H In order not to remain “on the sidelines” of progress and to be in demand, the library should look for and develop new directions in its work. Librarians need to make the virtual space and its inhabitants their allies. What methods and methods can we use to attract users, what arguments should we put forward in our favor? We present the experience of one of the leading university libraries.
WHERE ARE OUR USERS?
For several years, statistics have shown a decrease in the level of user activity in terms of both the number of library visits and the number of book lending. And research by the Levada Center claims that literally in a year the share of those who do not read books at all has increased from 34 to 45%. The losses amounted to 11% for the year, and this despite various kinds of campaigns, the Reading Support and Development Program, and serious work carried out by libraries to attract readers. Interest in reading not only fiction, but also educational and scientific literature is decreasing. The level of consumption of educational and scientific information on paper has dropped sharply. Even a modern secondary school attaches importance not to the number of works of domestic and foreign classics read, but to the quick memorization of the most necessary information. A voluminous book for schoolchildren is replaced by its abstract on the Internet. So, when your head is not filled with “extra details”, is it easier to move through life?
Why did people stop visiting libraries? Even in the pre-session weeks in university libraries, the occupancy of the halls leaves much to be desired. Students take books, quickly copy or photograph the desired text and disappear. Where are our users?
EVERYONE HAS GONE TO THE INTERNET
The answer becomes obvious, you just have to look on the Internet and read the information from various companies and media. Thus, from a report by the monitoring company Pingdom for 2013, it follows that more than 80% of users around the world prefer to visit libraries virtually. The website planetasmi.ru quotes the Minister of Communications and Mass Communications of Russia Nikolai Nikiforov: “Russia is one of the most active countries in terms of the pace of implementation and development of the Internet. This year the Russian segment of the Internet turned 20 years old. Its audience amounted to 68 million people, and 56 million users access the Internet daily.”
In an interview with RAEC director Sergei Plugotarenko, published in the June issue of UK, it is noted: “Currently, Russia ranks eighth in the world in Internet penetration, first in terms of user audience in Europe and sixth in the world. Russian is the second most common language on the Internet (W3techs - 2013) after Chinese... More than half of the user audience views the Internet as a medium for communication and personal communications. The Internet is no longer a tool, but a habitat.”
It turns out that everyone has “gone to the Internet.” The question arises: why go to the library if there is a Global Network?! But the Internet is an unorganized “dump”, a gigantic array of information where not everyone will be able to find what they need. For any request you receive thousands of links, but nine out of ten are useless or unreliable. However, if you ask modern students what or who is their main source of information, the majority will answer “Internet” or “Google”. And we want them to answer “library”, “librarians”.
What should a library look like today that meets the needs of users of the 21st century?
MODEL OF A MODERN LIBRARY
It seems that a modern library should provide:
· synthesis of electronic and traditional forms of working with information;
· a qualitatively different level of accessibility of all types of library resources for university students and teachers, as well as external users;
· qualified formation of current funds;
· prompt processing and classification of information;
· support of reference apparatus and library website;
· user training and consultation;
· virtualization of information and library services;
· monitoring the demand for information resources;
· work of library staff in project network groups as consultants, moderators, curators of work with information flows.
Today's students and schoolchildren, and often young teachers, are not accustomed to thoughtfully reading, analyzing arrays of documents, magazines and books, preferring to make a request in a search engine and receive an answer, albeit not entirely reliable, but a quick one. They don't learn as much as they consume information. It’s good if it’s verified – one that can only be obtained in libraries.
To remain useful, interesting and relevant, libraries need to make as many services as possible virtual.
Thus, a number of university libraries in Russia and the Republic of Belarus practice:
· creation and “promotion” of a high-quality library website as an integral part of the university portal, placement of links to the library website on the university portal;
· prompt online help service, support for forums or library chats on social networks;
· comprehensive formation of funds, supplementing paper publications with their electronic counterparts;
· creation of a “virtual showcase” of new books (scanning the cover, annotations and contents of new arrivals, linking them to electronic catalogues);
· inclusion in the electronic catalog (EC) of a library of links to electronic books from own and external ELS and other subscription resources;
· linking specialized EBS and electronic full-text resources (EPR) to the disciplines of departments;
· linking the EC to the educational and methodological complex of the discipline (EMCD) to facilitate the work of teachers when filling out reference lists in work programs and EMCD;
· preparation for university accreditation - automated reconciliation of lists in work programs and teaching materials with the fund;
· automation of calculation of the book supply ratio (BCR) with reference to the list of disciplines and teaching materials;
· providing access to library resources from home PCs;
· virtual exhibitions of new arrivals and current topics with scans of book covers and contents, virtual advertising of specialized resources from the library’s collections:
· interactive courses of information competence of a specialist;
· virtual reports on the work of departments with the library with analysis and conclusions;
· long-term plans for write-off and rotation of funds in relation to departments, posted on the library website;
· interactive forms for ordering literature and applications for subscriptions posted on the library website;
· regularly updated price lists of publishing houses, electronic books and bookselling companies to familiarize teachers with new products and place an interactive order for purchase or subscription in electronic form.
