I also liked the exchange program that Namsan has organized with Japan.  I hadn’t realized from their website that they actually sent a person there (”human exchange” as Professor Park translated).  Again, I would have liked to know a bit more about that and tried to ask the gentleman who was with us about it when we went by the display but didn’t get too far.  Still, I appreciated the more international aspects of this public library.  (They also had an excellent collection of English-language literature, below).

Just a sample of the impressive English-language collection available at Namsan

Statue outside Namsan Public Library

What struck me most, however, was how busy it was! On a Monday in August, close to 5pm and nearly every seat was taken! That is so interesting because everything I read before coming implied that Koreans didn’t especially value libraries or were just beginning to do so with some concerted efforts by the government. Whether they “value” them or not, they certainly appear to like visiting them!

I also enjoyed the little gallery off the lobby that we visited last.   At the moment, the exhibit was photography done by a group of either high school or college age students (I couldn’t tell which).  The public library in my home town has a similar room that always displays local art and it’s a very popular feature. What a great way to get the community and local students involved and visiting the library.

Virtual Fish Pond

What struck me the most about Yonsei was the depth and scope of planning that went into the entire project. Everything was considered; from the additional 2 floors of below-ground storage space on reserve for future materials right down to the design of the table and chairs. I was especially impressed by the fact that the work stations and all of their components were custom made both for the space and to accommodate the librarians’ and users’ needs. They even thought of putting in cell phone chargers and bars to allow students to secure their laptops should they need to walk away from their station. Well-thought-out is very much an understatement in this case.  Also similar to the National Library, there was a Global Lounge, below, which provided language-specific computers for students to use.

Also interesting was the tour guide’s admission that many of the areas and technology were not being used for their intended purposes. I wonder if that really even matters, as long as the space is being used at all? She didn’t seem overly concerned, more just accepting of the fact that you can’t anticipate everything.

No more thumbtacks- Virtual Message Board

It should also be noted that aside from being beautifully designed from a usability stand point, it was a stunning structure. Technology has a tendency to render a space somewhat cold in my opinion, but they did a wonderful job at Yonsei of keeping the area warm and welcoming. The indoor flower bed and chirping crickets, not to mention the roof garden gave the entire facility a very calming, zen feeling that was really very pleasant.

Stunning Yonsei Library Roof Deck

As with the other two libraries, I’m again noticing the amount of planning that goes into every detail (it’s really starting to become a theme). I adored the system they had for children to keep track of the books they’ve read using savings-bank-like passbooks.  (Once they return a book, they place the passbook in a very cute, child-size machine which stamps it with the title of the book).  It’s interactive, it feels “adult” which I think kids really enjoy and it likely gives them a sense of accomplishment by being able to see all the books they’ve read.

Child-Size Self-Checkout Stand

And the maps and comic books!  Biannually, the library creates reading guides in the form of maps and comic books (with illustrations done by high school students), containing summaries and reviews from other students.  They were incredible.  So clever and beautifully done.  I can really see how that would make reading seem appealing to young adults. For a country that is only in the beginning stages of developing its children’s librarian program, they have done a superb job in all aspects of this library’s design and implementation.

I also liked the emphasis they put on foreign language study and the appreciate the amount of money they must have put toward developing their international collections. I’m a firm believer in learning new languages young and this would be an excellent place to start.

“Uncle Sam’s Reading Club” was a fantastic room (I could have stayed all day re-reading my childhood favorites!).

Finally, the director was truly a lovely person. She clearly loves what she does and people like that have such a positive impact on their institution.

We were lucky enough to visit on a day when the digital library is officially closed so we were able to appreciate how vast (and tidy) the space  really is- computer stations as far as the eye can see!  I would also be interested to see it on a busy day; our tour guide told us that thousands of people come in each day to use their resources.  (I wonder how often the recording studio and blue screen room are used?  And by whom?)

Also interesting was the bank of international computers, a feature also available at the Yonsei University Library.  Whether the purpose of these computers is to encourage foreign language study by Koreans or to accommodate international visitors wasn’t clear but either way it is a useful and thoughtful element of the library.

Another aspect that was common in several of the libraries visits was the need to reserve a seat.  In most cases, this was done using a large screen near the entrance.  You scanned your library card and it brought up a map of the seats from which you could select one to reserve for a certain number of hours (usually a maximum of three).  The fact that this is necessary really underscores how very “used” libraries are in Korea.  We were continuously amazed at how crowded each and every library was, at 4pm in August no less.

