Collection Development and Management Practices of Arabic College Libraries in Sri Lanka

This study aimed to investigate the collection development practices of Arabic College (AC) libraries in Sri Lanka. Specifically, the study examines the existing collection development practices such as types of resources, languages, selection tools, selection criteria and acquisition methods of the selected Arabic Colleges in Sri Lanka. This study involved 12 senior Arabic College Libraries as a purposive sample among the 30 senior Arabic Colleges and used qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods. The study used a questionnaire and analyzed it by using descriptive methods. It reveals that the existing collection development practices of most of the Arabic college libraries are below the proper collection development practices of academic libraries. However, some libraries are in the developmental stage. The reasons identified for inadequate collection development practices of Arabic college (AC) libraries are the absence of collection development policy, lack of collection evaluation, lack of selection responsibility, lack of awareness in electronic media, lack of proper budget allocation, lack of trained staff, lack of coordination and cooperation among existing Arabic college libraries and low participation by the Arabic College administration in collection building.