Bandar Seri Begawan - The Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) Library, since its establishment in 1970 as a Teacher Training College Library, is set to achieve iconic status in its support of national research, where the library boasts the best multi-disciplinary learning and research information resources and space that the country has to offer.

It also houses a collection of books that currently numbers half-a-million, and is supplemented by a consistently updated collection of other print resources, local research thesis, e-books, and other multi-disciplinary as well as specialised databases for journals.

The 'eLibrary' UBD digital library system offers resources and facilities comparable to other university and research libraries in the region, with Wi-Fi made available within the library and operating hours extended during times of greater traffic, including revision week for students.

Not only are all of these resources have been made accessible just to the UBD community, but also to corporate bodies and individuals.

Changes in 21st century student learning style and the increasing emphasis on university research have found a quick response in the library's redesign of its learning spaces to accommodate the increasing number of daily patrons, as well as to enable greater collaborative work, while still providing for more focused and solitary needs. This response is reflected through the construction of a new building expected to be completed by early 2013, which will boast a brand new Learning Commons on the ground floor, as well as a library café, the first of its kind in the country.

These changes are also being made to welcome an increasing number ofvisitors to the library, who continue to flock to the library's Brunei Studies Collection (the BSC). The collection, which boasts rare manuscripts dating back to the 1700s, as well as the Borneo collection and local theses, receives over 100 visitors daily and records over 1400 requests monthly.

The digitisation of university publications, theses and working papers is one of the key responsibilities of the BSC is and the collection continues to work to archive and make these accessible to members of the public through the Bruneiana Digital Collection.

--Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin