Romanian Reverie: Day 11

Most of the library tour group

Taking notes

The librarian--so gracious!

Another view of the library--the oldest books are in the case

The reading room contains books published before 1950

I enjoyed dinner at Alona last night very much (especially the chocolate crepe!), but we always get back late and I suffer the next day. We had a great discussion about religion with our first group, though. Trent got us started; he asked if the students would be comfortable discussing the topic, and they quickly said yes. We learned a little about our students' Christian Orthodox faith, but we mostly discussed more philosophical issues like why God lets bad things happen to good people and why religious differences cause such strife. Some expressed dismay that organized religion has become a business and that spirituality seems to get lost in the face of materialism. We really couldn't have this kind of open discussion at home. Amy, another volunteer, joined us today and will probably go back with us for the duration. She's 19, and the students warmed up to her quickly. They're always very sweet to me, but I know they really enjoy talking to the volunteers who are close to their age.

We split into two groups after our discussion on religion. One group went with Trent, Trevor, Stan and Carol to the Museum of Natural History. I wasn't really interested in seeing an exhibit of dead things, so Monica and Oana volunteered to take me to the public library. I was amazed that the guys joined us--the two Alix's, Theo, Andrea, and Radu came too. Andrea took some great pictures for me; she's a much better photographer than I am! The librarian gave us a private tour, and Monica translated for me. I think she spoke English because she understood my questions, but she answered in Romanian. She was very friendly, showing me the collection and even opening a glass case that contains the oldest and most valuable books. She showed me a Cyrillic Bible from the 19th century and other old books that she keeps in envelopes because they have no way to replace the binding once it falls apart. They have a total of 183,000 books, 40,000 of which are in the reading room (these can't be checked out). They have three computers with Internet access available to the public, and books can be checked out for 14 days at a time and renewed if needed. The students told me that they usually just come to the library when they need information for school, but that they really rely on the Internet. Unfortunately, like our students, they copy and paste from Wikipedia and hope they don't get caught. Of course I had to fuss at them about it, but that's what librarians do (or at least this one does!). They use the Dewey Decimal system, but there are no labels on the books themselves. They call it the Clasificarea Zecimaea Universala--the Universal Classification System. There are no labels with the Dewey numbers on the books themselves; when they reshelve books, they look the book up in a print catalog to determine where it needs to go. They do not have a computerized cataloging system; they have the old card catalog! I didn't get to ask about weeding, but from what I saw, they don't throw away much. They keep old magazines and newspapers, too--for a very long time.

There is a separate library for children's books, but we weren't able to tour it yet as the librarians were on their lunch break and they lock all the doors while they're gone. We may get to go back tomorrow. It was fascinating seeing the library and talking to the librarian; she was very gracious, and she told me that when I come back to Barlad I am always welcome (cumplacere) at the library. Bine!