As the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak has affected people's lives, Thailand Knowledge Park (TK Park) has embraced digital technology and accelerated transformation to stay connected with its members in this disruptive era.
To mark its 16th anniversary, TK Park is promoting itself as a smart library, in which members can access a wide range of online services and creative learning activities under the concept of "A Journey To The Next Chapter".
Located on the eighth floor of CentralWorld, it spent almost two years creating a comfortable reading space and TK Cafe, which now has improved lighting, walls and bigger shelves with a choice of 100,000 titles.
Focusing on touchless and self-service, the MY TK application has been developed so that members can scan a QR code to access the library, browse the list of new and best-selling books in various categories, renew their memberships, check activity history or even borrow their favourite titles from any TK branch through the TK Book Delivery service, which costs 30 baht for six books for local delivery and 60 baht for deliveries to a different province.
To ensure the highest standards of safety and hygiene, all books are sanitised with UV sterilisers. There's also the Toy Library in collaboration with PlanToys, which offers a wide collection of books and educational toys made from natural materials to improve children's skills.
"TK Park has been closed for nearly two years since Bangkok was placed under lockdown last year. To adapt to the new normal, we've shifted to online platforms as consumers' lifestyles have changed. The Virtual TK live platform, for example, was launched to broadcast a line of creative activities in which members can engage from their own home," said Kittiratana Pitipanich, director-general of TK Park.
"The Covid-19 epidemic has pushed us to embark on digital transformation with a goal of becoming a pioneer of future learning. With a good e-library database, TK Park has 29 branches in 22 provinces and we've collaborated with local authorities to develop more than 300 community learning centres as well as the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, the Office of the Non-Formal and Informal Education and Thai Army Wives Association to establish living libraries in schools and military camps around the country.
While all recreational facilities have been closed, bookworms can still enjoy privileges on the TK Library application which offers around 22,000 titles as well as more than 6,000 e-magazines and newspapers on Pressreader. They are available in more than 30 different languages. Besides, members also get access to Libby by OverDrive, a US-based e-library, where they can browse hundreds of e-books and audiobooks from a variety of international publishers.
"The number of people reading e-books has tripled, from 20,000 to 150,000 per month. This shows a shift in customer behaviour as they've learned to appreciate an e-book or digital content in an e-library. People and businesses have become more conscious of digital transformation, so they are focusing on how to reskill and upskill to satisfy demand in a labour market, resulting in some psychology or self-improvement books scoring highly," Kittiratana said.
"At the same time, when individuals want to relieve tension after working from home for several months, novels both in Thai and English are among the top five choices for stimulating the imagination. We're expanding our book collections and utilised innovation to build a learning ecosystem and reduce inequality in access to knowledge."
This year, TK Park continues its collaboration with specialists from various fields to create a series of interesting online activities for people of all ages. The highlights include a class of Life Lecture: Lost And Found to give new graduates some guidelines on how to mature into adults and plan their future.
The TK Park International Children's Picture Book Festival will inspire young members' creativity with a panel discussion by renowned illustrators such as Aino Havukainen and Sami Toivonen from Finland.
TK Park will also join hands with the Thai Animation and Computer Graphic Association to organise the CG Boost-Up workshop, where young members can learn about character design for social media and mascots as well as visual effects and models to expand their job opportunities in the digital content era.
However, TK Park has temporarily closed its doors to avoid virus transmissions, following disease control measures and travel restrictions.
