‘I Spend 10–13 Hours at HSE University Every Day, and Half of That Is in the Library’
At the end of 2022, the HSE Library announced the launch of its new ‘Total Immersion’ project. Now, HSE University staff and students can take a tour of all of the library’s internal departments in the Pokrovka building. The HSE News Service took a tour with one of the first participants of the project.
Arsen Aleksanyan, first-year student of the Bachelor’s in Advertising and Public Relations, took an interest in the Total Immersion project because he spends many hours in the library every day.
‘My friends say that I’m already living here,’ shares Arsen. ‘I spend 10–13 hours at HSE University every day, and half of that is in the library. I am always interested in learning about what goes on behind the scenes, so I decided to take part in this project.’ Arsen notes that he found it useful to learn how contracts are signed and books are purchased. ‘It turns out that a lot of work goes into adding a single book to the library. That was unexpected,’ he explains.
To take part in the project, email a request to library@hse.ru with the subject line ‘Полное погружение’ (Total Immersion)
All the participating library employees told Arsen about their work. For example, Andrey Fedorov, Chief Analyst of the Office of Information Systems and Electronic Resources, told Arsen where and how to find electronic books on the library’s website. Olga Alexandrova, Head of the Literature Acquisition and Processing Unit, talked about print books and the lengthy process for ordering them, receiving them, and adding them to the electronic catalogue. Olga Podkopaeva, Deputy Director of the HSE Library, and Irina Kocheshkova, Head of Service and Book Storage, explained that their colleagues are people’s first line of communication with the library, from calling the hotline to collecting and issuing books.
The idea of the Total Immersion project came from a desire to give HSE students and faculty a detailed look at the inner workings of the library, explained Deputy Director Maria Bituleva.
‘One day, students came to us asking to see how a book ends up on the shelf,’ says Maria Bituleva. ‘We explained how we receive and process requests from users, how we purchase books, add them to the print catalogue, and then send them to Service and Book Storage. Only after that does the book end up on the shelf. At the end of the year, we decided to dive into this topic and developed the Total Immersion project.’ She added that ‘[The library] is not just the books sitting on the shelves or the staff in the reading room—it is also the huge amount of work done by other library departments. Visitors only see the tip the iceberg.’
See also:
HSE’s New Library at Pokrovka: 500 Seats, 24-Hour Access
On September 2, HSE’s newest and largest library will open its doors. Read on to learn about the concept behind its design, its collections, and its opening hours.
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