Universities and University Libraries in Turkey

Abstract

This article draws a picture of the education system and library environment in Turkey. It starts off with a brief overview of the Turkish education system and the proportion of the population involved in formal and informal education. As 44% of the Turkish population is under 25, there is a big demand for higher education in Turkey. This demand drives the authorities to open new universities and provide higher education for more young people. 54 new universities have been established since 2000. University librarians try to cope with this rapid increase and create functional libraries. Librarians have started to cooperate closely within the framework of ANKOS (Anatolian University Libraries Consortium) since 2000. ANKOS is one of the successful examples of library consortiums.

Academic Librarianship in Turkey: The Historical Context

“…This demand drives the authorities to open new state and foundation universities and provide higher education for more young people. 21 For example, there were 73 universities in Turkey in 1999; but, this number doubled to 139 in 2009.…”

Portrait of a Consortium: ANKOS (Anatolian University Libraries Consortium)

“…The average number of staff in 2007 in university libraries was 18, which included six librarians. 5 Most of the libraries of newly opened universities have inadequate funding for acquisitions, personnel and library buildings. Under these extremely diverse conditions it was a challenge to build up a successful consortium within a few years.…”