School field trip

We were recently visited by 32 pairs of sharp eyes and inquisitive minds from class 4 "A" of Gymnasium No. 5. The tour lasted a full hour and was packed with activity!

We told the young people about the profession of a librarian and how rewarding it is to work with youth, helping them find the information they need to succeed in their studies.

We showed them all our vast premises—the circulation desk, the reading room, and the book stacks. The young visitors got to see a collection of figurines depicting people reading, as well as a selection of books that could be described as the "most" of their kind: the smallest and the largest, the narrowest and the widest, the most beautiful, the most interesting, and so on.. Well, it’s obviously very difficult to choose—we love all the books pretty much equally—but each time, we try to surprise new visitors with something special.

Specific details regarding the production of early books were discussed, using as an example the "Comprehensive Manual on Mining..." ("Obstoiatel'noe nastavlenie rudnomu delu..."), which was printed at the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1760. - what the paper was like, how the leather binding was made, and why metal clasps were used.

We demonstrated how the self-service RFID terminals work, and the children tried to sneak books past the anti-theft gates without the librarian noticing — spoiler alert: it didn’t work! No, the generation is a good one; that was just a provocative task we set for them. And in the book repository, anyone interested could try their hand at being an operator, moving multi-ton shelving units with the press of a button.

A girl named Yeseniya received a collection of poems by Sergei Yesenin as a gift; whether by coincidence or not, both of them have birthdays in October.

Thanks to the students for visiting and for their challenging questions! We look forward to seeing you again—perhaps as our own students!