A view from Belarus

Citation

Newlen, R.R. (2000), "A view from Belarus", The Bottom Line, Vol. 13 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/bl.2000.17013daf.001

A view from Belarus

A view from Belarus

Robert R. Newlen

The old cliché "travel is so broadening" came to mind recently when I ventured to Minsk, Belarus to give lectures and attend workshops at a conference of Belarusian librarians. As the visiting US "expert" invited by the US State Department to discuss technological trends in US libraries and developments in library education, I never dreamed that I would learn so much from the librarians I was ostensibly sent to educate.

The decision to go was an easy one. Having previously conducted workshops for librarians from emerging democracies in Eastern Europe and Russia, I jumped at the chance to go to Minsk. My preliminary research about Belarus, however, was not very encouraging. The years following the break-up of the USSR have been especially difficult for Belarus. The authoritarian presidency of Alexander Lukashenko has created an oppressive political state and discouraged foreign investment. In fact, by 1998 foreign investment dropped to less than $20 million. The standard of living has plummeted, with the typical Belarusian now earning about US$375 annually. Belarus also has the dubious distinction of having received 70 percent of the fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine – a fifth of the population was contaminated. Fourteen years later, Belarus is still plagued by this disaster. Demonstrated evidence of the present struggle to cope was seen first-hand on my flight from Frankfurt to Minsk, which was packed with children returning from month long visits to Poland, the UK, Canada, and the USA. These children were returning from locations where they temporarily enjoyed uncontaminated food, water and fresh air. This fairly grim economic and political picture did not prepare me for the dynamic, forward-looking, and entrepreneurial state of librarianship in Belarus.

My first task was to deliver a keynote speech at the opening session of the Belarusian Library Association (BLA). Created less than eight years ago, BLA leadership has rapidly engaged librarians throughout the country. It has assumed an important role in the continuing education of members and publishes a professional journal in English and Russian. Despite limited Web access, BLA has developed its own site (http://kolas.bas-net.by). As nearly 400 librarians from throughout Belarus gathered for this session, I was immediately struck by how similar this conference was to that of my own professional organization, the American Library Association. Librarians greeted each other, exchanged business cards, huddled over vendor demonstrations of new databases, and scrutinized the conference program. After being introduced to the organizer of the conference, Roman Motulski, Dean of the Library School of the Belarusian University of Culture, I asked about the conference budget. He looked perplexed. "Budget? What budget?," he responded. "Alas, we have no money to support conferences. We depend entirely on BLA members to provide us with meeting rooms and to donate materials. And our members travel here at their own expense."

The opening session of the conference included a wide range of lectures about recent developments in librarianship in Belarus, as well as lectures from other international visitors from Lithuania, Poland, and the UK. Over the next two days, participants jammed classrooms to participate in workshops and seminars with topics like "Digital resources: the problems of terminology," "Public libraries in the new information age," and "Current trends of reading in Lithuania." Once again, I was struck by themes I heard over and over and how closely they mirrored those of librarians in the USA: how to provide better service to patrons; how to acquire and implement new technologies; preservation; continuing education; and how to prepare library school students for the challenges of twenty-first century librarianship.

I also had the opportunity to visit the library school at the Belarusian University of Culture and meet with students. Founded in 1944, the school has a staff of 11 professors and must constantly cope with scarce resources. A plaque in the small computer lab proudly stated that the ten computers used to train catalogers were a gift from the US embassy. Despite these limitations, the students were remarkably optimistic and eager to tackle the challenges that face them. They were anxious to learn more about library education in the USA and options for recent graduates. Better career opportunities, how to improve salaries, and the need to educate the public about the role and value of librarians in society were among their top concerns.

Following the conference, I met with staff of Belarusian non-governmental resource centers and visited some of these centers in the vicinity of Minsk. Better known as NGOs, these are small information centers located throughout Belarus which have been created to increase civil activity and to support non-state organizations that provide critical social services to citizens. Operating with funding from private foundations, the NGOs function as community centers, provide access to reference materials on topics like human rights, ecology, and fund-raising, and print newsletters and newspapers. I was impressed by their endless dedication and commitment to improving the quality of life in Belarus.

Returning to my own institution, I suddenly felt an embarrassment of riches. I frequently complain about slow Web response time, but how would I cope with no or limited Web access to do my job? A short stay in Belarus reminded me that creativity and ingenuity can accomplish a great deal when faced with a lack of resources.