Moscow-Poughkeepsie: Report on a Twinning Libraries Experiment
Olga V. Sinitsyna
Thomas E. Hill
Olga Sinitsyna is Head, Art and Children's Literature Department, All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature. She can be contacted at the All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature, 1 Uljanovskaja Street, 109 189 Moscow, Russia (fax:+7-095-915-3637; e-mail:olgas@openmail. irex.ru). Thomas E.Hill is the Art Librarian at Vassar College. He can be contacted at Vassar College Maildrop 512, Poughkeepsie, New York 12604 USA (fax:+1-914-437-5864; e mail: thhill@vassar.edu)
Abstract
This article reports on the initial year of an ongoing relationship between the Vassar College Libraries and the All Russia State Library for Foreign Literature, Moscow. This exploratory period of the project was directed at familiarizing professional staff at each institution with the staff and operations of the sister institution, and at systematically scrutinizing various areas of practice and service for further collaboration. This was accomplished through a series of site visits, augmented by lectures, exhibits, and video presentations. The authors conclude that there are many ways that libraries can benefit from a twinning arrangment.
Introduction
The Vassar College Libraries and The Library for Foreign Literature, Moscow, over the past two years have been engaged in what we have termed a "sister" relationship, conceived in part as an experiment to test the possible advantages of a one-to-one international relationship between two libraries. That our project was developed without knowledge of plans under consideration within IFLA to establish a Twinning Libraries Database, and that one of our stated objectives was to promote the development of just such an international clearinghouse, attests to the felt need for and timeliness of this recent IFLA initiative.
Our endeavor to explore an international cooperative project has been motivated in a general way by the challenges presented by the extraordinary technological and political dissolution of national information barriers witnessed in recent years. It is apparent that, as the breakdown of national and regional barriers becomes more and more the norm for cultural transmission as well as economic exchange, libraries, already cultural cross-paths, will be increasingly called upon to provide knowledgeable guidance across enriched and expanding fields of service. Our effort to explore a specific international relationship with another library has been for each of our institutions a way to begin to address this challenge by investigating new modes of cooperation.
Project Inception
Our project began as one of a number of ideas for cooperation discussed in 1992 by Charles Henry, then Director of Libraries at Vassar College, and Evgeny Kuzmin of the Russian Ministry of Culture. Mr. Henry was visiting St. Petersburg as member of a People to People delegation of American librarians and educators to Eastern Europe, led by Pamela Richards of Rutgers University. Correspondence and further contact between Mr. Henry and Mr. Kuzmin led in 1994 to the promotion of the sister library idea, and Mr. Kuzmin proposed several Russian libraries as possible sister-institutions for the Vassar Libraries.
A primary criterion for the selection of a partner was collection orientation. Since public programming in libraries as well as staff development tends to be collection-related, it was the general feeling that similar collection interests would be the best common ground for developing a successful project. Because the Vassar Library collections are oriented to support the traditional liberal arts curriculum of Vassar College, a four-year undergraduate institution, the libraries discussed all had strong holdings in arts and humanities. Another consideration was English language capability, since the Vassar Libraries had at that time no librarians on staff with proficiency in Russian.
In the summer of 1994 Mr. Henry again visited Moscow on a lecture tour at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture, where he made a presentation at the All Russia State Library for Foreign Literature and met Ekaterina Genieva, the Director of the Library, and many of her staff. The Library for Foreign Literature had been among those libraries suggested for consideration by Mr. Kuzmin. Apart from having a humanities-intensive collection, the Library for Foreign Literature has particularly strong holdings in art history and children's literature, where the Vassar Libraries also have strengths. In addition, the professional staff are virtually all proficient in English. Another appeal of the Library for Foreign Literature was its defining international orientation, for it served the Russian people as a unique window into foreign cultures from its founding in 1922 by M. Rudomimo through even the most restrictive years of the Soviet Period. Despite differences between our libraries--the Library for Foreign Literature is a public library and major national research facility with many times the number of staff and holdings of the Vassar Libraries- this shared conception of libraries as embassies of international culture promised to be an excellent basis for the development of a special relationship. It was soon after this visit that a determination was made by Vassar to approach the Library for Foreign Literature about establishing a sister-relationship, accomplished on a visit for that purpose by the Vassar College Art Librarian, who travelled to Moscow in December 1994 to discuss the proposal with Library for Foreign Literature staff. The proposal met with enthusiastic support, and an insistence on programmatic rigor, and was formally initiated at a meeting between representatives from both libraries at the IFLA general conference in Istanbul in August 1995.