All in all, however, it was an excellent visit and an incredible institution. I am tempted to get a temporary library card and go back!

PS. I especially liked their “mascots”, the three colorful gentlemen below.

On Tuesday we visited the Yonsei University Library here on campus.

The Yonsei Library strives for a balance between technology and nature.

The library first began in 1915 with just 230 books, and has since expanded into a multi-media student center and award-winning research institution. The library includes two buildings: the older Central Library houses a majority of the books and subject specialties and the newer Yonsei-Samsung Library features RFID kiosks, a U-lounge, information commons, multi-media center, a roof garden, and even a few bug zappers.  Want to play memory games on the multi-function digital table with your friends or post an advertisement on the digital communication Memoboard? Go for it. The library was bustling in early August and can have up to 10,000 students per day during finals. It’s certainly the place to be.

Tune in later for more adventures from the Soul of Asia.

Most of the GSLIS girls and boys were up early to head out by 8:15 on our first book mobile trip out to the campo (countryside). We had a tasty breakfast made and served by Roxana, the hotel’s mistress of all things breakfast, sister to Edwin, and mother to Luis Carlos. After the feeding frenzy and a delectable cup of the SJDS Biblioteca coffee farm coffee (you too can enjoy this tasty coffee for just $10 a bag, and have the double satisfaction of knowing that you are supporting the library. Contact me, or any of the trip participants, and we’ll hook you up.), we headed to the library, which is literally a stones throw from the hotel. Jane gave us a tour, and we piled into the back of our sweet ride. It has leopard print seats! As has been covered before, the best way to get around Nicaragua is in the back of a truck. While I was initially apprehensive, the leopard print seats combined with the wrought iron people-cage and fresh breeze convinced me to give it a whirl. And whirl we did, hair blowing in the wind as we bounced joyously down the road to our first visit.

Biblioteca Movil + GSLIS = Riding in style, photo by Lauren

The Or-aguan Trail

After bumping along country roads, fording small rivers (otherwise known as creeks), and passing several teams of oxen we arrived at our destination: Oregon. Kidding, I actually never found out the name of our site, which is a shame. If anyone in the group remembers and wants to correct me, by all means chime in! Anydoodle, our first trip out on the SJDS Biblioteca Movil took us to what is normally a two room, open air school house. Since the schools were all still on vacation, we had to squeeze in through barbed wire to get into the schoolyard.

One room of the open air, two room school house that was our site visit

From what I gather, when the book mobile goes out to schools, there is usually quite a crowd because there is a whole school full of kids jonesing for their literary fix. Since school was out, it took a little while for kids to trickle in, long enough for me to have one of my most terrifying bathroom experiences ever. It involved a tin floored latrine that kind of buckled when I stepped onto it, a seat that might have been designed for children, and hearing an animal in the bushes outside (it turned out to be three somewhat little piggies). Visions of Slumdog Millionaire were dancing through my head.

3 little piggies go to school

Once kids started turning up, we started chatting them up, asking what kinds of books they liked or getting them to read to us. While we had our smallest turnout, the kids were all eager to see the books and sweet enough to talk to us. Nelly, another SJDS librarian, asked me to read Cordoroy again, which I did, before suggesting a pick up game of soccer. Erikka, Jeremy and I took on a team of three boys. While I’d say two of the three were no taller than my hips, and the other was wearing flip flops, they gave us a run for our money!

Soccer

On our way out, a local woman and her kids came running up late. Very kindly, the staff took out the books, and let them take their pick before sending them off with a snack. It made me really happy when the mother chose a book for herself; it may have been a kids chapter book, but it was a book nonetheless. In a country where much of the adult population came of age in extremely tumultuous times and is consequently illiterate, this was a very hopeful and heartwarming thing to witness.

We spent the night in Managua again on our way south, which meant that we were able to get in a site visit to Tipitapa, a community on the outskirts of Managua and another Wisconsin-Nicaragua partner library. I have to say, this was probably my favorite site visit of the trip, for a number of reasons. We were warmly welcomed by Dona Rosa, the librarian whose house is also home to the library, her young assistants, Karen and Carla, and a bunch of children who were at the library. Through the volunteer staff’s hard work, persistence, and dedication, the site has prospered and has been really valued by the community.

