Assistant Professor Akekarin Yolrabil, Director at Thammasat University Library, has received the “2020 Recognition Award for Library Benefactor”, presented by Thai Library Association under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, for initiating, for establishing and developing the library or educational institution in Library and Information Science to meet the quality standards of the Thai Library Association and regularly monitoring and maintaining it for at least 5 years.
Assistant Professor Akekarin Yolrabil has served as Director of Thammasat University Library for the 1st term from July 1, 2016, until June 30, 2019, and continued the 2nd term from July 1, 2019, until June 30, 2022.
The most outstanding work is to bring the organizational operations to meet the international standards (ISO). The library has been certified for the quality management system according to ISO 9001: 2015 since November 17, 2017, and the renewal of the certification was completed on October 31, 2020, and the environmental management system has been certified according to ISO 14001: 2015 since December 22, 2019.
The scope of the “quality and environmental management system” covers all operational segments which consist of front-end and back-end user services. It is the first library of higher education institutions in Thailand having 2 ISO standards certified contemporarily.
The operation under the scope of work covering all roles and responsibilities of the library in compliance with ISO standards for quality and environmental management system has increased the effectiveness of the library services i.e., operational planning, monitoring, investigation and quality control have been done completely and accurately according to the requirements, as well as continuous improvement.
This results in library user satisfaction rate at 91.70 per cent in 2020, which is higher than the target, which is at 85 per cent.
The communication strategy has been adopted in the organization’s branding and strategic positioning in order to build loyalty and relationship between the organization and service users, consists of students, teachers and staff of Thammasat University including external people and staff of the TU Library.
There are currently 97,444 persons who have contacted us via “Thammasat University Library” Facebook Page (as of November 25, 2020). This is considered the most-followed Facebook page of the higher education institution’s libraries in Thailand.
Additionally, the policies for TU Library service have been set for improvement and development that enables users to access services provided by TU Library anywhere, anytime and on any devices.
These services include registration from the self-registration system, borrowing-returning and resource request from TU Library and other libraries in the network through Book delivery and Interlibrary Loan service, library fine payment through an auto payment system, access to information technology from inside and outside Thammasat University network via OpenAthens system, application development to respond to the needs of users who prefer convenience and speed, such as study room booking system via QueQ, bookshelf guide with TAMMA system, library access with QR code via Virtual card, Institutional repository: IR named “Thammasat University Digital Collections” or TUDC system for storing electronic information resources used in promoting teaching and learning during the COVID-19 situation.
