New Chula online store to offer 1,000 e-books by year-end

Chulalongkorn University has launched an electronic bookstore, with about 1,000 items expected to be in stock by year-end.

"The eBook Store not only provides e-books to students and readers but will also be a gateway of writers and professors' knowledge for readers in terms of digital media and multimedia," Danuja Kunpanitchakit, a vice president of Chulalongkorn, said yesterday.

With the CU-eBook Store application based on iOS, students can access knowledge and curricula via mobile devices such as tablets, she said.

The university plans to transform itself into a digital university in four years. During the transition, it took this first step of setting up the CU-eBook Store to provide e-books and e-curricula to students and mobile users, she said.

Kriengsak Honsawek, computer manager of the Chulalongkorn University Book Centre, said the eBook Store now offered about 500 items for download, of which 200 are free for students and mobile users. E-books and e-curricula can be purchased by students at a saving of 20-30 per cent.

The university aims to collaborate with publishing houses such as Nation Books and Banana Sweet to offer about 1,000 items by year-end.

An app to support the Android environment will be ready in a couple weeks. QR (quick response) code technology is also being used to make e-learning more convenient and easy to reach, he added.