Abroad in 2012: A Year of Travel: THE RUSSIAN NATIONAL LIBRARY

Monday, August 13, 2012

While today's weather was decent - albeit like late September at home with
a warming sun but the temperature not above 70 - I decided to accompany
Andrea to the library, trailing along like a 4-year-old boy after his
mother.

I was able to obtain a library card, and in so doing, saw first hand the
bureaucracy and idiosyncracy that is, at least in St. Petersburg, the
public library system.

One cannot take much of one's belongings into the actual library. My iPad
and her computer and some note paper and writing instrument were
essentially what was allowed. Andrea assures me the policies have been
greatly liberalized since her last visit here.

The library card itsel is very modern. It has my picture and an ID number
and an expiration date paralleling my visa expiration date. Like a
security door at home, it is used to gain admission past the entrance
foyer and security guard. My image andall the information I input when
registering comes up on a screen for the guard to make sure the correct
person is entering.

The place is dark and foreboding, the wood floors creak, and there is
plenty of empty space designed more to impress those from another era
rather than to be functional in any way.

Andrea lead me through a barely lit hall lined with the history of the
library (some very interesting photos of the place going back to the
1920s, such as people all bundled up in winter clothing because there was
no heat in the place) past the "stolovaya" - a cafeteria in a library?
Yes, in Russia!- and up to a desk where we have our piece of paper stamped
that the security guard handed us when we passed through control.

This stamped paper indicates we have our computers with us (not a bad
idea, since if our computers were stolen, the thief would need the stamped
paper to get past another security guard and exit the building.)

This paper is needed throughout the library and is used almost like an an
internal library card, getting stamped whenever a new book or publications
is taken. When Andrea left the Lenin Reading Room, where we were situated
and in which Lenin himself studied from 1893-95, she needed the paper to
obtain publications from the other reading rooms.

And that is because unlike the public library we are used to in the
States, publications do not sit on open shelves, readily available to the
curious or to those wanting them. You have to request each one. And once
you get your book, you had beter be either a fast reader or plan on
returning to the library, because books cannot be checked out. They are
available for use only at the library!

There are some library computers now, but the old card catalogue system
most of us grew up with is still available for use by patrons (and Andrea
loves it!)

Once you find the book you want in the card catalogue, you must go to a
librarian's desk on the approprate floor or room and hand in a completed
slip of paper with all the publication's info. They check it over and you
wait at least one day before it's ready for you to pick it up.

As I have heard Andrea say many times, often the book may not be
available, or you might have to wait several days for it to be fetched, or
you may be sent to another library all together in another part of the
city, such as the new library far south of town where we are and where I
am currently writing today's blog.

Long and short of it; it is an overly complex and old-fashioned system
that, in my opinon, is designed to deter the free flow of information. And
that, also in my opinion, creates barriers to an educated society and
fosters elitism.

At the new library south of town across from the Park Pobedy metro on
Mosckovsky Prospect, which I believe was originally designed back in the
1970s but was not completed untl 2002 when Mr. Vlad Putin was the mayor of
St. Petersburg, the inefficiencies consist, as does the waste of space.

For instance, there are tons of spaces for the display of books under
glass, but just don't try to read them. They are there for looks only and
to plant ideas, such as who are the heroes and who are the villians.

Andrea did point out to me that all the people in the library (who are
overworked and underpaid, as she says) have been very helpful, patient,
and kind to her. And that she actually gets to hold in her hot little
hands books, etc., from the 1800s, something she assures me you could not
do in our lending libraries. I guess it is a good thing she is doing the
research in this labyrinthe of a system instead of me!

Lastly, I often give Andrea a hard time, teasing her mercilessly about
everything from her "hardships of leading an academic life" to how her
hair might look on any given day. It's the perverse way I learned to
express my love.

However, in all serioiusness, after being with her today, my hat is
off to her in great admiration for suffering through the library system,
its often indifferent workers, understanding them as they rattle off in
rapid fire Russian, and in general for not only bringing us here (and
everything that was involved with it), but bearing the very heavy load of
taking responsibility for both us in so doing.

Important note: I must reinforce that these are my initial impressions,
which may not be 100% factually accurate. The library may not track
with Americans' idea of a "public library," because perhaps its intent is
more research oriented rather than to lend books.

For details about the library's history, click here.