To track the effectiveness of funds spent on acquisition and evaluate the performance of new services, feedback is required. It is better if its individual elements are “transparent” and available on the library’s website to everyone interested, first of all, to the rector’s office and financial services of the university. Detailed statistics on the demand for EPR, its analysis and compliance with copyright protection will be required; automated statistics and analysis of the demand for resources on paper and other types of media in relation to disciplines and departments; automated statistics and analysis of user activity in relation to departments and institutes, with the inclusion of results in the ratings of departments and teaching staff (teaching staff).
TWO WAYS
The library can no longer and should not remain within its traditional framework. Nineties of the XX century. and the beginning of the 21st century. were the heyday of libraries not only in Russia, but throughout the world. Librarians developed and mastered the automation of technological processes, implemented ABIS and various services related to the development of new types and methods of replication, copying documents and ensuring their safety. Then came the era of familiarity with electronic full-text resources and their implementation, training in working with them and promoting EPR to our users. Today, most Russian libraries have gone through various stages and levels of automation, modernization, integrated into the global information space and wondered: “What’s next?”
Then there are two ways. The first is to look for new areas of activity and points of application of intellectual resources. The second is narcissism about what has been achieved, “resting on one’s laurels,” stagnation and… outflow of readers, reduction in funding and closure of libraries “due to their lack of demand.” This is exactly the situation we are seeing at the moment.
I think there is no point in feeling sorry for yourself and looking for the causes of the crisis. It is necessary to choose the first path and develop, move, look for new solutions and opportunities for development. The main thing is to preserve libraries as a source of generational wisdom, culture and traditions of a civilized society, a source of information for every day.
STRUCTURAL CHANGES
In recent years, there has been a trend towards globalization and the merger of enterprises, organizations and structures. Universities are no exception. And it seems that the “enlargement” experiments primarily affected libraries. In many universities of the country, educational and scientific, information and library, library and publishing, information and publishing centers, departments or complexes have appeared that are successfully operating and fulfilling the tasks assigned to them. Such structures are organized at the Siberian Federal University, St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, RUDN University and many other universities in the country.
Often the result of these transformations is that the library becomes one of the elements of the new structure, i.e. reassignment occurs. Now between the supervising vice-rector and the director of the library there is an intermediate link - the head of that very new structure. This leads to an increase in the processing and approval of documents, invoices, etc. In general, the functions and methods of operation of the library remain the same. And if so, the meaning of such a reorganization and transformation of the library from a leading and independent division of the university into part of some artificial structure is unclear.
There is another option for reorganizing and expanding the activities of the library: not to merge into the structure, but to absorb other services, areas of activity of departments that are more or less similar in functionality, preserving the library itself and the team of qualified specialists who can work with large volumes of information. In this situation, there is a reason to talk about new functions of the library that were not characteristic of it before, or about the development of new areas of activity that meet the requirements of the time.
Since April 1, 2013, the VSUES library has been transformed into RIAC - a resource information and analytical center. A concept for the development of the library has been prepared, a strategy and tactics for further action have been developed, including the following main provisions.
STRATEGY AND TACTICS RIAC VGUES
· Strengthening the role of the library with a shift in emphasis in the student training system: reducing the number of classroom hours, increasing the amount of independent work with information.
· Creation of a unified information managed environment that provides integrated access to an expanded set of information services, regardless of the location of the source material, its format and the nature of the repository in which the material is located.
· Ensuring maximum user access to library collections, creating a free access zone in the reading rooms and book depository.
· Comprehensive document processing and provision of all types of information sources from a “single point” - a “single window” service.
· Centralized acquisition, unified control, analysis, planning and accounting of information resources for all structures and branches of the university.
· Placing on the platform one of the existing ELS works of the university’s teaching staff - the creation of an ELS at VSUES, which will reduce the cost of registering your own ELS and provide a set of necessary criteria, promotion and advertising of publications in the Russian and foreign markets, increasing the rating of the university and its authors.
