"Reading Chatbot” Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center Smart Assistant

Abstract

This article introduces the development of “Reading Chatbot”, a new smart assistant that is convenient and easy to use for accessing all library services of Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center. It provides Book Due Date, New Arrivals Books, New Book Recommendations, News & Events, Location Maps & Directions, and Contact the Library Staff, with the use of Facebook Messenger and LINE which are the most famous and widely used chat programs in Thailand. For developing an artificial intelligence (AI) system for Reading Chatbot to understand human language, we use a platform called Dialogflow that can support Natural Language Processing (NLP) for up to 20 languages, including Thai language. “Reading Chatbot” is connected to the Sierra Integrated Library System database by using Javascript to run with NodeJS for accessing the transaction of users who borrow books from the library, bring the information to be trained via machine learning to answer questions about the due date, borrow and return books to all users in 24 hours.