhnow by Nolaksho in 1306 A.H corresponding to 1888 CE.

2. Reference Section: 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, The World Book 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, Webster, 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 2019)
• World of Learning (1948 to 2010)
• Europa World Yearbook (1964 to 2009 )
• Statesman’s Yearbook (1975 to 2010)
• Time Almanac 2009
• World Almanac and Book of Facts 2016
• Muslim World Almanac 2008
• Educational Guide of Pakistan (2000 to 2005)
• Pakistan Almanac (2000-01 to 2006-2007)
• Pakistan Yearbook (1971 to 1994-95)
• Various Atlases published by reputed local and foreign publishers
• The New York Times Almanac 2011

3. Government Publications Section: Reports issued by various agencies of the federal government, periodically or occasionally, are labeled as Government Publications. 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, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Food, Agriculture & Livestock, Federal Bureau of Revenue, Ministry of Industries, etc:

• Acts and Ordinances (1948 to 1984)
• Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan (1951-52 to 2014-15)
• Annual Development Programme (1961 to 1977)
• Annual Establishment Enquiry (1973-74 to 1989-90)
• Annual Plan (1965-66 to 2018-19)
• Annual Report on Public Sector Industries (1980-81 to 1997-98)
• Census of Agricultural Machinery (1975, 1984, 1994, 2004)
• Census of Agriculture (1960, 1972, 1980, 1990)
• Census of Electricity Undertakings (1962-63, 1972-73 to 1973-74, 1981-82 to 1990-91)
• Census of Electricity Establishments ( 2003-04 to 2005-06)
• Census of Establishments Pakistan 1988
• Census of Livestock 1986
• Census of Manufacturing Industries (1954 to 2005-06)
• Census of Mining Industries (1969 to 2004-05)
• Enquiry on Labour Welfare (1971 to 1990)
• FBR Yearbook (Formerly CBR Yearbook) 1986-87 to 2015-16
• Fertilizer Review (1989-90 to 2016-17)
• 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, , 2010-2015)
• Government Sponsored Corporations (1958 to 1990)
• Labour Force Surveys (1970-71 to 2014-15)
• National Accounts of Pakistan (1969 to 2004-2005)
• Pakistan Basic Facts (1949 to 1984-85)
• Pakistan Customs Tariff (1985 to 2012-2013)
• Pakistan Demographic Survey (1984 to 2007)
• Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (1990-91, 2006-07, 2012-13)
• Pakistan Economic Survey (1949 to 2017-18)
• Pakistan Education Statistics (2006-2017)
• Pakistan Energy Yearbook (1983 to 2017)
• Pakistan Insurance Yearbook (1948 to 2007-08)
• Pakistan Rural Credit Survey 1985
• Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey (2005-2016)
• Pakistan Statistical Yearbook (1952 to 2015)
• Performance Evaluation of Public Sector Enterprises (1999-2000 to 2002-2003)
• Population and Housing Census Reports (1951, 1961, 1971, 1981 and 1998)
• Population Growth Surveys (1968, 1969, 1971, 1976 to 1979)
• Public Sector Development Programmes ( 1970-71 to 2013-2014)
• Some Socioeconomic Trends (1980 to 1986)
• Statistics Relating to Share Capital of Joint Stock Companies Registered in Pakistan (1956 to 1969)
• 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)

4. 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 (2004-2014)
• Financial Performance and Soundness Indicators of South Asia(2004-2005)
• Global Economic Prospects (1991-2010)
• Global Monitoring Report (2005-2012)
• International Debt Statistics (formerly Global Development Finance / World Debt Tables) 1975-2013
• International Financial Reporting Standards (2005-2012)
• World Development Indicators (1997-2013)
• World Development Report (1978-2014)

All government documents are generally treated as reference only. However, Chief Librarian may allow the MPRG officials to borrow the reports for a limited period for discharging their official assignments.

5. SBP Publications Section: All publications of the State Bank of Pakistan published since its establishment are placed together in a separate section called SBP Publications Section.

6. 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 “Report Containing an Essay for the Amendment of the Silver Coins, published in 1695 CE”.