Program Development and Grant Proposal
The program for the relationship was developed around a successful grant proposal submitted in the summer of 1995 to the Competition for Collaborative Projects and Programs in Library and Information Science, sponsored by the Soros Open Society Institute. From its inception the program was framed as an exploratory one. The first year was directed at familiarizing professional staff at each institution with the staff and operations of the sister institution through representative site visits, and at systematically scrutinizing various areas of practice and service for possible collaboration to be undertaken in the second year. The importance of site visits was underscored by our belief that the relationship, especially in so far as it was to be exploratory, would develop to its full potential only if based upon personal communication. Additionally, plans were made for an introductory exchange of exhibits about our institutions aimed at publicizing the program. After the initial year, committees at each library composed of department heads would consider evaluations and recommendations of program participants in order to develop a follow-up proposal to implement specific programs for the second year. Joint proposal development and project implementation was greatly facilitated by fax and e-mail communication.
The stated goals proposed for the initial year were to explore the potential benefits of a formal international relationship between our libraries for:
First Year Activities
In October 1995 the Head of the Acquisitions and Collection Development Department of the Library for Foreign Literature came to Vassar College to work closely for two weeks with the Head Acquisitions and Collection Development Librarian and her department at Vassar. Several days were spent discussing work processes, policies, and services. In addition, visits with the faculty of the Vassar Russian Department were arranged and discussions initiated regarding an improved process for the purchase of Russian language materials from the Library for Foreign Literature through its International Exchange Department, which has since been implemented. The Acquisitions Librarian of the Library for Foreign Literature gave a lecture to the assembled Vassar Library staff on the general function of departments in her library, and on the work of the Acquisitions and International Exchange departments in particular. Her lecture followed the screening of an English language version of a video about the Library for Foreign Literature to the Vassar Library staff. This visit was timed to coincide with the annual College of Charleston Acquisitions Conference, which both acquisitions department heads attended. In addition, visits were made to the Pierpont Morgan Library and the New York Public Library in New York, and to the book distribution plant of Blackwell North America, Inc., near Philadelphia.
In late February the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts and the Head Acquisitions and Collection Development Librarian from Vassar made a two-week visit to the Library for Foreign Literature. A bi-lingual travelling exhibition, Transformations: the Vassar Libraries Over Time , and a bi-lingual video, The Libraries of Vassar College were produced for this visit. The video is framed by a narrative and pictorial overview of Vassar College and its history, and gives a detailed account of the function of the Vassar Libraries in this context and the various services and collections it administers. The video was subsequently reproduced and distributed to libraries throughout Russia by the Library for Foreign Literature. The Vassar Acquisitions Librarian visited for a day with the Library for Foreign Literature Acquisitions staff and gave a special focused Internet presentation to the department. The Vassar Special Collections Librarian toured the Library for Foreign Literature Rare Books Department and visited with the Head of the Department and his staff, and discussed various methodologies and issues related to rare book and archive librarianship, including cataloging, conservation, exhibition of materials, and funding. She also visited the Art and Children's Literature Department and discussed possibilities for a future exchange of exhibits on children's books. At a full-day Foreign Acquisitions Conference sponsored by the Library for Foreign Literature and attended by librarians from all over Russia, the Vassar Acquisitions Librarian presented a paper and gave an extended Internet presentation with an acquisitions focus for those in attendance. Both librarians were taken on tours of libraries and museums in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
In May the Head of the Art and Children's Literature Department at the Library for Foreign Literature visited Vassar and also attended the Art Libraries Society of North America annual conference in Miami. While at Vassar she made departmental visits to the Art and Slide Libraries and Special Collections Library, and participated in detailed demonstrations of Art Library imaging projects, art historical web sites, and children's educational web sites. In addition, she met with librarians and administrators from community libraries, and presented a lecture to a large audience made up mainly of local librarians and educators entitled More than Just Books!: Russian Libraries as Centers of Education. She also toured a local public library children's department, local school libraries, and spoke to American schoolchildren about Russia. The visit also included trips to New York museums, and tours of the Yale University Art Library, Slide Library, and Center for British Art in New Haven.
