Prague Summer Seminar: Days 5 & 6

Day 5 - Thursday, May 19 

This was a long day full of traveling, but also an amazing day.

The day started early, at 6:45 am, when we left the hotel by taxi to go to the train station. We took two trains with a stopover in Olomouc to reach Kroměříž, which is in the Moravia region of the Czech Republic. The journey took about 3 hours. I ate sushi for breakfast on the train and one of our Czech hosts, Richard, provided me with this special regional mineral water.

Our first stop in Kroměříž was Knihovna Kroměřížska, a public library.

The front entrance of the library.

Across the street was a neat Eastern Catholic church.

I haven't studied public librarianship in library school, and I've always worked in academic libraries. For that reason I found just about everything fascinating. Members of the group who have been focusing on children's librarianship asked lots of thoughtful questions, and I learned a lot in the process as well. They also had a "seed box" which is similar to what we call a seed library at USF. The difference is that all sorts of community locations can host a seed box -- not just libraries.

Looking through the seed box
https://seminkovny.wordpress.com/

Main room of the public library and the circulation desk/

After we toured the library, we got a special tour of the basement -- an underground bunker and command center for civil defense reminiscent from the Communist era. Very creepy. Very mind blowing. It now contains a public exhibit of artifacts culled from the local community of that cultural moment.

One of the exhibits in the bunker.

The local librarian and our tour guide demonstrates
what it takes to generate your own energy while in the bunker.

For lunch we had pizza delivery, but because the hosts were so accommodating, I got a special salad with tuna on it. The director of the library made pastries for us to enjoy that are a regional specialty... I might have eaten one or two of those! Again I was impressed by Czech hospitality.

In the afternoon, we visited the Archiepiscopal Chateau Library (the palace grounds are a UNESCO World Heritage site and were absolutely amazing). This was by far one of the best experiences of the trip. Not only were we allowed to visit the library, run around the library, and take group photographs on the balcony of the library... we were allowed to TOUCH the books... examine the bindings, the materials, the ink, the illustrations. The librarian who gave our tour was very laid back and seemed to possess the keys to every room in the chateau!

Our fearless librarian leader.

Basically reverse engineering that binding through examination.  

View from the balcony.  

I'm a happy person.

I did worry a little bit about preservation issues -- some books were just stored in out of the way cubbies, laying on their side. While the room was cool and dark, I don't think there was any sort of climate control.

Afterwards we toured some of the other areas of the chateau and then made our way to the Archiepiscopal Wine Cellars for a tour and tasting. Suffice to say the wine grapes are very special, come from a long genetic line unique to the region, and very historic -- supposedly this winery was the only place in Europe allowed by law to make wine in the late medieval era! I tasted some of the best Pino Gris ever, a very interesting Grüner Veltliner/Moscato blend, and a red wine unique to the region called Portugal Blue. Somehow I thought I was going to get 3 bottles back to the U.S. with me. Thankfully, at the end of my trip, I dropped two bottles with my friends who are new parents in Amsterdam before coming back to California.

Mold is a good sign for the conditions of a wine cellar, even if wreaks havoc on one's sinuses!  

Through a passageway with the group down in the cellar. 

There are all sorts of little nooks and crannies were private connoisseurs and others store their wine. Here a couple bottles of bubbly rosé have burst next to a statue of the Archbishop himself.

The ride home was both relaxing and long. The moon was verging on full upon arrival in Prague. Despite being very tired, Richard, Lenka, and Martin accompanied Erica and me to a local pub-restaurant to have a bite to eat, then we called it a night!

Day 6 - Friday, May 20

Friday was a light day on account of our long previous day. Since we had the weekend free, the only planned programming we had was a visit to the Municipal Library of Prague. 

Upon arrival we received the most inspirational lecture from Director Dr. Tomáš Řehák. He spoke about calculating return on investment for public libraries -- in other words, how to justify the public money that is invested in public libraries -- and how the service model of librarianship is an important factor in the ROI formulation. He gave various figures calculated by various models of how much each loan costs the government, etc. 

He then presented what he called the Hamster Business Plan. Librarians have a 50% chance of being replaced by robots according to the survey he cited. The crux of the issue is how a librarian should respond when a little girl comes to the library and says, "My hamster died." Does the librarian tell her where to find books on hamsters and remind her of due dates? Does the librarian look up pet stores in the area and give that information to the little girl? No, the librarian says "I'm sorry to hear your hamster died." 

The only way the librarian profession is going to remain relevant is by adding the personal touch of human sympathy and relatability, otherwise a robot could do our work. That really put my MLIS endeavors into perspective, and acted as a sort of call to arms that took the big picture into account. Service is the focus. People skills are a must. I have not experienced a talk so inspirational at any US library conference I have attended, nor during any MLIS course I took. 

Besides the lecture, we also got a thorough tour of the building and beheld lots and lots of cool stuff. 

Book wind tunnel scupture

A variety of art installations in where the artist used derelict home appliances...

Ear plug vending machine in an old-style candy dispenser.
After seeing one of these at the National Library of Technology as well,
I found out there is a lady who makes them special for libraries in the Czech Republic.

Another noticable trend was library staff using miniature shopping carts to collect and reshelve books.
I did not see a traditional library cart once! 

The group and our tour guide in one of the main halls. 

Database terminals and a 3-D printer!

I used the rest of the free afternoon and evening to have a long lunch with some of my cohorts (in where we experienced what must have been the stinkiest cheese to have ever existed wrapped in bacon), shoe shopping with the "moms" of the group, and a nice long, meandering stroll along the river and through Old Town. I topped off the night with a dinner of roast duck leg, a full moon over the National Theater, and a spontaneous show of fireworks to celebrate the birthday of Charles the IV! What great timing to be on the bridge that night.