Students, alumni and others from the library world find international flair

Students from the School of Information and Library Science haven’t just been sitting around this summer – some have been traveling to England, the Czech Republic and the Republic of Slovenia, learning about different cultures and library systems.

This May and June, SILS sponsored three two-week international summer seminars, which took 53 participants to Oxford, England; Prague, the Czech Republic; and Ljubljana, Slovenia. Participants included not only SILS students, but students from across the nation, alumni and others from the library world.

Oxford University, Charles University and the University of Ljubljana co-sponsored the seminars, which required participants to write research papers at the end of their journeys about libraries or librarianship in those countries. Students earned three credit-hours for completing the seminars, which also were open to library professionals and library science students from other universities.

In each seminar, students, alumni, faculty and others from the library world learned about libraries and related institutions in their host country. They also learned ways that access to information has been affected by circumstances in each country. In the Czech Republic and Slovenia, participants saw firsthand how democratization of the formerly communist states has improved accessibility of information in both print and electronic forms.

In May, Professor Barbara Moran accompanied 24 participants to Oxford, where the group visited the Oxford University Press and the British Library as well as Blackwell’s Bookshops and the Oxford University botanical garden. They had the opportunity to use the world-renowned Bodleian Library, the main research library of Oxford University, and they attended lectures about academic libraries in Britain, the role of the British library, public libraries in Britain and digitization and information technology developments in the Bodleian Library.

More information about international seminars and programs at SILS can be found at: http://sils.unc.edu/programs/international