Overview of The Library

The University of Malaya Library (UML) is committed to its mission "To be the premier academic library providing excellent collections and information services in support of the University of Malaya’s mission."

The University Library consists of a Main Library which provides library facilities for the whole campus and a network of branch and special libraries to meet the specific and special needs of some faculties. These branch and special libraries are located at the faculties of Law, Medicine, Dentistry, Engineering, Economics and Public Administration, Education, Language and Linguistics; Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research; Centre of Foundation Studies in Science and the Academy of Islamic Studies at the Kuala Lumpur main campus and Nilam Puri, Kelantan.

To accomplish its mission of providing excellent collections to support learning, teaching and research activities of the University, the Library has through its 41 years of existence built up a substantial collection of monographs, periodicals, manuscripts, audiovisual materials and compact discs. To date, the collection consists of 1,239,749 volumes of monographs, bound journals and manuscripts and journal subscriptions of 3631 titles. Electronic materials are substantively acquired by subscription to 39 index/abstract and full-text databases either in CD-ROM (such as, Chemical Abstracts, ERIC, PAIS, SocioFile, Medline, Biotechnology Citation Index, Biological Abstracts, Compendex, Inspec, IEL, ABI/Inform), or online access (such as, ABI/Inform, Palmoilis, NSTP-Online, SirimLink).

Other than the subject collections pertaining to their respective faculties, a few branch and special libraries hold some unique collections. For example, Law reports and legislation, mainly of Malaysia, Singapore, Great Britain and Australia, are available at the Law Library. The Engineering Library holds a substantial collection of Malaysian and British standards. The Economics Library has a good collection of Malaysian statistical materials. A special section on research methodology is available at the Postgraduate Studies Library.

Being a component of the national knowledge network, UML has throughout the years adopted a policy of actively acquiring Malaysiana materials. In fact, UM Library’s strength lies in its collection of Malaysiana in all subjects. Each branch and special library also holds Malaysiana related to its area of subject or language specialization. For example, UML’s East Asian Library is also dedicated to obtaining Chinese Malaysiana, and the Indian Studies Library, Tamil Malaysiana. A sizeable collection of primary source materials is available in microform including early Malaysian newspapers and documents from the Public Records Office, London. Perpustakaan Peringatan Za`ba (Za`ba Memorial Library) holds UML’s core collection of Malaysiana, consisting of monographs and serials on Malaysia or published in Malaysia; Romanised and Jawi texts pertaining to the Malay language and culture; original manuscripts; Malaysian conference proceedings; UM theses and dissertations; government publications; Chinese peranakan literature; the collection of the late Father Manuel Joaquim Pintado (mainly Portuguese materials pertaining to the history of the Portuguese exploits in the Far East, particularly, Malacca); and private collections, such as those of the late Tan Sri Zainal Abidin bin Ahmad (Za’ba), the late Associate Professor K.K. Nair, the family of Ibrahim bin Haji Yakob, the family of Major Dato’ Haji Mohd Said bin Haji Sulaiman, and UM’s former Vice-Chancellor, Royal Professor Ungku A. Aziz.

Information on UML’s holdings is available from our Pendeta WebPAC which can be searched from about 180 dedicated OPAC terminals available throughout the campus or personal computers via the Internet from the Library’s homepage (http://www.umlib.um.edu.my). UML’s catalogue consists of two databases – UNIMAL the catalogue for manuscripts, monographs, periodicals, theses and audiovisual materials; and iMalaysiana, an index database for Malaysiana conference papers, journal articles and legislation.

Other computer facilities are also made available to readers. A campus wide CD-ROM network facilitates access to several index and abstract databases. In the branch libraries, personal computers are also made available for Internet functions or wordprocessing. The Main Library has two computer labs - Lab A with 65 personal computers is used for Information Skills instruction which is a compulsory course for all first-year undergraduates; and Lab B of 30 personal computers is for student’s use in wordprocessing and Internet functions.

Apart from the Information Skills programme for first year undergraduate, the Library also provides orientation tours and user education classes for postgraduates. Subject-based information resource use classes are also provided for external clients on request.

In the training of library professionals, UM library has also contributed actively by providing practical and in-service training for staff from local libraries, students from library schools and visiting overseas librarians sponsored by the Malaysian government.

All libraries maintain reference desks where users may obtain assistance with their library needs. UML ‘s operations are fully computerised. Loans for eligible members are transacted through the DRA circulation module either by each library’s counter staff or via self-charging machines where available. UML also participates actively in interlibrary loan services with local and overseas libraries.

Dissemination of information on new services, titles and other library developments is effected through the Library’s quarterly bulletin, Kekal Abadi, (published since 1982).

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