ASEAN Corner

As the information technology plays a major role in society and the users demand to access to more information is increasing rapidly in Laos, especially the NUOL community, the demand to control and manage the information efficiently is more escalating. It is necessary for the Central Library of the National University of Laos which is still young and needs development its capacity building, having more facilities in order to provide information service to meet the needs of the university’s students, lecturers, staff and community.

The University Central Library (UCL) was created in 1996, and inherited the library materials of the library of the Dongsapangmeuk Institution of Pedagogy (the Pedagogical University of Vientiane, after 1976), establishing in 1960. Locating on the 1st floor of, and occupying half the previous President building in the east side, called “Red Building”(Roofed by red tiles), this library was the beginnings of library work.

At that time, it was divided into two main sections of, the library of English Department and the library of the L’École Supérieure de Pédagogie (School of Pedagogy), providing books, journals, newspapers and so forth for teaching and learning. Accordingly, students were allowed to borrow required books for a whole academic year, returning them to the library in the late academic year.

In 1984, it was moved from Red Building to the building of Faculty of Letters, on the 2nd floor, and occupied half the building in the west side, currently occupied by the English Department. We had internal and external support in developing library work, from 1988-90, a voluntarily Australian specialist, Cathy Robertson, in library science helped improve the library work for two years.

From 1992-93 the Pedagogical University of Vientiane, Ministry of Education and Sports gained financial support for the construction and furniture of a new library building, from UNESCO-AGFUND and the government of Laos. The building was completed in 1993 and was officially open on 01 January, 1994.

In 1995, along with the establishment of National University of Laos(NUOL), by merging colleges and higher education institutions in Vientiane Municipal. Accordingly, the library of the Pedagogical University of Vientiane officially announced by Ministry of Education and Sports as Central Library of NUOL from then on.

The Library Orientation Day offers first year students an introduction to the library’s resources and services. This also touches on academic integrity the intrigues in the art of database searching. Objectives of Orientation. To familiarize students with the library facility, resources and services.