Trading a knowledge of books

Celebrity treatment is not something Gretta Siegel has grown accustomed to during her 23-year career as a librarian. But, in a recent trip to China, the Portland State science librarian discovered what it feels like to be in the spotlight.

Siegel, 52, encountered that feeling when she traveled to Fuzhou, China this pastlast Octoberober with Teresa Landers, deputy director of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, and Rosalind Wang, a former social sciences librarian at PSU.

one of three Oregon delegatesThe librarians were delegates for the Horner Exchange Program, which which sends librarians from China’s Fujian province to Oregonbegan in the late 1980s and sends librarians Fujian Province, China to Oregon, and vice versa.

“We were treated like dignitaries,” Siegel said. “A lot of attention was being paid to us and we were constantly being photographed and videotaped.”

Other delegates for this past exchange, the fifth in the program’s history, include Teresa Landers, Deputy Director of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, and Rosalind Wang, a former social sciences librarian at Portland State.

“We were treated like dignitaries,” Siegel said. “A lot of attention was being paid to us. And we were constantly being photographed and videotaped.”

Due to differences in appearance and a curiosity from locals toward the travelers, Siegel said Chinese citizens often flocked to the group as they toured libraries in cities throughout China. But after the three-week trip, from Oct. 20 to Nov. 12, the delegates had to readjust to life back in Oregon.

“When we came home, we went back to being normal people,” said Siegel, who has been at Portland State for eight years.

The premise of the programThe program, which began in the late 1980s, is exchanges librarians from Oregon and China are exchanged every three years, in order to share professional knowledge, and learn techniques and procedures. Last year, from one another. In August and September 2007, four Chinese librarians visited visited OregonPortland, and spent a full day at PSU on their statewide tour.

When it was Siegel’s turn to travel, she moved through China at a rapid pace, beginning in Fuzhou and stopping for visits at libraries in, Changle, Quanzhou and Xiamen.

At each library they visited, Siegel and the other delegates learned about what kinds of electronic resources were available, how librarians the libraries approach information literacy, the ability to know when information is needed, how to use it and which methods they use to provide service.

Though it was Siegel’s first time in China, she has deep roots in international librarianship. Siegel has taken great interest in Cuban libraries, as she has taken several trips to Cuba to study the nuances of libraries there.

Following the trip to China, Siegel said the policies and practices employed in Chinese and Cuban libraries are very similar. She believes this is because both countries have centralized government systems.

One key lesson the exchange participants took home is libraries on the other side of the world are quite different than those residing here in Oregon.

In Oregon, and the rest of the United States, it is customary to allow individuals to check out books for free as long as they have a library card and are without overdue fees. An interesting fact the librarians learned about Chinese libraries is that However, in China library patronsindividuals must provide a deposit of double the cost of the books they wish to check out, Landers said.

For example, if someone wanted to check out $10 worth of books, he or she must they would have to first deposit $20.

“That was just fascinating to me,” Landers said of the deposit policy. “I asked [the library staff] why and they said they have to do it or they will not their materials back.”

A difference Siegel observed is how library accreditation standards vary amongst the two countries. When libraries are evaluated in America, more emphasis is placed on the services available for customers, but in A primary concern in China, Siegel said, is the number of books on the shelves, rather than the services available to library patrons..

Siegel and Landers both noticed libraries in China were placed in prominent locations in the community, usually found near cultural centers and museums. Due to their proximity to cultural centers, it seems like libraries in China are an integral part of the culture and community, Siegel said.

Since coming back home, Siegel said she has given several lectures about her discoveries in China to library staff at Portland State, but because of aftereffects from the tiring pace she encountered in China, she is still unsure how to implement her newfound knowledge.

“It was interesting, informative, fun and exhausting. I haven’t had time to process it all yet,” Siegel said. “But bringing an international perspective is always appreciated.”