Future Needs

The driveway floods after heavy rain. All rubbish is burnt on the pile on the right - Apr 2002

The initial stage of the building project will provide a solid basis for future developments. However it is still inadequate for the needs of the University and the provision of library services to students and teaching staff.

Work is currently being undertaken to repair building faults and make structural alterations that are required to address problems relating to ventilation, climate control, security and operational facilities.

Funding is required for additional work including ensuring the building is adequately fitted with alarms, security features, electrical facilities (including emergency power generation), Internet points and other basic requirements.

Landscaping of the grounds around the library building would assist in keeping down dust levels inside the library, particularly the adjacent dirt driveway with its numerous potholes.

Building Extensions

Funding is needed for an extension that would approximately double collection and study seating space.

The extension of the library is an important priority. The lack of any personal resources for most students and teaching staff, combined with the lack of alternative book, computer and study resources in East Timor makes the needed expansion of the library more pressing.

International university library standards suggest that the UNTL Library (with a student population of approximately 7,000 students) should have up to 700 seats for student study and over 6,600 square metres of floor space.

The first phase of the UNTL Library building project will provide less than 500 sq metres. This would allow for roughly 90 study seats crammed in together and an estimated 190 bays of shelving (with a capacity for only 28,000 books). Even doubling existing floor space, student seating and collection capacity with an extension project would not satisfy needs.

The international standards apply to libraries where:

• there are extensive open collections with multiple copies of many titles and generous loan periods
  
• plentiful photocopy and online database facilities are available
  
• extensive campus bookshops would provide most required textbooks
  
• students and staff would be expected to acquire their own standard texts and would have study facilities and resources at home.
  

In East Timor:

• the University library has a serious shortage of books, a largely closed collection with limited loan periods
  
• there are no no photocopiers on campus, and no funds to cover costs of basic photocopying
  
• there are no bookshops as yet in the country (except for a few shelves of textbooks in shops near the University)
  
• university students and staff have extremely limited personal resources, including the lack of adequate study facilities at home, on campus or elsewhere in Dili.