A journey through the library
This time is not empty, this time is not in vain
To turn the pages of books.
For me and for you it's time
Managed to become young readers.
To be better, to know more
We need to read a book,
Every day, like a friend,
Press her to the heart.
Song "Young reader"
Vladimir Borisov
Grigory Gladkov
"Dear young readers! You are standing on the threshold of the main building of the Novosibirsk State University. In front of you is the largest stained-glass in Siberia, which is called "Science". It is made of transparent colored glass and transmits light, and light, as you know, is a symbol of knowledge. What helps us to store and transfer knowledge? That's right! It's a book. So the students in the center of the composition, a boy and a girl, know that it is impossible to study without a book.
What do you think, would you be able to study if there were no books? Of course, we have the Internet, but in essence this one is also just a huge electronic library!"
Thus began the journey through the NSU Scientific Library of students of the 2nd "A" class of the Third Gymnasium of Akademgorodok. It was prepared by the fiction lending library. Evgenia Vaganova and Agafya Kulikova invited the participants to split into two teams and join the quest game – with riddles and tasks for solving math exersises and searching for words. Of course, they were preparing for this day with joy and responsibility, coming up with interesting "moves" for meeting with students.
So, on September 22, 2022, young readers hit the road from the cataloguing department. As you know, the theater begins with a hanger, and the library with catalogs. Cipher system allows to find any book in the large fund of the university library. Curious children examined the "passports" of books with ciphers and bibliographic descriptions. They learned that, when ordering a book from the book storage department, a man must fill out a request form with this description. Irina Baranovskaya, the chief librarian of the department, managed to interest the children in the intricacies of the work of cataloguers.
The first stop of the quest was the information-bibliographic department. "Here you can find information in our electronic databases, get an answer to any difficult question. Dictionaries, encyclopedias, indexes, abstracts are unfamiliar for you, but interesting words to name the works of many generations of scientists. You will definitely know them if you come to study at our university. And now we will ask the department to find our first book and look how the mysterious requirements work!"
Yes, it was a real journey through the library: getting to know its employees, with the work of its departments, in which children found so many interesting books. Of course, the book is the main thing around which the entire library world exists. What a joy it was to hear in response to the question: "Do you like to read?", – voiced: "Yes!".
"Kids, you are in the rare fund of our library. About 6 thousand editions of the 18th – early 20th centuries are collected here". How vivid were the impressions from tall cabinets to the ceiling, where the spines of old books are gilded. Such an unusual pleasure – to hold in your hands volumes published a long time ago! Admire the engravings-illustrations, look through the pages of The Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. In a lively dialogue, this amazing book world was presented by Lyudmila Lyagushina, director of the NSU Scientific Library. According to the rules of the game, the children found here the following necessary books. And then, in her office, Lyudmila Anatolyevna showed a unique collection of statuettes "Homo Legens" – "A Reading man" from Latin.
"Great! We got two words! And now we are going down to the most secret department of the library." This is the book storage department, where about 700 thousand copies are stored on two underground floors at a special temperature and lighting. Of course, readers are not allowed– the service is carried out through subscriptions and the reading room with the help of requirements already known to you, electronic orders".
Irina Lavrenyuk, head of the book storage department, vividly presented her "underground kingdom".
What a pleasure it is to get lost in the maze of bookshelves, to manage to run on steep stairs contrary to all strict safety instructions.
"As you can see, kids, book storage (КХ) is a real maze, which in atmosphere resembles an underground treasury of some ancient pirates – if pirates could read and appreciate books, just like you and me. In some parallel world, perhaps it is – after all, books have been the greatest value since ancient times. In the Middle Ages, for example, only a select few had access to libraries – the monks of the monasteries under which the first libraries were created. Knowledge is power, and if you have it, any treasures of the world will be revealed to you". Agafya Kulikova addressed library travelers in this way and found their understanding.
Then the road took us to the lenging library for course books and scientific literature – a very important department of our library. In autumn, the whole university flocks here for books, because this is its heart, without which a man cannot imagine the educational process. Natalia Chernova, the lenging library for course books and scientific literature, conducted an excellent tour, not only telling about his work, but also demonstrating the work of the book freight elevator. The children decided to carry out the timing of the order and were shocked: Natalia Chernova completed it in 10 seconds!
Young travelers were tired of impressions on the way and appreciated the cozy sofas on the subscription, loved by NSU students as well.
They also visited the upper floor of the library – the reading room, where books are received for work in the hall and cannot be taken home. The latest copies of textbooks and scientific publications are collected here, which should always be available for reading. But for those who do not have time to prepare for the lesson in a day, there is a special night subscription. And many students are happy about this sleepless night with a book! The children were met by Lyubov Rostovtseva, a leading specialist of the reading room.
The culminating stage of the journey – the fiction lenging library – is wonderful in every way. With great pleasure and interest, the children held in their hands and leafed through the volumes from the "Great History of Art" – a gift from the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to the Scientific Library of the NSU.
So, all the exersises, secrets, all the cherished words have been solved.
Our dear guests are students of the second grade of the Third Gymnasium – pupils of Irina Ionova. The library is connected with the gymnasium, with its teachers, students and their parents by years of friendship and cooperation.
Wonderful, intelligent, inquisitive children! How they pleased the librarians with their thirst for knowledge, clever eyes, and willingness to perform difficult tasks. And several boys have even announced that they want to become librarians!
The long-time organizer and soul of the "children's" projects of the NSU Scientific Library is Evgenia Vaganova. Of course, working with younger schoolchildren is the key to the future of the university library. And for Agafya Kulikova, the current trip was a successful debut in communicating with a children's audience.
Students left the library in pairs along the beautiful university corridor. Focused and funny, "tired but happy", impossibly touching, charming in their stylish gymnasium uniform.
Whenever to the passing hour
I cry: O stay! thou art so fair!
Ah, linger on, thou art so fair! ("Faust" Goethe, George Madison Priest)
Text: L. Y. Distanova, A. D. Kulikova
Video clip and photos: A. V. Akberdin