International Relations Office
1997-98 Library Fellows
Funded by the United States Information Agency
and administered by the American Library Association
Twelve individuals were selected for the 1997-1998 Library Fellows Program in the following countries:
Bolivia
Cyprus
El Salvador
Estonia
Germany
Japan
Moldova
Russia
Sri Lanka
Uganda
Vietnam
West Bank
Summary
The 1997-1998 class of Library Fellows was the eleventh and last year of the highly successful Library Fellows Program, funded by the United States Information Agency and administered by American Library Association. Over the course of the eleven years of the program 118 U.S. librarians provided expertise and assistance to colleagues in 83 countries while serving as emissaries of American culture, society, and technology. In addition, 41 international librarians from 35 countries had the opportunity to participate in an exchange opportunity in the United States, to learn first-hand how libraries in the United States function and to take back knowledge acquired to help improve library service in their institution and in their country.
The 1997-1998 Library Fellows Program saw twelve American library professionals again undertake a diverse array of assignments around the world. The Fellows were selected after a review and interview process to determine the best-qualified individual for each assignment. As with previous classes the Fellows participated in an orientation program to prepare them for their assignments.
The Fellows worked closely with their colleagues in their host institutions in assignments from 4 to 8 months to achieve the goals of their library and information science projects. The projects covered the gamut of current needs being addressed by the international library and information profession as they struggle to effectively incorporate new strategies and new technologies to improve their libraries. The projects were submitted by the host institutions and countries based on areas need where U.S. librarians could provide assistance. The assignments included automation training, teaching collection development, developing a needs assessment, virtual library systems and electronic publishing, modeling American reference services, creating library management training centers, developing an effective legislative service, and incorporating on-line databases as a library service.
SUMMARY OF FELLOWSHIPS
Kathy Hummel is a bilingual librarian in the Adult Services Section of the Santa Ana Public Library in Orange County, California. Ms. Hummel spent 5 months (February-June 1998) at the Documents and Information Center (CIDIMECD) in La Paz, Bolivia. Ms. Hummel’s project concentrated on training Internet and online database searching skills to CIDIMECD staff, all the vice ministries of the Ministry of Education, professors and students in the Faculty of Humanities of the University Mayor de San Adnreas, professors from PROIBAndes in the Univesidad de San Simeon, selected members of the museum community, and four centers of the Cenro Boliviano Americano.
Kenning Arlitsch is a Technology Instruction Librarian, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. During his six month in Cyprus, Mr. Arlitsch did a comprehensive needs assessment of information centers in Cyprus and helped to establish a ten-member self-sustaining database consortium with through the Cyprus Library Network (CLN) that provided access to four databases for students, staff, and faculty of the ten institutions via the worldwide web. Mr. Arlitsch provided 40 training sessions on the databases as well as taught a seven-week course entitled Methods and Technologies of Library Research, and assisted in a successful grant proposal to create a document delivery system for Cypriot.
Susan Freiband is Associate Professor, University of Puerto Rico. For her fellowship Dr. Freiband spent eight months (January - August '98) at the National Library in San Salvador, El Salvador creating and organizing collection development policy for the libraries in El Salvador. Dr. Freiband created four introductory and advanced workshops on collection development, which were offered to the National Library staff, librarians in San Salvador and El Salvador and librarians from other Central American countries. Lectures on collection development and professional ethics were given to library science students, librarians, and faculty at the University of El Salvador. In addition, recommendations were made regarding the public libraries in the country was prepared.
Sherry Little is a Doctoral Candidate at the School of Library and Information Studies, Texas Woman's University, Denton, Texas with 12 years of practical experience in technical and public service in academic, public, and special libraries. Ms. Little spent four months (September - December '97) at the Estonian Academy of Sciences Library in Tallinn, Estonia providing library automation training and support to the members of the Estonian Libraries Network (ELNET) Consortium, made up of seven research libraries located in Tallinn and Tartu, as they coordinate the installation of the Innopac integrated bibliographic system. Ms. Little proved training through both formal workshops on the USMARC formats and informal discussions on possible changes to the workflow in library departments. In addition, she met with other librarians from around the country to discuss such issues as education for librarianship and management practices in US libraries.
