SWU librarians extend helping hands to Wat Thai of Los Angeles, U.S.A on April-June 2010.

Wat Thai of Los Angeles is the first Thai temple in California established by the first group of Thais who set up restaurants serving Thailand's special dishes. It i  estimated that there are around 100,000 Thais living in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Chicago and other big cities who have acquired U.S. citizenship. They often have joint gatherings at Wat Thai.

Reports about the setting up the library, mentioned that in 1976 Wat Thai involved the Thai doctoral library science students studying at the University of the State of California (USC) to help set up the library. The library volunteers were M.L., Dr. Joy Nunthiwatcharin of Chulalongkorn University, Dr. Lamoon Rattakorn of Srinakharinwirot University, Dr. Chaweelak Boonyakarn at Mahasarakham University and Dr.Mangkorn Thongsukdee as well as other Thai students at that time.

On 2010, Consul Damrong Kraikhran of the Royal Thai Consulate at Los Angeles and Phra Maha Boonrem Kittiyano at Wat Thai, are the library project leaders who look forward to seeing the library serve as a specialized Thai Information Center for Thai community, in general which also provides cultural reading materials to help Thai children to appreciate their Thai Cultural heritage. Hopefully, the library should also serve as a source of information for persons involved in Thai studies.




Wat Thai library is located in 2 rooms under the main building of Phra Ubosoth of Wat Thai. The library in 1976 started with the collection of 1,800 titles and now has around 3,000 titles. Library has a very rich collection of books on Buddhism including the Tripitaka. There are some very rare books and a collection for general reading.

Early 2010. the Chulalongkorn University Book Center and the Thai publishers' Association donated to the library of Wat Thai around 2,000 books to honor H.R.H. Princess Sirindhorn on her birthday, 2 April 2010.

The leaders of the library project, anxious to have the books processed quickly for readers' use, saw the need to find librarian volunteers. With the support of the Thai Consulate based in Los Angeles and the approved of Dr.Wiroon Tangjaroen, the president and Asst. Prof. Nongnath Chairat, the library director of Srinakharinwirot University. There were 3 experienced librarians, Assoc. Prof. Kulwara Chupongpairot, Ajarn Rattanaporn Sa-nguanprasatporn and Ajarn Piamsuk Thungkawee who volunteered to expedite the work in the library which involved updating the processing procedures and organization of the library within 52 days, from April to June 2010.



On April 19, 2010, the 3 librarians arrived in Los Angeles , were welcomed by PhraMaha Boonrem Kittiyano and Phra Natthapong Panyavachiro of Wat Thai. The volunteered librarians started working the next day, after had to visit Consul Damrong Khraikhwuan at the Royal Thai Consulate at Los Angeles. The work began with Phra Nutthapong, Phra Thammathoodh (the missionary) in charge of Wat Thai Library as the monk librarian, with the very good number of numbers of Thai community volunteered to assist in the library work. More intricate processing techniques were learned and put into use.





On the last work-day, June 6, 2010, 3 volunteer librarians presented a report to Wat Thai Authorities Committee and the Thai Consul General citing the following accomplishments and jobs that need to be continued:
1. For the new book records, 1800 titles were keyed-in to the library database system.
2. For the circulation services, over 50 user profiles were creted in the library system.
3. Among the old books 3,000 important titles were selected for cataloguing and keying into the library system.
4. One mok librarian and 5-8 local volunteers were trained to work with the library system software (PLS3, a Thai freeware) to catalog books, and the circulation service using for check-in & check-out of library resources.

Joining the library improvement project at Wat Thai library was a very rich experiences:
1. The volunteer librarians had the opportunity to share and put to use library knowledge and experiences with the local volunteers from Thai community in setting up a Thai library in Los Angeles. It's expected that the Thai library will help Thais who have been living away from Thailand for many years to be up to date about their mother country. It is understood that a knowledge of Thailand conributes to international understanding.
2. The volunteer librarians had a change to join Buddhist activities with Thai Buddhists living abroad, and had an exchange of ideas about Thai culture and way of life.
3. The working together of the volunteer at Thai community in Los Angeles gave the opportunity to develop new friendships and useful links for future networking.