Around the World to Thailand

Citation

Butdisuwan, S. (2002), "Around the World to Thailand", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 19 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2002.23919faf.003

Around the World to Thailand

Sujin Butdisuwan

The library profile

The Academic Resource Center (AREC) of Mahasarakham University is a compound name representing the Administrative Office, the University Library, the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Isan Information Center, and the Information Technology Center. It functions as an information resources center serving the study and research needs of the students, faculty, and staff of all faculties of the university. Its services also extend to local communities as well as non-traditional users across the northeastern region of Thailand and throughout the country.

The Library houses approximately 150,000 Thai-language and 50,000 English-language volumes, and subscribes to more than 1,700 periodicals, including 42 newspapers. In addition to these there are Internet resources, CD-ROM databases, videos, slides, and the like available in the library.

The center implemented INNOVATIVE integrated library system software in 1995. The software brought about changes in the library, and turned the traditional library into an automated one. Webpac, which was introduced two years ago, allows users to search the library's catalog as well as other library catalogs via the Web. Users can also access information resources on the Internet. At present there are more than 30 OPAC terminals offering access to all library materials housed in the library. Any users with a valid ID may listen to or view items in the viewing room of the audiovisual section equipped with CDs, cassettes, VDO tapes, slides, filmstrips, as well as other non-printed materials.

The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Information Center is a repository of approximately 50,000 volumes including books, journals, videos, and other forms of information related to the northeastern region of Thailand. Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn graciously bestowed the name of this center.

The Information Technology Center handles all works concerning the computerization at the center such as managing the library and network systems, updating the library databases, educating its users regarding IT, and facilitating the librarian's work. It is fortunate that there are three computer-oriented persons working full-time at this center.

The AREC has a cooperative agreement with other academic libraries in the country under the ThaiLis (Thai Library Integrated System) through which all academic libraries are connected. Some of the activities undertaken include staff development, information resource sharing, interlibrary loan, and document delivery services. It is through the library automation system that the library's networking has been set up (see Figures 1 and 2). Users can connect to libraries and resources not only in the library but also around the world. Access to domestic and international information resources and services can be done easily through the Internet.

Figure 1. Library automation network: Academic Resource Center, Mahasarakham University

Figure 2. Library automation network in Academic Resource Center

The AREC has been a member of the Thai Library Association and IFLA for many years. The AREC once jointly organized a pre-IFLA Conference in 1999 and during the year 2002, the AREC has undertaken the IFLA ALP Project aiming at setting up LIS training network in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

Implementation of IT in the AREC

To start with, the AREC purchased two microcomputers in 1983, mainly used for word processing and in-house databases using Dbase and Micro CDS/ISIS software. Since then, computerization has been developed gradually. At present, there are more than a hundred computers connected to the library system that are available for the university communities and the general public.

The Internet was introduced to the AREC in 1994 under the Thailand Social/Scientific Academic and Research Network (ThaiSarn), a project launched by the National Electronics and Computers Center (NECTEC) of the Ministry of Science and Technology. Then the ThaiSarn aimed at establishing an information network among public universities and setting up the Scientific and Technological Information Database. The AREC was selected as a member and was given fundamental equipment necessary for the work. At the beginning the Internet was used mainly for e-mail and finding library catalogs on the Web.

In 1995 the AREC subscribed to the INNOPAC software with five modules including Acquisition, Circulation, Cataloging, OPAC, and Serials. This software totally changed the look of traditional library into a "modern library".

In 1996 a CD-ROM network was introduced to the AREC. Currently there are about 25 CD-ROM databases such as ERIC, DAO, SOCIOFILE, and MEDLINE available for academic use. However, the CD-ROM databases are less popular nowadays because customers prefer online databases instead.

In 1997 AREC employed the INFOMA software for its housekeeping business and shared the Watermark software in 2000 with the university as an information management system.

Impacts of IT on the AREC

The implementation of the IT has had great impacts on the work undertaken at the AREC. The following are examples of such impacts:

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  Library automation. The AREC became fully automated when it purchased the INNOVATIVE library software. This software has changed the ways librarians work, services provided, attitudes of the users, and users' information seeking behavior. The librarians have to have IT knowledge and skills in order to manage the library work and services. As a result, a wide range of services has been provided.

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  Digital collection and full-text services. The AREC has recently launched a digital conversion project of its research collection and publications published by the university and its personnel. The research collection mainly consists of students' theses and research reports done by university personnel. The main purpose of the project is to make widely available the research documents and the university's own publications in full-text format. In addition to texts, audio and graphic materials are also being digitized. To do this documents are scanned and stored as .pdf files on a server connected to the main library server in which bibliographic records for all imaged documents are created and linked to the catalog. Files are made available via the library's Web server. The system resides on a Windows 2000 server connected to an IBM RS6000 through the ATM backbone and GIBABIT Switch. Viewer's software for local use is being developed in the library, and browser such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer can be used. Public access to the database is available via the library's homepage. At present, there are more than 1,000 full-texts from the research collection available for public use.

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  Metadata and Web resources. With the advent of technology and a prosperity of resources on the Web, the AREC has employed Dublin Core Metadata for cataloguing Web resources relevant to the university's areas of studies. The AREC pays great attention to cataloguing Web resources relating to northeastern Thailand. This initiative facilitates researchers and those who are interested in studying Isan or northeastern Thailand wishing to find information relevant to their research projects. Again, public access to catalogued Web resources is also available through the Library's OPAC.

