1. Visiting Ewha Women's University Library. Top: large, granite stone library building. Right: electronic technology is everywhere in the library. Left: meeting with Library Director, Ms. Nani Lee and Dr. Jun Soo Kim, Associate Vice President for International Affairs.
2. Visiting Korea University's Library. Top: the huge, stone library building in European castle-like architecture. Left: standing by the Dewey Decimal Classification (used in the library) in Korean. Right: meeting with the Library's leadership.
3. Visiting Yonsei University's Library. Left: enormous library building. Right: lobby entrance (looks more like a 5-star hotel lobby). As you can see, significant investment has been made in South Korea's top academic libraries.
4. Visiting the Seoul Metropolitan Library, the city's central public library. It is housed in a beautiful, historic building that was originally Seoul's City Hall, built in 1926. When Seoul's new City Hall was built in 2012, the library retained this building. A unique interior feature of the Library--broad wooden stairs along bookcases for both walking and sitting--was popularized by the Korean rapper Psy ("Gangnam Style") in 2013 in one of his music videos.
1. Visiting the National Library of the Philippines. Here I met with Mr. Cesar Gilbert Q. Adriano, Director of the National Library of the Philippines, and his senior staff. We discussed Philippine participation in the ALA ASEAN Sister Library grant project I am conducting.
2. Representing ALA at the Philippine Library Association. This was their kick-off celebration for their 100-year Anniversary. Left: reading a congratulatory letter to the Association from ALA President Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada. Right: with Philippine Library Association President, Mr. Rene Manlangit.
1. Philippine Normal University (PNU). PNU is the teacher education university in Manila, and here I gave a lecture to over 100 BLIS (Bachelor of Library & Information Science) students. I shared with them the comparative libraries practices being done in neighboring Asian countries.
2. De La Salle - College of Saint Benilde (CSB). CSB, part of the De La Salle private university network, is the Philippine academic library participant of my ASEAN Sister Libraries grant project. Left: outside the CSB main entrance. Right: with Ms. Anna Sajona, the grant project participating librarian, in front of the CSB library entrance.
3. University of Santo Tomas (UST). UST is where I taught LIS courses as a Fulbright Scholar in 2016; it the oldest western-established university in Asia, founded by the Spanish in 1611. I returned to visit the library and meet with their International Office. Left: in front of the main campus building. Right: visiting with Prof. Pri-Ann Tinipunan, Coordinator of the BLIS program.
1. Quezon City Public LIbrary. Quezon City, a suburb of Manila, is the Philippine public library participating in my ALA ASEAN Sister Library grant project. They are very proactive in outreach to their community: children's puppet shows and story times, senior citizen workshops, youth programming, and more. Top left: a fun photo with the QCPL staff. Top right: Outreach Librarian Troy Lacsamana showing a QCPL-published children's book about the local community, and puppets in the background. Bottom left: the beautiful exterior of the QCPL. Bottom right: one of the library's bookmobiles, specially adapted for children with disabilities (blind, deaf, wheelchair-bound)
2. Beacon Academy School Library. This school library, on the outskirts of Manila, is the participating school library in my ALA ASEAN Sister Library grant project. The librarian, Zarah Gagatiga (Right, below), is a well-known advocate for school libraries, hosting a school library blog, School Librarian in Action, for over a decade.