In June the Head of Readers' Services of Vassar College Libraries traveled to Vologda, Russia and with librarians from the Library for Foreign literature at the international conference entitled "Libraries and Reading in Times of Critical Cultural Change," sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and a host of libraries, including the Library for Foreign Literature.
First year Evaluation
Apart from providing a basis for developing specific long-range projects, the site visits were judged to be exceedingly
beneficial as programmatic elements in themselves, particularly when they were combined with exhibit openings and presentations by the visitors. Presentations to both library staff and the wider public were invariably followed by intense and exciting discussion sessions. One of the most successful aspects of the site visits was the extra-mural involvement they fostered between the host libraries and their wider professional, cultural and scholastic communities through lectures, tours, and exhibits. Thus, highlights of the visit by the Art and Children's Literature Librarian to Vassar were her visits to a local area school and the Children's Department of the Adriance Memorial Library of Poughkeepsie, as well as her presentation on instructional programs in Russian libraries, which drew an audience of librarians, teachers, and school officials to the Vassar College campus. The local school visit resulted in an ongoing discussion with the school media specialist to develop a distance learning project between Russian children studying English at the Library for Foreign Literature and American children and young adults in Poughkeepsie area schools studying Russian language and culture, independent of the program with Vassar.
The site visits also served as a catalyst for self-reflection on the part of the hosting libraries. This was particularly facilitated by departmental visits, which were occasions for library staff to conceptualize and discuss their work in the special atmosphere established by the shared interests of a visiting colleague. Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the site visits in general was the way the presence of a visitor effected set patterns of communication and response at all levels. In this regard, functions such as informal luncheons involving visitors, professional, and non-professional staff were particularly successful.
The development and presentation of videos and exhibits aimed at sister library patrons were similarly occasions for self definition, and were an excellent way to educate patrons about similarities and differences in information cultures, publicize the sister-library relationship as an event, and extend the benefits of the program beyond library staff.
Specific Project Proposals
The following projects were agreed upon by Department heads of both libraries after evaluating proposals made by first year participants in the program. The first four projects are already in process, while those remaining are contingent upon finding additional funding.
1. Acquisitions: A purchasing agreement whereby Vassar Libraries purchase certain Russian-published materials through the Library for Foreign Literature was implemented during the first year of the program.
2. Collection Development: A program for cooperative review of collections and acquisitions profiles for both institutions will be established for areas where librarians and faculty at the sister institution have bibliographic expertise. We believe this program will be valuable in so much as the Library for Foreign Literature collects in non-Russian areas where many Vassar faculty and librarians have bibliographic experience, and Library for Foreign Literature staff will be able to assist in Vassar in collection areas in which they have specific experience.
3. World Wide Web Projects: The libraries have developed a joint explanatory World Wide Web page for the sister program through which we have linked our institutional home pages. This is an inexpensive yet effective way to publicize the program to patrons and other institutions, and give it a "face." In addition, the libraries plan to establish CU-SeeMe 1 sites open for specified times at each institution for staff interaction using existing equipment. These sites will function as virtual open windows between the departments in which they are placed. Finally, there will be continued electronic communication concerning procedural and professional practices between departments and individuals.
4. Library Orientation: The Library for Foreign Literature will provide orientation to Moscow area libraries and collections to Vassar College students and faculty studying or doing research in Russia. Conversely, the Vassar Libraries will provide information on American libraries and collections to Library for Foreign Literature patrons on referral.
5. Exhibit: The Vassar Libraries will host an exhibit prepared by the Children's Department of the Library for Foreign Literature: Censorship and Russian Children's Literature, 1917-1992, to coincide with the Vassar College Institute of Publishing and Writing, which meets every summer. The exhibit will coincide with a visiting lecturer, and an attempt will be made to find other North American venues for the exhibit.