Dona Rosa welcomes us to Tipitapa

It seems like Tipitapa is a site that really gets it; there are a wide range of books in Spanish for kids of all ages, and they are all about the subjects kids actually want, like dinosaurs, animals, magic, etc. I was pleased with the diversity in the collection too; while this is clearly a library mostly for children, there is consideration for all reading levels, including adults. Jeremy made the excellent point that the bookshelves are on a level easily accessed by children.

Courtyard in the Tipitapa Biblioteca

Lauren reads a story in Tipitapa

One of my favorite moments of the entire trip occurred in Tipitapa when I was checking out the book room with some young boys. Fishing for questions I could handle asking in my bumbling Spanish, I settled on asking them to show me their favorite book on the shelf was. My little posse of boys eagerly started looking through the shelves, and one of them made a grab for a book. He pulled it down and thus began one of the more amusing conversations I’ve ever had in Spanish; it was about “dinosauros,” (I think you can all handle the translation on that one). Dudes, I have trouble pronouncing dinosaur names in ENGLISH. Throw in some accents and rolled r’s in with 13 to 15 letters, and voila, here comes Tiranosaurante Rex. Luckily, the language of little boys is universal, so the roars needed no translation, and nor did the mockery of me when I told them that my favorite dinosaur is the triceratops (sorry, no translation. Also, admit it, I know I’m not the only one to have read Homer Price and the Enormous Egg and fantasized about having my very own pet triceratops!), and a picture of a T-Rex eating a triceratops was instantly produced.

Outside of this, the library is clearly a library with the goal of serving the community in mind. The kids feel comfortable here, evidenced by the fact that they all had no problem marching right into the book room and browsing leisurely to their hearts content. The women who work here know the children by name and are equally respected by the kids, who were actively engaged in a number of activities (a passion for crayons, like little boy language, seems to be universal). Moreover, the kids here were super friendly to us, despite their initial shyness, which to me indicates they felt comfortable there, even with all these day-glo white strangers talking at them in gibbersish.
While helping kids make Cordoroy calendars, I had the singular pleasure of meet a boy with perhaps the best name ever…Maverick. For those of you who don’t know, one my all time favorite movies hands down is Topgun. I contemplated asking him if he had a best friend named Goose, but figured I’d play it cool and settle for photographic evidence of my encounter with Maverick. I attempted to take a picture of him with his calendar, which had his name written across the top. Tragically, the writing didn’t turn up in the picture! You’ll just have to take my word that there is a boy by the name of Maverick living somewhere in Tipitapa, Managua, communicating, keeping up foreign relations, and maybe even requesting a fly by.

Maverick!

I’d also like to add that Dona Rosa showed some of us a slide show she’d put together of a project the volunteer librarians have taken upon themselves to start. They have started doing a pseudo bookmobile of their own to the dump in Managua, which sadly has a community living in it, and a good number of children. She showed me pictures of the holiday party that they threw for the kids, which included a small gift and snack for the kids. It’s kind of incredible that these women do this; the sites we visited on the trip could probably be considered as being below the poverty line. Yet these women who already selflessly volunteer their time, go far and beyond their responsibilities and are working to bring literacy and books to the poorest of the poor in Nicaragua. To say I’m impressed and a little bit awed is an understatement.

Cordoroy Calendars in Tipitapa

As we hit the road, we were showered with hug and kisses from the library staff, the kids, and the adults there. Dona Rosa told us that we should consider the library ours too. I have to admit I got a little misty! All in all, it was a great visit, and I hope that Tipitapa continues to do the fabulous work they have been, both inside and outside their community. They’re clearly doing something right!

Our day started off bright and early in Chinandega with a walk around town before we headed out to the visit a site on our way back to Managua. We had heard that there were two crocodiles in a park, but our waiter told us that they had been deemed too dangerous for children (uh…yeah?) and were no longer there. It turned out to be a great morning for a wander about town, despite the lack of reptile watching opportunities. We somehow wound up timing our early bird stroll perfectly to run into a group of tourists of a certain early bird age, who may or may not have been on a bus tour from a cruise ship. I think our lady-bunch got the best end of the deal, as we were treated to a show of traditional dances, and had the freedom to wander around the town of our own accord.

Oh snap, free show!

