Research Consortium Group in Purdue on Friday with Barbara Ford, Director of the Mortenson Center in Champaign Illinois (photo courtsey of Lucia Schoo

Wow!

We reached the end of our first week in the USA, and I cannot believe how much I learned already. When looking at the wonderful research and learning focussed facilities at Perdue, I once again realised that we need to rethink our services and approaches towards our users. I also enjoyed listening to Scott Brandt informing us on all the wonderful digital and data curation projects they are involved in. It was also interesting to listen to Megan Sapp Nelson's interesting research projects and work.

At least, we arrived and departed in style and glamour - just look at our limo!

We had an interesting discussion today with three graduate students in the LIS and African Studies dual degree programme. Biziwe even had a chance to speak some Zulu with two of them! The day was ended on a cultural note with a visit to the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts for some jazz, snacks and wine tasting. The barman had been to Stellenbosch, Neethlingshof and some other wine farms - he recognized my SU badge!

Our USA Team

It seems as if you are going to have a very exciting time. We are waiting in great anticipation and will look at your blogs to follow your experiences and knowledge obtained.

Good luck
Julene Vermeulen (UP)

A wonderful visit to the Ames Library in Bloomington

Today we visited the beautiful Ames Library of Illinois Wesleyan. This was really a wonderful experience. The personnel were very friendly and informative. They are really doing things in a very proficient way and I learned a lot especially from the outcomes of an anthropology study recently done on their user's searching habits. I have also seen that more than just books can be issued.

Our first few days in Illinois

We're only a few days in Illinois and we've already orientated ourselves with the bus system and the shopping malls. Although a little bigger and a larger variety, things are not so much different!



We were introduced to the Mortenson programme yesterday. An informal discussion and quick tour through the undergraduate library as well as the main library made me realised that we share more or less the same concerns and problems.



The main focus here, however, is on the comfort and needs of clients, namely the students, researchers and faculty staff. The university has also an obligation to support the needs of the general public. The physical design, services delivered and sources provided are all centered around supporting user needs.



The University of Illinois has several unique collections, such as the Slavery and East European collection, the early documents of the American Library Association (ALA) in the archive and a wonderful movie collection.



Users can also borrow technology, such as video recorders, Play stations, digital cameras and labtops from the library. There are also a large game collection (my son will just love this!) and game nights are held from time to time in the undergraduate library.



Today we went to the most beautiful library, namely the Ames Library at Illinois Wesleyan. This library has everything to contribute to the highest academic performance. The librarians here are also focussed and in touch with user needs.











We learned about the Ethnographic Research Illinois Academic Libraries (ERIAL) study which gave more insight about the needs and abilities of students, as well as digital repositories, library instruction and how they manage their e-journal collection.


I'm looking forward to the next day in Illinois...

Univ of Illinois Library (Champaign) Quick tour

Barbara Ford gave us a quick tour of the huge Library (in two connecting buildings) on Monday. What I found especially impressive was the friendly, team spirited nature of the librarians; a visible dedication; lots of common sense applied and convenience for the students! I took only a few pictures, which is generally not allowed, to remind myself of some of the practical things we saw.
https://picasaweb.google.com/luciaschoombee

A white carpet welcome to the States

A wonderful surprise to touch down at O'Hare airport in Chicago in the snow. A thick white carpet welcomed us all the way into Champaign. What a lovely start to the trip!
See pics at
https://picasaweb.google.com/luciaschoombee/USATrainingVisitChampaign