PERSONAL INFORMATION

 

Zahiruddin Khurshid received his Master of Science in Library and Information Science (MSLIS) degree from the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at Pratt Institute, New York in 1978. His undergraduate degree (B.A. Honors) is in Economics from the University of Karachi, Pakistan. 

He began his career as Medical Records Librarian at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, Karachi, in 1971. In 1973, he moved to Allama Iqbal Government College, Karachi, as Librarian. In 1974, he joined the College of Petroleum & Minerals (CPM), now King Fahd University pf Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) Library as Catalog Librarian.  

Khurshid left KFUPM on a study leave to the United States in 1977 to get his Master’s degree for which he received The Olive Bishop Price Scholarship in International Librarianship from Pratt Institute. He came back in 1978 and worked in various positions to eventually become the Senior Manager of Cataloging Operations Division in 1993. Since 1989, he is also holding the additional responsibility of the Library Systems Department. His major accomplishments in the Systems Department are the successful migration from DOBIS/LIBIS version 1.4 to version 3.2 in 1996 and from DOBIS/LIBIS to Horizon in 2004.  

He served as member on various university committees, including the KFUPM/IBM Study Contract Implementation Committee, 1988-90, and the Library Automation Survey Ad Hoc Committee (LASAC), 1996-2000, both created by the Vice Rector for Graduate Studies & Scientific Research, the Horizon Implementation Committee, 2002-2004 and a number of committees created within the library.  Khurshid also chaired several library committees, including the Library Policy Manual Ad Hoc Committee, 2000 & 2006; Library Handbook Revision Committee, 2002; the Digital Library Development Committee, 2003, Ad-Hoc Committee on Circulation Policies. 2005, Library Automation Committee, 2005 to date, and served as member on Academic/Papers Committees of several conferences, organized by the Arabian Gulf Chapter of the Special Libraries Association. 

Khurshid coordinated several library short courses and gave lectures in many short courses and workshops since 1984. He also presented several seminars.

 

He published over 30 articles in professional journals, most of which are refereed or ISI ranked journals and presented papers at regional and international conferences. He also served on the Editorial Advisory Board of OCLC Systems & Services: International Digital Library Perspectives, 2002-2004.

Khurshid received several awards for his professional contributions and achievements, including a Certificate of Merit by the Department of Library Science, University of Karachi, on getting first class second position in M.A. in Library Science, 1972; the Best Paper Award at the Arabian Gulf Chapter of the Special Libraries Association's 8^th Annual Conference, Abu Dhabi (October 2000); Plaque of Appreciation for his contributions in the implementation of the Horizon library system; and the KFUPM Library Best Manager Achievements Award (2006).

His biography is included in Marquis Who’s Who in the World, 16^th ed. (1999) and Dictionary of International Biography (2000 ed.). He was qualified for membership of Beta Phi Mu, the International Library and Information Science Honor Society on achieving a 3.83 GPA in MSLIS courses and became its Life member

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