· Monitoring the citation index and publication activity of teaching staff as an integral element of the ranking of departments and teaching staff.
· Posting on the library website information for teaching staff about plans and deadlines for publishing a manuscript, the demand for the publication at the university and in the external environment.
· Regular interactive training and consulting for all categories of users.
· Organization of training, consulting on developed electronic training courses, creation of an EER database - electronic learning resources of the university.
· Integration of electronic educational resources into the educational environment of the university, monitoring and analysis of the use of a new product.
· Monitoring the methodological support of the university’s educational process, issuing conclusions and recommendations in the preparation of plans and prospectuses for the publication of teaching staff works.
· Active cooperation with educational and methodological councils (EMC) of institutes, faculties, schools, publishing houses, formation of instructions to departments in the field of methodological support.
· Coordination of the work of the institute of referents (subscription to periodicals and EPR, applications for ordering books and decommissioning, formation of a template, etc.).
· Integration of assessment of the results of the work of reviewers during the academic year into the rating of the department and the personal rating of teaching staff.
· Automated statistics, monitoring and analysis of the use of library resources with the inclusion of results in the following areas in the ranking of the department and teaching staff:
Demand by students for printed publications from the library collection in the areas of the department;
Demand by teachers for printed publications in the areas of the department;
The use of teaching staff and students of EPR, EBS, provided by the VSUES library.
· Organization of a consulting service that helps increase the publication activity of authors, placement of university publications on the platforms of ELS and publishing houses with the conclusion of legitimate copyright agreements.
· Inclusion in the program of the library training center of the course “New directions of work of the university library.”
Mastering new forms, methods and functions requires new knowledge and competencies. Therefore, the concept provides for a program for advanced training of employees who are mastering new areas of activity in the field of information and methodological support for the educational and scientific processes of the university.
Our main achievement is that we managed to maintain our team, the atmosphere of creativity, and mutual support. Having thoroughly redesigned the library structure and staffing, we left the traditional key services and departments, including the department for acquisition and scientific processing of resources, and reading rooms.
A new department was created, which included a service department, a library resources advertising department, and an ABIS maintenance and support department.
The information and bibliographic department has been transformed into an information and analytical department with a significant expansion and change in functions. In particular, this is cooperation with the UMS and editorial and publishing councils (RIS), a consulting service for the support and promotion of printed articles and other printed publications of the VSUES teaching staff.
The RIAC included previously completely unusual services for libraries, namely the monitoring service for assessing student knowledge, organizing testing of applicants, and the department for creating electronic educational resources. In addition, we were given the functions of monitoring the methodological support of the educational process.
RESULTS OF MODERNIZATION
The main results of the reorganization today include an increase in the status and role of the library in educational activities, as well as more complete control over all types of information resources of the university.
Thus, the lists of references in work programs and teaching materials are brought into line with library collections. The library prepares auctions, spends a lot of money purchasing new textbooks (including at the request of teachers), and advertises them in every possible way. Previously, teachers thanked and... recommended completely different books in programs and manuals: those that are at hand, or those that they are used to, as well as their lecture courses, presentations posted on the website, to increase their own rating. Today this process is under the control of the library.
It should be noted that it has become possible to influence the publication and reprinting of teaching aids, which are missing in our collections. This result was ensured by the expansion of the library's powers: monitoring of teaching materials, formation of instructions to departments, participation in the work of RIS, teaching and learning institutions, teaching and learning institutes.
Another important achievement is the consolidation of all types of resources available at the university and their management from a “single access point.” Previously, electronic courses, presentations, tests and other products of the university publishing house, as well as the works of teachers, were controlled by departments reporting to different vice-rectors. The work was carried out uncoordinatedly and was ineffective, and the digital materials themselves were not organized and described according to the rules, which significantly complicated their search and work with files.
The library has the opportunity to participate in the development and implementation of the most innovative techniques and teaching methods in the field of e-education. We participate in the preparation of the concept for the development of e-learning at the university, standards, regulations on the criteria for accepted courses, etc. The library’s competence includes organizing training for teaching staff in the basics of developing electronic educational resources, advising on the creation and implementation of a collection of a new type of educational materials in the educational process with their inclusion in RIAC resources, placement and monitoring of testing materials, organization of all types of knowledge testing of applicants and students.
A very significant achievement of the reorganization was the doubling of the wages of each employee.
Their place in the future information world depends on how librarians can fit into new living conditions, meet the requirements and demands of modern users, change their worldview and forms of work.