6. Librarian Site Visits: These were so successful that we would like to establish a program to host at least one librarian to visit one way each year. This will ensure a continued personal dimension to the institutional relationship.
7. Faculty Visits: Because the Vassar Library primarily serves an academic institution and the Library for Foreign Literature is a large public research library, we hope to investigate mutual advantages to be had in relationships between academic and non academic libraries where academic faculty are exploited as a cultural resource by the former, and at the same time are provided with widened opportunity for exposure for the development and publication of their work and ideas.
Many other specific projects were considered which we have decided not to develop in a programmatic way at this time. This was not because they were judged to be without merit, but because there were so many possibilities that time constraints and other resource limitations forced us to prioritize our efforts. Among the other possibilities discussed were projects for duplicates exchanges, shared electronic reference services, comparative procedural studies, facilitation of interlibrary loans, shared cataloging arrangements, and joint imaging projects.
Conclusions
Although our experiment is yet ongoing and has been limited by the natures and particular circumstances of our two libraries, we believe certain general conclusions can be drawn from our experience concerning the benefits of a twinning library relationship.
1. Certainly, the international aspect of such a relationship strengthens the identity of the library, practically and symbolically, in its mission as a gateway to knowledge of other cultures. Additionally in this regard, the relationship can stimulate exhibits, tours, lectures, readings, and referrals which publicize and contribute to the role of the library as a center of culture in the local community.
2. A twinning relationship can involve librarians in a wider context of experiment and discourse about change and the nature of libraries in an age of tectonic shifts in information culture.
3. The relationship can provide a direct means for a library to widen the audience for its own unique resources.
4. It can encourage self-evaluation and discussion on the part of project participants at all levels, broaden professional perspectives, and encourage staff development.
5. It can provide possibilities for the pooling of resources for many library functions, particularly with the help of electronic communication, in a way that larger consortial arrangements cannot efficiently do.
6. Programs may be built upon differences as well as similarities. Even differences in kind of library may present opportunities--in our case for exploring ways to mediate the gulf between academic and non-academic communication.
7. Given genuine interest on the part of participants, and working from the premise that in the realm of culture and information what is valuable is not of necessity material, a twinning relationship would seem to us to necessarily benefit both institutions equitably, whatever their size, type, or financial resources, especially if the participating libraries maintain a degree of engagement with their own communities. For example, the technological and logistical assistance available to a large academic or research library might find a valuable return in cultural contacts supplied by a much smaller community library, provided specific regional curricular interests on the part of the clientele of the former are considered in the matching process. Along these same premises, twinning offers exciting possibilities for public libraries for children's programming and the development of collections and services for migrating or culturally diverse populations, especially where material support might be limited. In our visit to the Children's Department of the Adriance Memorial Library in Poughkeepsie, the Children's Librarian, who seemed to work miracles with minimal resources and no budget at all for new books, expressed interest in the possibility of a twinning relationship that might allow her to trade English language titles for Spanish children's books to help address the needs of a growing local Hispanic population.
In our experience, perhaps the most exciting aspect of a twinning relationship is not that it involves one library with another, but that it fosters a general sense of cultural linkage which can lead to patterns of contact which enrich and supplement those that are customary between a library, its collections, and its traditional patrons. The notion that libraries should be, in the spirit of their collections, institutions that transcend walls and borders is timely in the age of the emergence of the World Wide Web in that it places libraries in the strategic position of being representatives, facilitators, advocates, and sources for the universal exchange of information that is burgeoning on the Web virtually. If libraries are to retain this vantage and forge the links necessary to survive and evolve in this inter institutional and trans-cultural information framework, they will have to do so through cooperative effort, assisted by the same technologies that are conditioning the changing expectations of information seekers. The development of a twinning relationship has been for our two libraries one way to cooperatively and reflectively engage this changing information environment.
References
1. CU-SeeMe is a shareware multimedia conferencing application designed for use over the World Wide Web."Cu-SeeMe: Video Conferencing over the Internet"