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FEBRUARY 2017
Asian Institute of Technology
FEBRUARY 2017
Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai (right), AIT President, and Ms. Pranee Kiriyanant, Director, AIT Library.
Simplicity and elegance mark the soft opening of modernized AIT library
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implicity and elegance were the hallmark of the soft opening of the modernized AIT library on 20 January 2017, when AIT President Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai unveiled the facilities for use by the AIT community. Five years after it was devastated by the ravaging flood, the soft launch also marks the first-ever major facelift for the library that was constructed nearly four decades ago. In a touching speech, Prof. Worsak recalled the fateful day on 21 October 2011, when flood waters swamped the AIT campus and devastated the ground floor of the AIT library. For two months the ground floor of the AIT library was under water, and it seemed like a hopeless situation, Prof. Worsak reminisced. But this crisis also provided an opportunity and the Institute decided to rebuild the library as a showcase of user-friendly learning space,
using the latest technology and digital publications. Graced by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, Honorary Chair of the International Advisory Committee of AIT’s Library Modernization campaign, Prof. Worsak launched a fundraising drive that yielded nearly 80 million Baht. Engraved names of donors on glass panels is one of the many ways in which sponsors have been acknowledged; besides a tree-like panel highlighting the major donors, and naming of rooms and facilities after significant benefactors. The cynosure of all eyes was “LibRobo,” a robot designed by AIT’s Mechatronics Laboratory which circulates around the reading areas, and fetches returned books.
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