The information society requires high-class specialists. The mission of professionals working with information is to always be a little ahead, learn new things and teach others.
AuthorTatyana Vladimirovna GREKHOVA, Ph.D., Director of Resource and Informationanalytical center of Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service
Materials for the lecture
Questions.
1. System of continuous library education.
2. Initial vocational training.
3. Specialized secondary education in the Republic of Belarus.
4. Higher education.
5. Training of scientific personnel
6. Advanced training for librarians.
Literature.
1) Motulsky R.S. structure of the DB RB and its place in the system of information and document communications // Attempted libraries and libraries of economic science: interdepartmental collection, issue 16. – Mn:University, 1995. – p.14-22.
2) Materials for the SRS.
The main purpose of the librarian was designated differently at different historical moments. There were different interpretations of its main functions and tasks. At the dawn of the existence of the library profession, the main thing for its representatives was the ability to organize the collection well and monitor its safety, then the functions of cataloging and serving readers were added to the functions of the librarian. The global, terminal task of the librarian today is to promote the formation of a comprehensively developed personality. Its implementation is impossible without special, professional knowledge, as well as without enormous intellectual potential, that is, an array of accumulated knowledge from various sciences and fields of activity. That is, in order to influence the improvement of others, the librarian himself must be a highly educated, harmoniously developed person. For this purpose, in our republic, as in other countries of the world, a system of professional library education has been created.
Professional training of database specialists in our country is carried out within the framework of the continuous education system. Continuing Education – a purposeful process that includes, in addition to school, secondary specialized and higher education, a system of advanced training. It interconnects organizational learning and self-education. To be a highly qualified specialist, a librarian needs to constantly update the knowledge acquired in special educational institutions. Continuing education accompanies him throughout his entire career.
In concept "continuing library education" includes:
Personnel training (divided into: initial vocational training, secondary specialized education, higher education, training of scientific personnel);
Advanced training for librarians;
Self-education of librarians.
Initial vocational training. It is carried out directly in libraries through workshops, the purpose of which is to introduce novice librarians to the basics of library work. During the workshop, basic information about the organization of library work and the minimum professional knowledge necessary for a novice librarian to perform his functional duties are provided. It should be noted that about a third of the republic’s library workers (more than 3 thousand people) have only secondary general education, i.e. have professional knowledge at the level of primary library education.
Secondary specialized education in the Republic of Belarus. In the USSR, specialists with specialized secondary education were trained in library technical schools and library departments of cultural and educational schools. At the end of the 80s, there were about 130 such educational institutions in the USSR. In the Republic of Belarus, the training of library personnel with secondary education is carried out at the Mogilev Library College. Now 43% (more than 4.5 thousand) of specialists working in public libraries of the republic have a secondary library education. Education at the technical school is focused on students obtaining the skills to perform library technological processes and operations. Therefore, graduates of the technical school work mainly in libraries of the middle and lower levels (rural, urban, central district hospitals). In addition, the training of semi-qualified specialists is also carried out at the Linguistics and Humanities College.
Higher education in the Republic of Belarus. Specialists with higher education in the USSR were trained by library faculties in 17 cultural institutes, as well as corresponding faculties of universities and pedagogical institutes. Training of higher education personnel in the Republic of Belarus is carried out at the Faculty of Information and Documentary Communications of the BSUKiI (Vitebsk State University?). The faculty has a system of full-time and part-time education, carried out on a budgetary and paid basis. The training lasts for five years. In Belarusian public libraries, a third of specialists have higher education, and in all libraries of the republic - a quarter.
A feature of higher education is that students not only receive practical skills in implementing technological processes and operations, but, most importantly, they receive fundamental theoretical knowledge and methodological knowledge in special disciplines and a complex of humanities. Such training contributes to the formation of not only general professional skills, abilities and knowledge, but also the comprehensive harmonious development of the personality of the future librarian (subject to a conscientious attitude to study, of course).
Thus, the problem of providing the libraries of the republic with specialists was solved already in 1975, but since more than 50% of graduates of higher and secondary specialized educational institutions who received a library education go to work in other, more prestigious sectors of the national economy, there is a personnel problem in the libraries of the republic it's quite sharp. Consequently, the shortage of professional personnel in libraries is determined not by the capabilities of educational institutions, but by the ability of libraries to retain specialists in the workplace.