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  Virtual librarian. A "virtual librarian" project has been initiated. This project allows users to receive "information services" without boundaries. The AREC is able to put useful information on the AREC's home page. Users can learn how to use the services provided by the AREC. In addition, they can catch up with the latest information updates. This becomes an effective means of communication between the AREC and its users. Another advantage is that users can post their queries on the library's Web board and the librarians use it as a medium for electronic reference services.

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  Remote access. IT facilitates remote access to the AREC resources including the library catalog, in-house databases, CD-ROM databases, online databases (which include Grolier's Encyclopedia and OCLC FirstSearch) and World Wide Web resources. Users, including members of the general public, can access all these resources via the library's home page.

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  Resource sharing. IT has become a major means for resource sharing among academic libraries in Thailand. Through the library's Web OPAC, users can explore other libraries' catalogues. When a user wants an item not owned by AREC, he or she can request the item through an interlibrary loan service that can be done online. Some documents requested, especially journal articles, can be delivered electronically. The documents will be scanned into .pdf files and sent to the requesting libraries, saving a lot of time for both the library and the users. Similar to the catalog, the Journal Link Project was initiated in 1998 by the Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, and serves as a means for searching the holdings of journals in all academic libraries in Thailand. All academic libraries in Thailand have become members of this link. As a member, the users of AREC can place a request for an article not owned by the AREC. Users can also use the Journal Link through the library's Web OPAC. In a recent development the Ministry of University Affairs (MUA) has launched a project to ease financial problems among the libraries. The MUA subscribes to and makes available "central online databases" including ERIC, DAO, MEDLINE, IEEE, ABI/INFORM, SERFILE, AIDSLINE, and TOXINE. Each academic library can access these databases through Uninet online services.

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  Networking. Locally, the AREC is a resource center for the university. All faculties and institutes are connected via a campus network and the university intranet. The AREC is also a major resource for institutions in Mahasarakham province and nearby provinces. Serving the communities is partly a community role as stated in the university's mission. Nationally it is fair to say that with the IT the AREC has been connected with and linked to all academic libraries in Thailand. The AREC has become a member of the Provincial Library Network (Pulinet), the Thai Library Integrated System (ThaiLIS), and the InterUniversity Network (Uninet). However, these networks will become a national network in the near future called EDNET when the Ministry of University Affairs merges with the Ministry of Education in 2002. Internationally, the AREC is connected to the Internet, which allows users of the AREC to access information in the international arena.

Problems

It has taken a long time for the AREC to get to this point. Compared with other libraries, the AREC is one of the leading academic libraries in Thailand. However, it has been through some hardships, namely problems with the maintenance of the system, communication problems, insufficient knowledge and skills among library staff, and the insufficiency of users' knowledge and information skills.

Maintenance of the library system became a problem because of the weakness of local currency and limitation of budgeting allocated. Each year the AREC has to pay a maintenance cost for the INNOVATIVE software of about US$28,000. The cost seems to increase each year. With this regard, development of in-house software is being considered.

Another problem is the communication link. AREC is located about 500 kilometers from Bangkok (Thailand's capital and largest city) and the Internet goes through a few network hubs. Although there is a good campus network, the Internet link is still unstable. Whenever the Internet is down it affects all library work and services.

As for the staff's IT literacy, to some extent the librarians feel comfortable working with IT but it is not enough since technology keeps changing all the time. They need to upgrade their knowledge and skills. So continuing education programs on various subjects for the AREC staff have been organized. Yet English language is still the major problem.

In terms of users' knowledge and skills, the AREC has been working hard to educate users and upgrade their skills to use services provided by the library, but their knowledge level is not satisfactory. It is said that the library's development goes too fast so that the users cannot catch up with it. So, in terms of cost-benefits, the library fails.

Future trend

Up to now, the AREC stands at the crossroad to what is called the "electronic library or digital library". There has been a lot of debate about virtual reality, the virtual university and virtual learning, and a virtual library in which users are able to access information at their convenience regardless of place and time. The AREC should be functioning not only as the university's primary resource, but should be a learning resource that supports informal education and life-long education for people in the whole nation as well. I perceive that this will be the target for the AREC to achieve. In order to move toward that end we need to prepare ourselves with the help of technology. The staff need to upgrade their knowledge and skills. Effective users' information literacy programs need to be undertaken. We hope to get there sometime. It may take time but it is a challenge for us.

Conclusion

I believe that what I have presented here is not new but I would like to share what we have been doing and how we get benefits from IT. I think we all agree that IT facilitates our work and helps us to provide better services. However, it is not cheap to implement it in the Library so we need to exploit it fully and use it wisely. You may observe that this is just one library that is located in a remote area far from Bangkok. However, it is fair to say that our library may represent all academic libraries in Thailand because it is not hugely different to them. Your comments and suggestions regarding this article are welcome. You can visit our Web site at: (www.library.msu.ac.th) .

Sujin Butdisuwan(sujin.b@msu.ac.th) is Director of the Academic Resource Center, Mahasarakham University, Kantarawichai District, Mahasarakham 44510, Thailand.