7. IMF Publications Section: This section holds publications of International Monetary Fund, featuring some important financial data series, like:

• AREAER (1950-2018)
• Balance of Payments Statistics (1947-2014)
• Direction of Trade Statistics (1981-2017)
• Fiscal Monitor (2012-2018)
• Global Financial Stability Report (2002-2018)
• Government Finance Statistics (1977-2016)
• International Capital Markets (1986-1998)
• International Financial Statistics (1979-2017)
• World Economic Outlook (1980-2018)

8. World Bank Publications Section: This section houses publications of the World Bank, like:

• Doing Business (2004-2018)
• Financial Performance and Soundness Indicators of South Asia(2004-2005)
• Global Economic Prospects (1991-2010)
• Global Monitoring Report (2005-2012)
• International Debt Statistics 2013-17 (formerly Global Development Finance 1997-2012 and World Debt Tables 1975-1996)
• International Financial Reporting Standards (2005, 2006, 2009, and 2011)
• World Development Indicators (1997-2016)
• World Development Report (1978-2018)

9. 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 (1948-2016 )
• Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific (1976-2017)
• Economic Survey of Europe (1948 to 1994-95)
• Foreign Trade Statistics of Asia and the Pacific (1971 to 1994-1998)
• Global Competitiveness Report (1999 to 2007-2008)
• Global Information Technology Report (2003-2004 to 2008-2009)
• Global Stock Markets Factbook 2003-2012 (Formerly as Emerging Stock Markets Facts Book 1991-2002.
• Handbook of International Trade and Development Statistics (1976 to 1996/97)
• Human Development Report (1992-2018)
• International Trade (1953-1993)
• International Trade Statistics (2002-2009)
• International Trade Statistics Yearbook (1950-2016)
• National Accounts Statistics (1957-2017)
• Small Industry Bulletin for Asia and the Pacific (1977-1993)
• Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific (1974-2017)
• Trade and Development Report (1981-2018)
• UN Statistical Yearbook (2002-2018)
• UNCTAD Commodity Yearbook (1990-1995)
• UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics (2000-2017)
• World Economic and Social Surveys (1994, 1995, 2001 to 2005, 2010, 2016 to 2017)
• World Economic Situation and Prospects (2002-2003)
• World Investment Report (1991-2018)
• World Trade Report (2004-2009)
• Yearbook of the United Nations (1947-1995)

10. 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. The 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 (1989-2017)
• Key Indicators (1990-2016)

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

• Azad Jammu & Kashmir (2008-09 to Present)
• Baluchistan Province (1970-71 to Present)
• Federal Government (1947-48 to Present)
• Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (1974-75 to 2001-2002)
• KPK Province (1970-71 to Present)
• Punjab Province (1970-71 to Present)
• Sindh Province (1970-71 to Present)

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

• Dacca Gazette (1949-1970)
• Government of Baluchistan (1971-1983)
• Government of India (1938-1965)
• Government of KPK (1950-1983)
• Government of Pakistan (1970 to Present)
• Government of Punjab (1950-1998)
• Government of Sindh (1950-1992)
• West Pakistan Gazette (1954-1969)

13. 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
2- Local Journals / Magazines
3- Annual Reports of Central Banks
4- Annual Reports of Commercial Banks
5- Annual Reports of Companies
6- Newspapers

C) Electronic Resources:

1. E-book Databases

• ACM Digital Library
• Ebrary Academic Complete
• Emerald Business, Management, and Economics eBook Series (1991-2014)
• IMF e-Library
• Oxford English Dictionary Online
• World Bank e-Library

2. E-Journals Databases

• Business Source Complete
• Cambridge Journals
• EconLit with Full Text
• Emerald Management eJournals Database
• JSTOR
• Oxford Economics and Finance Journals
• Risk Journals
• Sage Management & Organizational Studies Journals Collection
• ScienceDirect (Economics, Econometrics & Finance Collection)
• SpringerLink
• Taylor and Francis Journals
• Wiley-Blackwell Journals

3. Statistical Databases

• AREAER Online
• Balance of Payments Statistics
• Direction of Trade Statistics
• Government Finance Statistics
• International Financial Statistics

4. CD-ROM Databases

• EconLit (1969-2008)
• Encyclopaedia Britannica (Delux Edition)
• TradeCan 2005
• Population Census Data 1998
• World Development Reports 1978-2006

5. Other E-Resources

• BIS International Directory of Central Banks
• eIFRS
• Islamic Finance News
• 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-house 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 Rules. 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 15 books at a time, each for a period of 30 days, further extendable if not reserved by other members.

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

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. Friend members are also entitled to borrow 3 books at a time for a period of 30 days further extendable if not reserved by other members.

For further details / enquiries please contact:

Mr. Zia-ur-Rehman  Senior Joint Director   Ph: +92-21-99221460 & +92-21-32453015  Fax:+92-21-99221009  E-mail: [email protected]