Training of scientific personnel. Carried out at the master's, postgraduate and doctoral levels. In the master's program, further training is carried out for one year, the result of which is the writing and defense of a master's thesis. Upon completion of the master's program, a master's degree is awarded. At this stage of postgraduate and doctoral studies, teacher-researchers are trained - candidates and doctors of science.
Advanced training for librarians. The purpose of this stage of continuing education is to improve professional knowledge and skills, increase the general educational level of librarians in accordance with the achievements of library science and practice, best practices in library work, assist specialists in continuing their education after graduating from a university or technical school, and in improving theoretical and practical knowledge.
The existing PC system has the following qualities:
Universality of the PC system - the PC system covers all full-time librarians of the republic, regardless of experience, education or position;
Uninterrupted PC system – a set of measures is envisaged to ensure the constant growth of librarians’ professional skills;
Diversity – training is conducted in different areas: professional and general cultural;
Differentiation of training - librarians improve their qualifications in various forms and methods, depending on their specialization and their affiliation with different types of libraries;
The use of various forms and methods of advanced training for librarians. They are determined by the type of library, category of employees, depend on length of service, and on the characteristics of individual library processes.
PC work will be organized6
Minsk – Republican Institute of Cultural Problems;
Large universal and special library-methodological centers that organize various forms and methods of PC for librarians in their system (For example, the BelAkhB as a methodological center organizes advanced training for employees of agricultural libraries of the republic, and the NLB - librarians of the state network of libraries);
The database management bodies (for example, the Department of Culture of the regional executive committee) organize courses or internships for librarians.
PC Shape:
Seminars;
Internships;
Workshops;
Schools of Library Excellence;
Scientific and practical conferences, etc.
Self-education of librarians. With the help of self-education, librarians continue their professional education. They deepen and supplement previously acquired knowledge in accordance with the changes that occur in the theory and practice of databases. In addition to professional self-education, librarians should also engage in general self-education. A librarian should read fiction, trade literature, professional publications, and periodicals. Must study the collection of his library, attend lectures, consultations, get acquainted with the best practices of other libraries, acquire and improve the skills of reading culture and information culture.
Self-education of librarians is a necessary process, since the transformation of databases depending on socio-economic conditions can only be carried out by a new type of librarian who has modern knowledge and achievements in the library and general human spheres.
Today, a librarian must have a national identity and be prone to social and political pluralism. Possess a high level of professionalism and general education capable of contributing to the revival and development of Belarusian culture.
In the era of postmodernism, the world is perceived as nothing other than a text written by everyone who has ever written anything - and today it is impossible to ignore a place whose colorfulness from this point of view is simply off the charts. We're talking about a university library. You need to visit it not only to hastily grab textbooks, plus something for an essay, plus something to read for yourself. No. The library is a powerful center of knowledge that requires respect and attention. This is an interesting phenomenon and worth studying. Finally, this is one of the criteria for choosing a university.
Library collections deny the current fashion for certain professions. So much information has been collected for each specialty that you can’t just get rid of all this information - you’ll have to research it and adapt it to modern times. For example, both in Russia and in other countries the opinion is being propagated from above that studying to become a lawyer is no longer relevant. Meanwhile, the university libraries of Bratislava (Slovakia), Wroclaw (Poland) and Reykjavik (Iceland) are acting as partners in the “Manuscriptorium” system, where digitized texts of documents published in Europe before 1800 are collected for legal scholars. For some reason this is necessary!
When choosing a university, find out how its library search system works. Thus, computer library programs at the University of Berlin allow you to search for books both in the university itself and in all scientific libraries in Berlin and Germany.
It’s great if an educational institution that interests you from time to time enters into agreements with libraries and other companies for access to certain electronic texts. Most often, these are publications in foreign scientific journals - and it is scientific journals that a future serious professional should focus on. But there are also light variants of cooperation. Thus, the Digital Distribution Center company provided the St. Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics with access to an electronic full-text collection of certain textbooks, and students of Yaroslavl University, thanks to the GALE library, could rummage through the electronic archive of “The Times” until June 20 ( 1785-1985). Working with textbooks cannot be avoided, and working with sources is always important for an independent-minded researcher.
What must be present in a university library
The university library does not necessarily have to enter into an agreement on access to articles and monographs with someone outside. She is able to take a “controlling stake” of information into her own hands and dispose of it at her own discretion. For example, the American Cornell University Library supports the so-called arXiv - a collection of scientific articles on physics and mathematics in electronic form.
