It was established as Regional Library of Science and Technology (RLST) in 1991 by agreement between Iran's Ministry of Culture and Higher Education and the Third-World Academy of Sciences, with Jafar Mehrad as the director. It is currently under the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. It is also known as the Shiraz Regional Library of Sciences and Technology (SRLST) Before the Internet was established in Iran, RICeST fulfilled its objectives by setting up a Bulletin Board Service to allow electronic access to the information sources it was collating.