English
Under the auspices of Professor Dr. Abdelaziz Konsowa, President of Alexandria University, Dr. Hisham Saeed, Vice President of the University for Graduate Studies and Research, witnessed today, Monday, November 11, 2024, the annual training on the use of the Egyptian Knowledge Bank in Egyptian universities, which is organized by the Supreme Council of Universities, in the Blue Hall at the Faculty of Nursing.
The lecture was attended by Dr. Nefertiti Zaki, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing, Dr. Awatef El-Sharkawy, Vice Dean of the Faculty for Graduate Studies and Research, Dr. Alaa Gaafar, Director of the Digital Library Unit, Dr. Walid Ali, Representative of the Egyptian Knowledge Bank, Dr. Mahmoud Shawky, Representative of the Digital Library at the Supreme Council of Universities, in addition to representatives of international and Arab publishing houses, a group of faculty members and researchers from various Egyptian universities, and directors of libraries of Alexandria University faculties.
In his speech, Dr. Hisham Saeed stressed the importance of benefiting from the Egyptian Knowledge Bank as a national project launched by the Egyptian government in 2016, which is a major qualitative leap in providing multiple and free knowledge sources for students, teachers, employees of Egyptian universities, researchers and the general public. He pointed out that the project, since its launch, has been one of the largest digital libraries in the world because it provides scientific, cultural and educational content available online at all times and covers a wide range of disciplines and fields such as natural sciences, technology, arts, history and other specializations.
Saeed added that one of the most prominent features of the Egyptian Knowledge Bank is that it provides scientific content in partnership with international institutions and major publishing houses such as Elsevier and others, which allows users to access scientific articles, research and educational references as well as multimedia such as educational videos and illustrations, which leads to enhancing education in Egypt, supporting scientific research and developing the intellectual skills of students and researchers, which enables them to access documented and modern knowledge sources that serve their research and studies. He pointed out that the Egyptian Knowledge Bank is a pioneering step towards building a knowledge-based society and creating an educational environment that supports innovation and contributes to preparing generations that possess the ability to think critically and contribute to the sustainable development of Egypt. In addition, the Knowledge Bank is considered a portal that supports many Egyptian journals in Egyptian universities, which is a pioneering step to bring these periodicals to the world.
While Dr. Nefertiti Zaki confirmed that digital libraries are the libraries of the future in light of the general trend in the world towards the electronic world and digital content, she pointed out that the importance of the digital library is due to its ability to preserve its holdings in machine-readable forms, obtain information easily, eliminate the time and space barrier, shorten distances, reduce financial costs and enable more than one person to view information at the same time without damage t,o the scientific content of the information. She also pointed out that Alexandria University’s Digital Library is one of the university’s development projects, aiming to develop the work of the library, making all scientific and research technologies available in digital form in order to integrate with learning and information institutions in higher education, under the umbrella of the digital library at the Supreme Council of Universities, to reach the dissemination of the culture of sustainability and link it to scientific research, enhance information awareness, and build a digital environment that keeps pace with scientific developments.
Dr. Alaa Gaafar pointed out that the Egyptian Knowledge Bank is an effective tool that supports the aspirations of academics, researchers, university students and library specialists in Egypt, and contributes to enriching scientific research. She stressed that the large attendance at this annual training reflects everyone's interest in the importance and role of the Egyptian Knowledge Bank and the Digital Library Unit and the keenness to contribute to the development of scientific research in Egypt, especially since the workshop has been held over the past eight years, which is the age of the Egyptian Knowledge Bank, one of the most important pioneering national achievements in Egypt.
Representatives of the Egyptian Knowledge Bank and the Digital Library at the Supreme Council of Universities explained how to create an account on the Egyptian Knowledge Bank and how to manage it, the instructions for the procedures for applying for impact factor reports and citation checks, how to use the Egyptian Knowledge Bank and the academic search engine, a detailed explanation of the most important databases available through the bank, and an explanation of the research tools and software available through the bank.