Activities at AIT's Center for Library And Information Resources (CLAIR)

Citation

(1998), "Activities at AIT's Center for Library And Information Resources (CLAIR)", Asian Libraries, Vol. 7 No. 12. https://doi.org/10.1108/al.1998.17307lad.007

Activities at AIT's Center for Library And Information Resources (CLAIR)

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Activities at AIT's Center for Library And Information Resources (CLAIR)

Information provided by Francis J. Devadason and Suchitra Piempinsest

The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) was founded in 1959 as a priority project of the SEATO nations, to help meet the growing need for advanced engineering education in Asia. In November 1967 the Institute became an autonomous international institution empowered to award degrees and diplomas. Presently AIT offers advanced education in engineering, science, planning and management through a range of activities at levels and intensities from doctoral research to short-term training. The Institute's 160 hectare campus is located 42 kilometres north of Bangkok. Here more than 1,000 postgraduate students, mostly from Asia, and 200 faculty and international staff foster advanced technological learning to meet the regional need for more and better trained personnel for key positions in private and public sectors.

The Center for Library and Information Resources (CLAIR) at the Asian Institute of Technology devotes considerable effort to building and maintaining an outstanding collection to meet the expanding needs of teaching and research in the Institute and to serve as a regional resource reference centre, particularly for the developing areas of Southeast Asia.

The Library has about 220,000 volumes and subscribes to 680 journals, in addition to those received on exchange. It also houses the archives of AIT, a collection of maps, vertical file materials and microforms. In addition, databases both online and in CD-ROM format are available in areas relevant to the curriculum of the Institute.

In addition to the Library itself, five specialised information centres have been established to coordinate all present and future information activities to meet the increasing information needs both of AIT's academic community and of the Asian countries. This regional mission is fulfilled through the initiation of information handling projects, specialised training and repackaging and dissemination of information. Each of these centres (ENSIC, Environmental Systems Information Center; RERIC, Regional Energy Resources Information Center; GEIRC, Geotechnical Engineering International Resources Center; IFIC, International Ferrocement Information Center; and MOTIC, Management of Technology Information Center) publish regular journals, newsletters, abstracting journals and maintain specialised data bases.

CLAIR's online public access catalogue contains bibliographic information on all resources purchased after 1971. In addition, certain types of materials held in the information centres are presented in abstract form. Membership of the centres provides access to more in-depth information access. Information services include lending, reference, online information retrieval, referral, interlibrary loans, photocopying, microfilming, bibliography compilation, current awareness services, and document delivery service. Information repackaging is a specialised service that provides scientific, technical and management information for governmental and non-governmental agencies, industry, business and individuals. A team of information specialists is available to help identify information needs, retrieve information from a variety of sources, repackage it and expedite its delivery. CLAIR also conducts regular short-term training programmes on information technology applications, CDS/ISIS, Internet, Electronic Resources and the WWW.

For further information please contact: Asian Institute of Technology, PO Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand. Fax: +66-2-524-5870. Web site: http://www.ait.ac.th/clair/ http://www.ait.ac.th/clair/training/training.html