Sunday, January 25, 2009

Evolutionaries

The ACMS is the product of many different people and organizations coming together and trying to build a place where international and Mongolian scholars can easily interact and participate in world class research and study activities. Our Deputy Director is fond of saying that "at the ACMS we make evolutionary progress not revolutionary progress." I like this expression very much because it really describes the steady and consistent progress the ACMS has made in the last 5 years in striving to reach the goal of being a world class academic institution.

This is no better exemplified than by the steady growth of the ACMS Library. In January 2006 the ACMS moved to Building No. 5 of the National University of Mongolia to a room the size of an average American home's master bedroom (see image above). In less than a year the ACMS outgrew that space, and subsequently we moved a floor up in the same building to two rooms with about 1,200 square ft. of space (see image below). It took yet another year for the ACMS to begin to out grow its new space. Currently the ACMS provides services to approximately 250 people per week, the majority of them students at the National University of Mongolia. But, the center also serves dozens international scholars per week--a number that has grown as more and more scholars from all countries discover the excellent library and services provided by the ACMS.

Looking ahead the ACMS and its partners dream of a much larger center that will become an internationally recognized institution and local leader in promoting academic research. Each day the dream slowly evolves into something real.

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