Library of Department of Meteorology and Hydrology Rehabilitated
The library of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH) was rehabilitated by the project ‘Strengthening agro-climatic monitoring and information systems (SAMIS) to improve adaptation to climate change and food security in Lao PDR’ with the support of the Korea FAO Association, which supported the activity though the funding of an internship.
The rehabilitation of the library was aimed at improving access to ancient meteorological and hydrological records accumulated in the past, and facilitating the classification system of data generated both today and in the future.
As part of the mission of Component 1 of the SAMIS project on agro-meteorology (link), an old French building of the DMH filled with historical material underwent major renovation. Before the construction, ancient documents, books, and equipment related to meteorology and hydrology were moved to the DMH library. Such documents and equipment had been neglected for several years before the renovation.
Rehabilitation work of the library was carried out over a period of two months with a collaborative effort of SAMIS and DMH staff members. In order to equip the library with a classification system for managing its extensive collection of data and books, new bookshelves were added to the existing ones. The bookshelves were filled with a vast number of data and publications, which were categorized according to the year of issue, records center, and related subjects. Moreover, improvements to the facilities, including repainting moldy walls, replacing light bulbs and repairing door locks, were carried out in order to create a suitable environment for data archiving.
The SAMIS project recognizes the need to improve the communication facilities of climate information. In this sense, facilitating access to ancient agro-meteorological data with appropriate use of the rehabilitated library will support future monitoring, analysis and interpretation of agro-meteorological information for users at all levels. It is expected that the rehabilitated library of the DMH will also function as a repository of meteorological and hydrological data for long-term use.