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Winners announced for international library experience contest

Library Learning Services, a unit within the University Libraries, wants to get to know library users with international library experience. Understanding different library systems and users’ experiences with them help to develop appropriate programs. As an incentive, Library Learning Services sponsored an International Library Experience Contest with cash prizes.

Winners this year include first prize to Jing Tan, from China and a graduate student in economics, who said of her early library experience, "It was a real reading room—we went there not to bury ourselves in the mass of homework and reference books; we read for pure pleasure, for a broader view; we read there for reading’s sake. After all, why should life be nothing but textbooks and exams? Our library uncovered a little corner, allowing our inquisitive eyes to peek out at the vast universe, at the enchanting unknown."

Second prizewinner Svetlana Vasilyeva, from Russia and a Humphrey fellow in the College of Education, said "I really love to read: for research, for work, for language practice, for self-development, for fun. I work in a special library for the blind back in my country, and I’m blind myself…I always feel that the library has its own spirit, a special one. When I come inside I can easily set my mind to be peaceful and positive. I like to think that I take a step into an informational universe."

Third prizewinners were Senorpe Asem-Hiablie, from Ghana and a graduate student in agriculture and biological engineering, and Shashank Singhai, from India and a graduate student in mechanical engineering.

According to department head Loanne Snavely, " Our goals for the contest are to gather information about how libraries and librarians around the world have influenced students’ academic lives and to expand the Penn State community’s understanding of our students’ experiences with international libraries."

For more information on services available through Library Learning Services, contact Dawn Amsberry, (814) 865-5093/dua4@psu.edu or visit http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/lls.html
 

Last Updated May 18, 2010