Roger Brisson is the Social Sciences Cataloger, Pattee Library, Pennsylvania State University. Mr. Brisson’s two-fold fellowship at the the Hochschule für Technik, Wirtschaft und Kultur, or HTWK, (College of Technology, Economics, and Culture) in Leipzig, Germany, for 6 months (October 1997-March 1998) was to combine the teaching of a general education course on digital libraries computer science and to assist the university library with its beta-testing and installation of an Ameritech Horizon Integrated Library System. In addition, assistance was provided with the development of Global-Info, the German national digital library initiative, as well as serving as a resource person, providing lectures on a variety of topics in the region.
Helen Ives is Associate Librarian at American University in Washington, D.C. During her 4 month fellowship (January- April 1998) at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, Ms. Ives helped to establish a model "American Reference Library." In addition, she led workshops on researching U.S. legislative information. The focus on U.S. government documents includes training members of the Kyoto library community in the use of the GPO Access database. Ms. Ives also organized and coordinated the establishment of collection development policies for the new center.
Beau David Case is Assistant Professor and Librarian for Europe Language and Area Studies at the Ohio State University Libraries, Columbus, Ohio. During his 4 month stay (January-May 1998) at the National Library of Moldova in Chisinau Mr. Case, with funding from the Soros Foundation, opened a library management training Center at the the National Library for all Moldovan librarians. Mr. Case helped develop the center's curriculum and conducted training courses in library management.
Michael Neubert is Senior Reference Librarian, European Division at the Library of Congress. Mr. Nuebert spent his 8 month fellowship at the Library of the Head of the City, Sverdlovsk Oblast Scientific Library named after Belinskii American Inforamtion Resource Center in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Mr. Neubert assisted local librarians who have studied librarianship in the United States in establishing a training program designed to introduce working librarians in the Ural region to American librarianship. Key components of the training program included practical aspects of library management, fundraising and grantsmanship, Internet and new technologies, and customer service in reference work.
Steven Kerchoff is the FEDLINK Network Program Specialist at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. From October 1997 to March 1998, Mr. Kerchoff trained library staff at the Sri Lanka National Library Services Board in Colombo in various aspects of integrated automated library systems. The training included the development of plans for CD-ROM networking, and the establishment of electronic access to U.S. databases in multiple formats, with particular emphasis on U.S. federal government information. Mr. Kerchoff also assisted the library in the development of a web-site containing links to U.S. sources of scientific and technological information.
Kimberli Morris is a Reference/Systems Librarian at California Western School of Law in San Diego, California. Ms. Morris worked to develop an effective legislative research service for the Parliament of Uganda during her 8 month fellowship at the Makerere University East African School of Librarianship in Uganda. Ms. Morris did a thorough assessment of existing resources, developed a proposal for the library, and trained legislative support staff in library service and electronic data searching.
Michael Huff is the Computer Services Librarian at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library, Fredricksburg, Virginia. Mr. Huff spent eight months (October 1997-May 1998) at the Central Library at the Can Tho University in Can Tho, Vietnam. Mr. Huff's fellowship involved helping the library director in the development of a needs assessment and with the subsequent drafting of an automation plan. He also presented in-house workshops for key staff on cataloging, automation, and on-line searching. Mr. Huff also assisted a local monastery in cataloging its collection in Khmer.
Sarah Andeen is a Reference Librarian at the Superior Court Law Library in Phoenix, Arizona. Ms. Andeen’s fellowship at the Birzeit University, Birzeit, West Bank (Palestinian Authority) was for eight months September 1997 to April 1998. Ms. Andeen's fellowship focused on library management and information storage and retrieval. She trained a core group of electronic information librarians to be trainers for other institutions. She also developed a plan to integrate American online databases and resources into the library's collection, Ms. Andeen worked to create a Palestinian Academic Information network, opening the door to electronic information exchange.
