General Introduction

The Development Information and Resource Center (DIRC) launched on July 28, 2004 is a joint partnership initiative of the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office, the World Bank Resident Representative Office, the Asian Development Bank’s Resident Mission, and a local non-governmental organization - Open Society Forum.
The DIRC aims to operate as a one-stop public access point for information on a wide range of socio-economic and development issues and a gathering place for public discussions on development topics.
The DIRC has an extensive collection of survey reports, studies and policy documents on economic development and policy issues that are elaborated by the Government, multilateral and bilateral organizations, development projects funded by those agencies, as well as civil society organizations. These resources in print and electronic form will be continuously updated and available free of charge. The collection of the resource center is being expanded with new acquisitions such as new publications of the World Bank, ADB and UN agencies and statistical data from the National Statistics Office.
DIRC intends to provide the Resource center services to government officials, researchers, journalists, students and to everybody who is interested in obtaining information on the issues relevant to Mongolia’s development.
Who can have access to Development Information and Resource Center services?

• Policy related officials (policy makes, member of parliaments, ministry officials, governmental and non-governmental officials, policy researchers)
• General public (Open to anyone who want to get development and policy related information)
• Journalists and research experts (media officials, higher education institute lecturers, graduate and senior undergraduate students). Unfortunately we do not issues customer cards to students below senior year students.

What services are offered at Development Information and Resource Center?

• Indoor reading of publications and research resources
• Check-out services of resources
• access to free Internet service; online catalog available through internet
• online access to World Bank project documents, publications, and other development-related publications;
• access to a special collection of CDs (including Open Society Forum weekly TV program CD-Roms) and videotapes on development;
• an extensive cataloguing system (Global Jolis) that allows users to see the collection of around 60 World Bank PICs around the world.
• Access to Oxford reference Online and Cambridge Online Journals through our Resource Center
• Access to eifl.net web site resources

DIRC provides PCs with high-speed Internet access for downloading all its resources in PDF format from the Open Society Forum portal site www.forum.mn as well as for searching and retrieving various online resources from global online databases and online libraries, such as eifl.net.
What are DIRC Resources?
The DIRC’s collection consists of the following resources:

• Policy and research papers, assessment reports related to social, economic and political development of Mongolia
• Books in English and Mongolian on governance, socio-economic and development issues
• Mongolian daily newspapers, foreign and Mongolian periodicals such as “Time”, “Business Week”, “Harvard Business Review”, “The Economist” (available for reading indoors).
• Newspaper clips on significant topics of Mongolian socio-economic life (available for indoor reading).
• CDs on various development and policy related field.

Customers can check-out 3 books at one time for 5 days by leaving identification card in DIRC. The check-out duration can be extended once by another 5 days by phone or by visit.
Customers with card can have access to Internet 10-25 hours per month. Username and password be given to the customer to login.
Due to insufficient number of computers at the Center, the Center does not give Internet access to undergraduate and graduate students.
How to get a member?
You need to have the following to:

• Identification card (passport)
• Employee ID or Student ID
• 1 copies of photograph
•  Membership fee:       
  • 30 000 MNT for a year,
  • 20 000 MNT for half year,
  • 15 000 MNT for a quarter

Hours of Operation:                           Location:
Monday – Friday                                  Open Society Forum
9:00 am - 6:00 pm                               Jamiyan gun Street - 5/1
Ulaanbaatar – 48, Mongolia

Contact:
Telephone: 976 – 11 – 313207
Fax: 976 – 11 – 324857
E-mail: baljid@forum.mn
Web: www.forum.mn