As We Proceed!

So my post was supposed to reflect the events that occurred on Wednesday May 30. Unfortunately, I was unable to post on that day but even though I am behind it is with good reason.

…I hope you’ll agree.

This Study Abroad program has created a great schedule for us to follow so that we can have an opportunity to see everything this city has to offer. Yelena has been great not only at scheduling events but also at helping us get around this crazy city, as well as translating whenever we needed her. With that said here is a break down of Wednesday’s events.

As Bridgette already mentioned on our last post, at 12:00 AM we were picked up by the bus driver and taken to the Neva River in order to see the opening of the bridges. That alone is definitely a good reason for visiting this magical city. When the event was over the bus driver took us back to our hotel and so none of us made it to bed until after 2:00 AM. Early the next morning (if we had more than 5 hours of sleep then we were lucky) we had to meet with the Dean of the library school Svetlana Nikolova at the St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts.

Dean of the library school Svetlana Nikolova

 Now about this university, the grounds used to be the former residence of a prince and so there are many rooms that reflect it’s royal origin. However it was interesting to learn that after the Soviet takeover the building was turned into public housing and as a result walls were added in order to create smaller rooms to serve as a multi-family dwelling. This second fact is evident in the current layout of the building and unfortunately it has also affected the appeal of many of the rooms and hallways of the building.

Our purpose for visiting this library school is so that we can compare how libraries and librarianship functions in both the United States and in Russia. I like to think of it as if the students in our program had the opportunity to play the role of unofficial ambassadors. :) Each of us discussed a specific topic that concerns our profession. We discussed Green Library initiatives, Open Access, Reference and Research services, service for patrons with disabilities, library related social media, e-books etc…

It was interesting to note that while some of these topics were familiar to the Russian students not all of these topics such as that of open access, or green libraries translated over.

After our presentations were over, we were introduced to this university’s Library Science program. Dean Svetlana Nikolova provided us with insight on the history of the program but more importantly she presented a video that provided us with an overview of the degree program. We learned that the degree is a five year program in which the Russian students begin their program directly after high school and complete the degree after five years. The first three years are comparable to a BA and the Last two years focus on Librarianship and follow courses similar to students tracking an MLS Degree.

                  After spending the majority of our day in the University we needed to grab some food quickly before heading to the hotel. We ate at Tepemok (pronounced Teremok) and then rushed to the Hotel to change into our eveningwear before rushing of to a ballet performance of Sleeping Beauty at the Marinsky Theatre.

Needless to say we were tired but the ballet was worth a visit. Aurora danced as if she could fly through the air and our evening ending on a relaxed note.