• 
• 

Published on November 15, 2007

 The goal is obvious: it wants to entice more Thais into the stock exchange who could invest their money directly or indirectly through mutual funds.

As such, it has invested a lot in books, and SET libraries are located across the country. But it is not quite obvious when and how the exchange will achieve its goal.

One such library is in the ITV community, a new housing site created for people in Phang Nga's Ban Namkhem, a village that was hit hard by the 2004 tsunami.

The librarian, whose name is withheld for her own sake, admitted that no villager wanted to borrow finance-related books.

"The villagers prefer reading novels," she said.

That makes her life a little dull. Actually, she is not a professional librarian. Before the tsunami, she was a housekeeper at the Sofitel Khao Lak Hotel, one of the hotels devastated by the monster waves.

Like many other hotels,

the Sofitel is under reconstruction. The temporary librarian is anxiously awaiting the reopening, as she has heard the owner is ready to reinstate all former employees who suffered from the waves.

"At the hotel, I'd earn a fixed salary, and it was good for my family," she said.

Certainly, it would also be nice for her. She is afraid of paranormal experiences, given that hundreds of lives were lost during the tsunami. Aside from the salary, which was higher than her pay as a librarian, she would no longer need to be alone in the spooky quiet of the library, which has welcomed few visitors so far.

achara_d@nationgroup.com