(Borneo Bulletin; April 10, 2008)

BRUNEI: Institut Technology Brunei (ITB) has marked another milestone with the launching of its third e-Government project, "e-RIS" (Electronic Resources and Information Services), which will be used to digitise archive materials at ITB's library.

Prior to the "e-RIS", two other e-Government projects for ITB were implemented namely "Network Engineering Education Resources Implementation" and "Hardware and Software Infrastructure".

The Permanent Secretary (Higher Studies) at the Ministry of Education, Awang Haji Daud Bin Haji Mahmud, hoped that other libraries and information centres in the country would follow in the footsteps of ITB's library.

With the implementation of the "e-RIS" project, ITB can not only upgrade its library services and workforce, but also enable library personnel to positively react to the current trends of ICT developments, according to Awang Haji Daud who was the guest of honour at the launching ceremony yesterday.

The project, which took nine months to complete, consists of a web-based Digital Media Collection Management System (DMCS) for easy cataloguing and fast storage and retrieval of digitised journals, reports, photographs, audio and video collections that belong to ITB.

According to Hj. Mohd Daud, the "e-RIS" project is in line with the Ministry of Education's effort to support the national goals and objectives of the nation's e-Government initiative.

The implementation of the project is timely, as the Ministry of Education has plans to upgrade the ITB's capacity to offer a wider range of HND (Higher National Diploma) and degree programmes.

The appointed local service provider in Brunei, ZimacSilicon Technologies Sdn Bhd had provide extensive hands-on training for ITB staff in using the new system.

Yesterday's launching ceremony was attended by Directors and Heads of various departments under the Ministry of Education, as well as Director of ITB, Dr. Hj. Kassim Bin Hj. Daud, the Managing Director of ZimacSilicon Technologies, Dato Paduka Haji Idris Bin Haji Abas and the Chief Executive Officer of Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd, Teo Tien Hiong.