Things to Consider

There is still no proper loans counter & the Reserve Collection shelving is totally inadequate

The UNTL Library has very many needs. These are exacerbated by the destruction of infrastructure in East Timor. The following stories give you some idea of the range and complexity of problems faced by the library staff and volunteer workers.

• There is only 1 UPS in the library so most of the 8 operational library computers are not protected from the frequent power failures, brownouts and surges Dili is notorious for. Another 30 computers, 2 servers and other IT equipment will all need UPS protection before installation of the Multimedia Centre network can proceed.
  
  
• A considerable number of important videos on East Timor's history and curricular subjects have been sent to the library. The University has no audiovisual equipment with which to watch them or to copy them to CDV to protect them from the tropical climate. The East Timorese have never had access to books, articles and AV productions about their country. It is vitally important that as much as possible be made accessible to them.
  
  
• Most of the 40 to 50 study seats presently available for over 7,000 students and teaching staff, are small tables that are little larger than an A3 sheet of paper. There are still no benches available for computers in the Multimedia Centre and classroom.
  
  
• The lack of a book detection security system means that the small team of library staff are forced to spend valuable time carefully patrolling the library to prevent theft. Security is a much greater problem in a country with no bookshops, no other significant libraries, very few personal resources, very low incomes and 80% unemployment. Students will be unable to have open access to most of the Indonesian language books and the Reference collection. There is no room left in the small Reserve Collection room where the most valuable books are housed.
  
  
• There is still no access to the Internet at the University. The cabling has been installed but there are only 5 Internet ports in the Library's Multimedia Centre - many more outlets are needed.
  
  
• The University has a new generator near the library building but cannot afford to connect it up or pay for the fuel.
  
  
• The library relies on a Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA, a small international NGO with very limited funds, to pay for their phone bills and rental charges and to buy many very basic operational supplies.
  
  

Recent Progress

• Donated books have been banking up in massive piles of boxes because there were no more bookshelves in the library to house them. Half of the small collection of battered wooden bookshelves in the library are bag racks so many standard-sized books are unable to stand upright. The recent donation of 249 double bays of library shelving by ANU has been manna from heaven. They will remain in their shipping container while major repairs and alterations to the library building continue.
  
  
• When the East Timorese librarians ran out of spine labels in October 2001 as they catalogued their new collection from scratch, they had nowhere to buy them and no money to buy them with. Three packets sent up in a shipping container did not arrive until January 2002. Meanwhile hundreds of catalogued books were piling up on dusty floors because there were no shelves in the workroom.
  
  
• The supply of donated date due slips ran out within days of the library opening for students. They had to print their own using an overworked faulty bubblejet printer, and cut them with a blade. A Shepparton printer recently printed 20,000 in Tetum!
  
  
• For 18 months the UNTL Library had only 5 crooked and rusty old bookends. In early 2002 10 good ones arrived. Over 600 excellent secondhand bookends, from the former Sydney University Teacher's College Library, were loaded into a shipping container and sent north in Oct 2002.
  
  

Everything is needed

Funds and donated goods are needed to fit out the new library building. Most importantly it needs study tables and built-in computer benches, a loans counter and Reserve Collection shelving in the main library, a book detection system & materials, UPSs, an air conditioner for the server room, photocopiers, audio-visual equipment, some computer equipment, and a fax machine.

The library also needs ongoing funds for paper and toner supplies and ink cartridges and similar oncosts.

Also needed are roll stools and a wide range of very basic library & office stationery.

You can print out a list of supplies and equipment needed, or copy it electronically and distribute it to your colleagues and friends. List of Operational Supplies needed by the UNTL Library