My Thai adventure is drawing to a close. In some ways, the time went very quickly. In other ways, it seems like forever since Amanda dropped me off at the airport. Blogging has been fun. Internet cafes are plentiful here so it was easy to find places to drop in and write a bit.
Today was my library day. I had three guides show me around a bit to some Thai libraries. My guides are from a company that functions much like MLC. They work with vendors to get good prices so that the libraries can purchase access. They told me that they often get 70 percent discounts, but even that is often too much for many colleges to afford. They were very knowledgeable about vendors and we talked about Elsevier, Springer, OCLC, and the rest. They also work with integrated library system vendors so we talked about that, too. Their big vendor is VTLS. I asked them whether they know about III and of course they do. Apparently there aren't a lot of III installations but I gather there are some. We certainly live in a small world.
We went to two universities: Thammasat and Suan Dusit. Thammasat is a major university with a couple of campuses. We went to the campus that is a bit out of town. They have an amazing collection of electronic resources. Science Direct, ACS, ACM, Project Muse, Springer, Wilson, EBSCO, ABI INFORM, you name they have it. I figured they must be the UM around here.
After that we stopped at the Thailand Library Association office because one of my guides had a meeting with the association president to talk about a conference they're planning for December. It was a hoot. The TLA president was putting the hit on the guys I was with to sponsor events at the conference and they were trying to get a place on the program to talk about their services and do some kind of demo. I thought to myself: "I've been in this meeting before." A small world, indeed.
Turns out the TLA president is a UM grad. She said if she'd known I was coming she'd have tried to organize a Michigan alumni party. And she invited me back to the digital libraries conference they're planning for December. I have my reservation made.
The visit to Suan Dusit was good, too. It's sort of a cross between a commmunity college and a four-year liberal arts school. They, too, have a wide range of electronic access but not as much as Thammasat. What they do have more of is computer training and computer labs. They have a dynamite multimedia lab. Lots of fun toys.
Just as we getting on the elevator to leave, head of the multimedia lab said that her son had just got back from a stay in Grand Rapids. I laughed and said that I had been born not very far from there. At that, they all laughed too. Small world.
It's about dinner time. Last dinner in Thailand. After tonight, it's back to airport food for a while.
Today was my library day. I had three guides show me around a bit to some Thai libraries. My guides are from a company that functions much like MLC. They work with vendors to get good prices so that the libraries can purchase access. They told me that they often get 70 percent discounts, but even that is often too much for many colleges to afford. They were very knowledgeable about vendors and we talked about Elsevier, Springer, OCLC, and the rest. They also work with integrated library system vendors so we talked about that, too. Their big vendor is VTLS. I asked them whether they know about III and of course they do. Apparently there aren't a lot of III installations but I gather there are some. We certainly live in a small world.
We went to two universities: Thammasat and Suan Dusit. Thammasat is a major university with a couple of campuses. We went to the campus that is a bit out of town. They have an amazing collection of electronic resources. Science Direct, ACS, ACM, Project Muse, Springer, Wilson, EBSCO, ABI INFORM, you name they have it. I figured they must be the UM around here.
After that we stopped at the Thailand Library Association office because one of my guides had a meeting with the association president to talk about a conference they're planning for December. It was a hoot. The TLA president was putting the hit on the guys I was with to sponsor events at the conference and they were trying to get a place on the program to talk about their services and do some kind of demo. I thought to myself: "I've been in this meeting before." A small world, indeed.
Turns out the TLA president is a UM grad. She said if she'd known I was coming she'd have tried to organize a Michigan alumni party. And she invited me back to the digital libraries conference they're planning for December. I have my reservation made.
The visit to Suan Dusit was good, too. It's sort of a cross between a commmunity college and a four-year liberal arts school. They, too, have a wide range of electronic access but not as much as Thammasat. What they do have more of is computer training and computer labs. They have a dynamite multimedia lab. Lots of fun toys.
Just as we getting on the elevator to leave, head of the multimedia lab said that her son had just got back from a stay in Grand Rapids. I laughed and said that I had been born not very far from there. At that, they all laughed too. Small world.
It's about dinner time. Last dinner in Thailand. After tonight, it's back to airport food for a while.
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