Folk dancers in Ameya

After observing many a Nicaraguan woman wearing some super-stylin’ aprons, I decided that I, too, needed one, and managed to find a beaut of an apron in a little store on the same street as the folk dance.

Don’t hate the player…

I’m super pleased with my purchase, even if I have a sneaking suspicion that the store owner may have sold me his wife’s favorite apron while she was out (or something). It comes with ruffles, three pockets, ribbons, and looks even more stylin’ in person. It was only $10, but will bring me ten years of joy. It’s okay that you’re all jealous; this piece is priceless.

We headed out to the local library in Chinandega, which is a Wisconsin/Nicaragua partner library run by Dona Malva, a former school teacher (I think that was her story). The Chinandega library was interesting, and our hosts were very gracious and proud of their library. I don’t want to judge it unfairly, since we were there on a day the it is usually closed on and to boot, during a vacation. I noticed that the collection was different from what I saw in other places; some books looked like they’d never been touched, others appeared out of date, and others were clearly a little too well loved, and most seemed to be nonfiction books. I read Cordoroy for the second time to an audience of middle school aged boys, which was a little different. It did seem like they had never really been to the library before; Dona Malva didn’t know their names. I found it kind of telling that when we left, the boys all surrounded the van not to say goodbye, but to ask for money, a striking difference from the other sites.

However, I was super impressed that the boys were attentive and polite; my guess is that the average pack of 12 year old American boys would have written me off on around page one of a picture book. It was clear that Dona Malva and co had put a lot of work into getting things set up “just so,” for the visit though, and I’m trying to keep this in mind when I think about the library. When does a youth library EVER have the books lined up perfectly? Ummm…NEVER. Spooky. The library building also doubles as a place where women can go to learn how to sew using machines, which was kind of cool, except we were interrupted before finding out more about the lessons (cost, materials, etc.), so I don’t know if it is a community service or what. In general, it was a solid visit, with good people who may just be a bit too focused on collection development over community need. And, retrospectively, I’m sure the Chinandega staff were nervous about impressing us and the SJDS staffers, which probably didn’t give us an entirely accurate view of how things actually are there. However, in awesome news, Jeremy now has a pack of Nicaraguan teenage fangirls with headquarters in Chinandega. How do you say “Tiger Beat Magazine” in Spanish?

Pictures from Chinandega:

Chinandega Library

Inside the Chinandega library

Chinandega storytime

Dona Malva

The new library building (six floors plus a rooftop terrace, 570,000 square feet) opened last May. It was funded largely by Samsung, and the technology is out of this world. Students enter/exit the library by swipping their RFID student ID card. Study areas are divided by function: reading/writing, laptop use, AV, etc., and the design of each area is appropriately differentiated. Every seat in the library is part of an electronic reservation system.

The area by the main entrance is called the U-Lounge, and includes seat reservation terminals and a bank of gigantic shiny touchscreen monitors that serve a variety of purposes. One is an enormous campus map / library floorplan. Others allow you to search the OPAC or read newspapers. There is an electronic bulletin board system with general notices displayed, and if you swipe your ID card, private messages appear (although it’s a huge monitor and anyone could read over your shoulder, so I wouldn’t recommend sending anyone a truly private note this way). There are also a few monitors built into tables (think the old Galaga video games) where students can work collaboratively / play. I’ll be curious to hear usage statistics on this area when I’m back in August – it’s a stunning showpiece, but I wonder about the practicality of having to stand at the monitors, and also about privacy issues.

The Yonsei library is the first in Korea to systematically employ subject specialists. Library science is taught at the undergraduate level, so most librarians don’t come to the field with extensive knowledge in other areas. Yonsei has gone out and hired people in specific fields (law, medicine, the sciences) to work in the library as subject specialists while studying library science. According to my tour guide, this has been a very successful experiment and they hope to see other libraries do the same.

My favorite feature, because it’s so simple and so logical: a laptop lock at each laptop workstation. So if you have to walk away from your station for a moment (say, to use the bathroom) you can leave your laptop without worrying about it disappearing. Brilliant!

For more about the library, check out the website: http://library.yonsei.ac.kr/eng/
And also this dramatic video: http://library.yonsei.ac.kr/eng/aboutLib/pr.asp

More later on my Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday adventures…

Meaghan O’Connor, GSLIS Fellow for Dean’s Initiatives, is spending a week in Seoul to prepare for the 2009 GSLIS travel course to Yonsei University.