The more new computers in the university library, the better. Let there be a whole computer park! It’s really good when the library itself has a website or at least a page on the university’s website. The website of the library of the famous Yale University is exemplary in this sense. There, information is updated about selections of rare illustrations of historical value. The online library of the Moscow State Technical University named after N. E. Bauman is no worse: here you have access to all the necessary catalogs and the ability to order the necessary scientific work.
You should not make the wealth of book collections dependent on the prestige of the university. In Kazakhstan there is Kyzylorda University, which seems to be provincial. From the Far Eastern Korean Pedagogical Institute, which was disbanded in the fateful 1937, this Kazakh university inherited a collection of books on rice paper saved by deported Koreans. And during the war, one university was evacuated here from Moscow and two from Ukraine, also along with libraries. Then people left, but the books - including striking bibliographic rarities - remained. So if you go to a university, say, somewhere in the Urals, which was one of the evacuation sites, then perhaps there are collections from several libraries left over from the war.
It is completely normal for a university to have several libraries - one for each faculty. Just make sure that they represent a system. For you, this means that if the library of one of the faculties did not find the book you need, let another faculty come to the rescue. Focus on the library of Harvard University (USA). This is a system of 94 institutions. Even a century ago there were “only” 37 of them.
Follow the Oxford Foundation's activities! Oxford knows a lot about book collections. If you find out that the Oxford Foundation has donated books to a particular Russian university, this means that English experts highly appreciated the university's library. Thus, the foundation recently made such gifts to Voronezh and Kazan universities.
The administration of Purdue University in the US state of Indiana decided to collect a collection of materials on aerospace topics in the university library. American astronaut Neil Armstrong, who visited the Moon in the late 60s, agreed to donate his personal archive to his home university. This is a good move on the part of the university - cooperation with alumni who have valuable archives. And the second good move is the decision to collect materials on an interesting topic. No one can limit the university library in such initiatives. If this does not happen at a university, and you are already planning to enroll there, do not weaken your activity yourself - both in acquiring a profession in general, and in student library work in particular.
A well-functioning library holds exhibitions and informs students about them - such as, for example, the libraries of the Siberian State Technological University and Novgorod State University. However, there is nothing wrong with telling people about library everyday life, as bloggers-employees of the libraries of the University of Pennsylvania and some other universities do; and the University Library of Illinois (USA) even maintains a library Twitter blog!
Mathematician N. I. Lobachevsky combined the post of rector of Kazan University and director of the university library. When choosing a university today, find out which scientists are involved in its library. It may turn out that scientists are separate, and the library is separate. And yet remember the example of Lobachevsky. Being a librarian is an important mission.
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is entrusted with not just an academic library, but the National Library of Israel - the largest library in the countries of the Near and Middle East. There are over 5 million books, microfilms, incunabula (these are publications published before 1501); manuscripts in Hebrew, Russian, Arabic, Persian, Armenian and other languages; film archive; 400 personal archives - including the archives of G. Heine, F. Kafka, A. Einstein. It contains information about the Jewish people, collected all over the world by book enthusiasts. The development of this treasury is supported by Knesset law, but the law only records what is happening. And it is an example of an ideal active attitude towards the library. If you and your friends have ever been asked to replenish the school library, surely for someone this call was just a reason to get rid of unnecessary books? However, both school and university libraries can be treated not as consumerist and not careless, but actively. Once you study, start working, get back on your feet, head to the second-hand book dealers and make the library of your alma mater happy with rare volumes! Or purchase brand new academic publications and donate them to your home library.
The library of the Technical University in Delft (Netherlands) looks like a hill. There is grass growing on the roof, where you can sunbathe. And from there you can ride a bicycle (in summer) and sled (of course, in winter). If you are an esthete, the appearance of the book depository of your chosen university will be important to you. Is it ugly there? Enter the Moscow Architectural Institute and learn how to design libraries in person.
Bill Clinton met Hillary, his future wife, in the Yale University library. So, very interesting and useful acquaintances are possible in libraries!
Nothing human is alien not only to A.P. Chekhov, but also to libraries. Thus, the library of Trinity College, University of Dublin houses bagpipes from the 15th century.
“The socio-economic department of the university library has not heard anything about Hobbes’s Leviathan,” complains some blogger on the RuNet. What to do in such situations? Enroll in scientific libraries outside the university - the sooner the better: a student card will allow this. For those who want to someday become a graduate student, or simply write a good thesis, visiting scientific libraries is a must. If you strive to become a modern professional, you will have to spend time in the world's electronic libraries on the Internet and read literature, including in foreign languages. And purchase your favorite books in serious bookstores for personal use.