Thai university brings its libraries online

Thailand's Thammassat University has launched digital services for its four libraries, making its print copies available as e-books for loan. 

The move makes the university the first Thai education institute to expand its library facilities into the online realm, reported Bangkok Post. Students, academic staff, researchers, and partnering universities — including Kasetsart University and Chiang Mai University — will be able to reserve and access books, journals, and other content offered at the libraries via its website.

Loan dates are the same for e-books as their print counterparts, with the access to the electronic versions automatically terminated 15 days after they were loaned out. 

Thammasat University Press, which produces academic books for the university, is working with Book Promotion & Service Company to generate the e-book database. The latter helps companies create e-book platforms. The university's new digital database is available at all times and there is no restrictions on the number of users that can borrow a book. 

The e-books are provided by its archives and the university plans to make commercial e-books available for use in classes at a later date, according to Bangkok Post. Thammasat University adopted the latest IT standards including open source library search system, Koha, and Online Public Access Catalogue (Opac). 

The university is a member of the OCLC WorldShare Interlibrary loan network, which comprises more than 70,000 libraries across the globe, giving users access to an international resource pool.

There are also plans to allow its library users to renew loans or request for books via a mobile app.