The Open World Program at the
Martin County Library System
June 28th-July 3rd 2004

Our Russian delegates:

Aleksey, from Moscow. Children's bibliographer at the Russian State Children's Library.	Anya, our facilitator, also from Moscow (this was her 2nd trip to Fairmont). Employed at the American Center in Moscow.	Larisa, from Stroitel. Larisa is head of the Municipal Resource Center for the Yakovlev Dist. Library, Belgorod Region.	Lyudmila, from Nizhniy Tagil. She is the Chief Librarian for the Central Children's Library.	Marina, from Cheboksary. Marina is the Chief Librarian for the Marketing and Innovations Dept. at the National Library of Chuvashiya Republic.
Our delegates started out their trip in Washington D.C., where they toured the Library of Congress and other national sites. They then went on to Orlando where they took in the American Library Association (ALA) Convention. After a couple hot, steamy, summer days in Florida the group made its way to Fairmont, MN. Our first day together was spent at the Martin County Library in Fairmont, where they learned about our automation system, interlibrary loan, acquisitions, and library programming. They also asked a lot of questions about circulation policies and procedures as well as collection development.
Here Larisa tries her hand at checking in some materials which have circulated.		On Monday evening part of the group went to the summer concert which is held at Sylvania Park on Sisseton Lake. The other half of the group went to Estherville, Iowa, where they met the Children's Librarian and toured a Carnegie Library.
Wednesday afternoon took us on a tour to the Sherburn Branch Library, where over a cup of tea we discussed how things operated at the branch level, including book rotations and policy decisions.		Since we had a couple librarians from Russia who worked in Children's services, we asked them beforehand if they would be willing to do a Russian folktale during our summer storytime. They agreed, and the children were very interested as Marina narrated in Russian, Lyudmila and Aleksey role played their characters, and Bryan translated the story into English.
		On Thursday we split the group into two, with Aleksey, Larisa and Anya going up to Traverse des Sioux (TdS), our regional library system, and the other group going to Red Wing to tour the correctional facility. In the above photo, the TdS group watches as Karen shows them how they catalog materials for all the libraries in the 9 county system. They also learned about regional interlibrary loan procedures and got a glimpse of the new automation system we will be migrating to in 2005. In the photo to the left, Marina, Bryan and Lyudmila pose outside the Correctional Institution in Red Wing (camera's were not allowed inside the facility). Marina does some volunteer work with prisoners back home in Russia, and we were asked by the Open World program in Washington D.C. to see if we could set up a trip to a correctional institution here in Minnesota. With the help of Harlan Gorath (city councilmember and library advocate) and his daughter Heather, who works at the facility, we were able to visit with some prisoners, view the library and the educational facility, and were also given a tour of the grounds. A truly eye-opening and rewarding experience!
On Thursday evening we treated our guests to an American cookout, complete with grilled chicken, steaks, potato salad and cole slaw. Afterwards, LeeRoy Paulson, one of our hosts, entertained the group with some music.		Due to exceptional weather we were able to take a ride on LeeRoy's pontoon boat, and each delegate was able to take a turn behind the captain's seat.
Friday morning we started out bright and early with a visit to the Fairmont Fire Dept., where Chief Forshee took the group on a ride through Fairmont on the ladder truck.		Judge Walker was once again kind enough to visit with the delegates and talk a little bit about the law and some of his cases here in Martin County. We also took some time to tour the Law Library.
During a lunch break at the library we met with Dave Smith from the Fairmont Sentinel, who interviewed the candidates towards the end of their stay here in Martin County, and who wrote a very nice article about their experiences and what they learned during their trip here to the United States.		A group photo along with Oksana, a native of Moscow who now lives in Martin County and visited with us every day during their stay here in Fairmont. Oksana was very helpful during the week, and having her along helped as we had another person who could translate during our site visits.
A highlight for the group was meeting 'Tazz", our library mascot! Marketing is a huge part of library services, and our mascot is a tremendous help for us as we market our children's programming and services.		Marina, Lyudmila (as Tazz's head) and Sergei (in the Tazz body suit).
Take a bow Sergei! You did a great job as our translator!		Group photo from our 'Farewell Picnic.' Our last group photo at the airport. Everyone looks so sad to be going home!