Opening of the library in the Pharmacy School’s halls of residence

Despite the rapid development of e-learning, artificial intelligence, the Internet, smartphones and social media, libraries continue to play an educational role.

The library is one of the university’s most important departments. It plays a significant role in organising the teaching process, research activities and the personal development of students. In the context of modern education, the library is becoming not merely a place for storing books, but also an information, educational and cultural centre that contributes to the all-round development of the individual.

In modern society, the volume of information is constantly increasing, and students need to be able to independently find, analyse and utilise reliable sources of knowledge. In this regard, the university library takes on particular significance in the training of qualified specialists and the fostering of spiritual and moral values among young people.

S.D. Asfendiyarov Kazakh National Medical University has a well-equipped, modern library with an extensive collection of books. The library staff, led by Kulyash Raimbekovna Meirbekova, provides access to scientific and educational resources, supports the teaching process, facilitates academic research and assists with the preparation of publications.

However, it would be convenient for students living in halls of residence to have a small reading room within the halls where they could prepare for lectures, mid-term assessments and exams, and read fiction, popular science and educational literature.

At the School of Pharmacy, great emphasis is placed on the use of scientific and methodological literature when preparing syllabuses,   lectures, practical sessions and research work. Each department of the School of Pharmacy has its own small library of professional literature, containing volumes of the Pharmacopoeia of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Eurasian Economic Union, regulatory and technical publications, textbooks and study guides, methodological recommendations, monographs and popular science publications.

The university’s management attaches great importance to improving social and living conditions and ensuring students’ comfort in halls of residence. It is very important to create opportunities for students’ leisure activities in the halls of residence and to organise cultural, social and educational events. On the initiative of Dean Sakipova, Zuriyadda Bektemirovna, and young lecturers from the departments of the School of Pharmacy, a library was opened in Hall of Residence No. 4 of the S.D. Asfendiyarov. The library’s collection currently comprises over 1,000 books in Kazakh and Russian, collected as part of the KazNMUBooks challenge.

To mark S.D. Asfendiyarov’s birthday on 20 October, a library was opened in Hall of Residence No. 5 at KazNMU; the event was attended by lecturers from the departments, Master’s students and PhD students from the School of Pharmacy, as well as representatives of the university’s academic library. It is symbolic that the opening of the library in Hall of Residence No. 5 took place on 20 October, the birthday of S.D. Asfendiyarov, after whom the country’s leading medical university is named. Students gave a presentation on his scientific, public and teaching activities.

S.D. Asfendiyarov went down in our country’s history as a revolutionary, an active fighter, a participant in the First World War, the Great October Socialist Revolution, and the civil war in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, as well as a prominent Soviet, state and public figure, and a talented scientist.

Sanzhar Asfendiyarov is a man who has left an indelible mark on the history of Kazakhstan. A military doctor, statesman (Public Commissioner for Health of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic in Turkestan, Public Commissioner for Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan) and scientist,

he is regarded as one of the founders of the Kazakh Academy of Sciences. At a time when the people of Kazakhstan were facing a shortage of scientists, specialists and educated people, Sanzhar Asfendiyarov immersed himself in scientific work and devoted himself to medicine, science, education, politics and organisational work.

Those attending the event watched with interest an informative and insightful video about the life and work of S.D. Asfendiyarov, an outstanding statesman and public figure of Kazakhstan.

The library’s collection comprises over 600 books in Kazakh and Russian, compiled by lecturers and staff from the departments of the School of Pharmacy. For the convenience of students, they are grouped and arranged on the shelves according to their subject matter: textbooks, academic literature, fiction, and literature on pharmacy and business. Wi-Fi is available. The library has a small reading room where you can read books and discuss them with friends. You can borrow books to read in your room, provided you have first signed the register.

The university’s academic library and the halls of residence libraries are constantly being updated with monographs, textbooks and study guides. The most prolific authors of such publications are the university’s lecturers and researchers. Among the most popular publications is the study guide ‘Pharmacology of Antimicrobial Agents’, which has been actively used in academic and teaching activities for 10 years. The authors of the study guide are the renowned academics T.A. Muminov, M.E. Kulmanov, V.N. Lokshin and S.A. Amireev.

Ayažan Nurtayevna Kydyralinova, Deputy Head of the Scientific Library for Library Affairs, and Almas Sabyrgalievich Žumykaev, Deputy Head of the Scientific Library for Automation and Methodological Work, delivered interesting presentations on the library’s collection, its educational, methodological and scientific literature, and its electronic resources.

The university’s academic library collection comprises 1,208,695 items, including books, theses, abstracts and periodicals in the national language, Russian and foreign languages. The digital collection comprises 9,239 items, of which 3,177 are e-books and 6,062 are e-books in PDF format.

The festive atmosphere of the library’s opening was enhanced by a performance on the Kazakh dombra by Isakoza Nurym, a third-year student in group TFP-24-015, who is studying on the ‘Pharmaceutical Production Technology’ programme.

The social and living conditions of students in the halls of residence are kept under constant supervision by the university management. The Rector’s Office and the deans’ offices provide all the necessary facilities to ensure students’ comfort and pay close attention to students’ suggestions and feedback.