12:00 p.m., Feb. 3, 2003--The University of Delaware Library and the Newark Free Library hosted a visit by five Russian university library managers Jan. 28-31, enabling the visitors to examine the role of libraries in a democracy. The visit was conducted under the auspices of the Open World Program, managed by the Center for Russian Leadership Development, an independent agency at the Library of Congress. Open World brings emerging Russian political and community leaders to the United States to see how American democratic institutions work at the local level.
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| Russian library managers visited the UD Library on Friday, Jan. 31. The visit brought together (left to right) Irina Petrovna Burger, director, South Ural State University Scientific Library; Susan Brynteson, the May Morris Director of Libraries, University of Delaware; Larisa Valentinovna Tananykina, deputy director for scientific work, Research Library of Dagestan State University; Olga Viktorovna Vershinina, director, Research Library of Tver State University; Alla Yakovlevna Luchinina, deputy library director, Library of Vladivostok State Economics and Services University; and Irina Mikhaylovna Novikova, manager (assistant director), American Information and Educational Center. |
Cathy Wojewodzki, UD librarian, and Charlesa Lowell of the Newark Free Library organized the visit. The Russian delegation included the directors of the Tver State University Research Library, north of Moscow, and the South Ural State University Research Library, in the Chelyabinski region, bordering Kazakhstan; the deputy director for of the Vladivostok State University of Economics Library, in the Russian Far East; the deputy director for scientific work at the Dagestan State University Research Library, which borders Georgia and Azerbaijan; and the group facilitator, the manager of the American Center at the Linguistic University of Nizhny Novgorod in central European Russia.
Before coming to the University, the group visited Washington, D.C., for briefings at the Library of Congress and traveled to the American Library Association (ALA) midwinter meeting in Philadelphia.
While in Delaware, the group visited the Newark, Appoquinimink, Wilmington and Bear public libraries and spent a day on the UD campus visiting the Morris Library, where they participated in an open forum on the issues covered at the ALA meeting. At the Institute for Public Administration, they took part in a roundtable discussion. Home stays with local families gave them insight into American family life.
“Russian library managers have played a major role over the past 12 years in promoting intellectual freedom in their country,” Wojewodzki said. “Once charged with enforcing sweeping censorship, they [now are] converting closed stacks to open stacks, acquiring formerly banned books, connecting patrons to the Internet, working to keep up with the burgeoning demand for business literature and foreign-language textbooks, and are providing vital access to information to the country’s fledgling small businesses, nongovernmental organizations and citizens’ groups, as well as individual users.”
“The University of Delaware Library is honored to have been selected as a site for these Russian librarians to visit in their important mission of viewing an American research library’s services, collections and staff,” said Susan Brynteson, the May Morris Director of Libraries.
“Librarians in the new Russia are engaged in democratizing knowledge,” James H. Billington, noted Librarian of Congress, a Russian Scholar and chair of the board of trustees of Open World, said. “The leading Russian library managers visiting the United States will see how, by providing open access to information, our nation’s libraries help make our government accountable, our economy dynamic and our people creative.”
Article by Beth Thomas
Photo by Kathy Flickinger
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