The Hue Learning Resource Center has several organizational units arranged on four, open floors: Information Resources (Technical Services), Information Services (Public Services), Informational Technology (IT), and Administration. Dr. Huynh Dinh Chien, MD, PhD, is the director. We listened to informative presentations on Friday from each department.
The IT group has 12 servers, 278 PCs in both public and staff areas, and 226 thin client systems. The servers include a web server, mail server, database server, proxy server, file server, printer server, and two thin client servers. Over 20,000 LAN and ILS accounts are being maintained for the users. All users log in. The network bandwidth is roughly 1.7 Mbps, comprised of a leased line and two ADSL lines. The ILS is VeBrary, developed and implemented by Lac Viet Computing Corporation in Vietnam. It supports several Vietnamese common character entry methods, such as Telex, VNI, and VIQR. The ILS, as well as being Unicode-compliant, supports UNIMARC, MARC 21, AACR2, ISBD, Z39.50 and ISO 10161.
Circulation in the HUE LRC averages over 1000 transactions per day and the turnstile count is almost 2000 entries per day. The Reference/Information desk average about 200 questions per day. Library Orientation classes are compulsory for anyone who wants a card to the library, and since 2004 the IS staff has conducted about 400 classes. I sat in on two classes, and each had about 50 students. LRC cards are purchased for a small fee (under $3.00/year) and the LRC provides free internet access. There are 900 seats in the LRC, and the library is open 14 hours/day, 6 days/week.
The LRC was completed in roughly 2002, with funding from Atlantic Philanthropies, under the guidance of RMIT International University Vietnam. Since it is relatively new, there are only 60,000 book titles. There are approximately 48 staff in the library, which includes an International Center located in the LRC. The LRC has several revenue-generating services, such as a cafeteria, a vehicle parking service, photocopying/printing, and Cisco certified training courses.
The Hue LRC is a new and modern building, with a contemporary infrastructure. It emphasizes international collaboration. The staff are working hard to develop a new relationship between staff and users. The projects anticipated for the coming year include a digital library and e-learning. Coincidentally, we are teaching a course in digital libraries, and are using an open source learning management system that may transfer nicely to an e-learning system supported by the LRC.
Terry in Hue