PakCat is developed and maintained by PASTIC under the Consortium of S&T and R&D Libraries of Pakistan (CSTRDLP), uniting the holdings of Pakistan's libraries in one searchable catalogue.
PakCat is Pakistan's Union Catalogue — a single platform for searching the combined holdings of participating libraries nationwide. Librarians use it to avoid duplicating acquisitions with nearby institutions, while researchers use it to locate material held anywhere in the network. Developed under CSTRDLP, PakCat exists to promote resource sharing and support research and learning across the country.
Information plays a fundamental role in scientific, technological and economic development. Realizing this, the Government of Pakistan, with the assistance of UNESCO, established the Pakistan National Scientific and Technical Documentation Centre (PANSDOC) in 1957 under the Pakistan Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (PCSIR), Karachi. An expanded project named the Pakistan Scientific and Technological Information Centre (PASTIC) was launched in 1974 around the nucleus of PANSDOC, and was later transferred from PCSIR to the Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), Islamabad. PASTIC now functions as a subsidiary of PSF, an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Science & Technology, and serves researchers and professionals through specialized science and technology information services.
PASTIC is headed by a Director General, supported by Principal Librarian, Web Manager and Database Administrator roles that maintain PakCat and PASTIC's other digital services.
The Pakistan National Scientific and Technical Documentation Centre was established with UNESCO assistance under PCSIR, Karachi.
An expanded project, the Pakistan Scientific and Technological Information Centre, was launched around the nucleus of PANSDOC.
The Consortium of S&T and R&D Libraries of Pakistan was developed to modernize PASTIC's reference library and enable resource sharing among Pakistani libraries.
PakCat, the Union Catalogue of Pakistani Libraries, brings participating library collections together in one searchable platform under CSTRDLP.
The Consortium of Science & Technology and Research & Development Libraries of Pakistan (CSTRDLP) was established to promote resource sharing among libraries by upgrading library standards and building the capacity of librarians, in support of Pakistan's scientific research community. It brings together university central libraries, science faculty seminar libraries, libraries of centres of excellence, and libraries of scientific organizations across Pakistan.
Visit the official PASTIC and Library Consortium websites for services, member libraries, publications, and more.