The present-day information society requires modern libraries. In order to change already established attitudes, the librarian of today has to work hard in furthering his or her professional education, participate in additional professional training and in different courses relevant to his or her subject area and visit libraries abroad, as well as those at home. Generally, Estonian librarians look for new experiences in Finland or Germany, therefore, a training visit to the USA could be an important addition both in the academic and practical sense and it would help in striking a balance between different new trends in European and North American librarianship. I decided to seize the opportunity to apply for the internship at Yale to improve myself in my favorite profession.

I consider myself fortunate to be chosen for the Yale Library Fellows Program and I spent 3 1/2 months as a Baltic Intern at the Yale University Library. I would like to thank those at Yale University who have made my dream come true and allowed me the luxury of learning so many things. My one semester internship at Yale became possible thanks to a scholarship generously funded by Yale alumnus Dr. Kristaps J. Keggi. I should also express my gratitude to the Curator of the Slavic and East European Collection, Tatjana Lorkovic, who has created and maintained the Program for Visiting Fellows from various East European countries with the help of her assistants for several years and let me express my appreciation also for the support given to the program by the Yale University Library. I am the second Fellow from the Tartu University Library and the 4th intern from Estonia. During my internship at Yale I had a magnificent opportunity to see daily demonstrations of how modern academic libraries operate. I spent valuable time learning about many different aspects of librarianship. As my everyday work in Estonia is acquisitions and electronic publication of the dissertations I tried to concentrate most of my time on these problems.

I spent a lot of time at the Slavic Reading Room of the Sterling Memorial library and had a wonderful opportunity to take part in their everyday acquisitions work. But my internship also included many interesting visits to different departments and libraries and publishing house in Yale University Library system and great visits to New York Public Library, Harvard University Libraries and the Library of Congress in Washington.

I have been working for over fifteen years at the Tartu University Library, holding a number of positions, and in January of 2006 I was appointed Head of the Department of Estonian Acquisitions. Tartu University Library is the oldest and most extensive research library in Estonia. I have tried to do my best in acquiring books published in Estonia for library users and our exchange partners in other libraries in Estonia and abroad, and have tried to meet the expectations and needs of our library users. A few years ago, the library initiated a new project, with the goal of making library services more beneficial for the user and with a conscious aim of involving the faculty more in library decision-making processes. This project has been a great challenge for subject librarians. I am also the subject librarian for sports sciences. I have mainly been engaged in the acquisition of materials published by the University of Tartu and, since 2004, in the electronic publication of all dissertations written and defended at our university.

As I noted above, I was based in the Slavic Reading Room and I assisted with the processing of Baltic and Russian materials. I worked with various vendor lists. I also received new books from Lithuania and Latvia, which arrive by exchange, and I created bibliographic records, holdings and items records and purchase orders. Furthermore, I searched the Yale Voyager Catalog for Estonian and Baltic books based upon lists from Hellar Grabbi of Alexandria, Virginia, and processed books from this vendor too. I was also very busy receiving new books from Kozmenko, Yale’s main Russian bookdealer. It was a very interesting experience for me to learn about the American system of transliteration from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabets.

One aspect of my American experience was quite novel. The Yale Library has many male workers. This was quite interesting to me because in Estonia the men often don’t want to work in libraries. In my country, women traditionally comprise the vast majority of employees in libraries, schools etc. Let me add, on another note, that the architecture and various building details of the Sterling Memorial Library are very impressive.

During my stay at Yale I had great chance to visit many beautiful and interesting libraries and collections. For example, the Yale Divinity Library was very interesting and friendly. My visit to the Library of Oral History of American Music at Yale University was interesting and I was struck by the excellence of this collection. I am really impressed by the so many different and rich area collections from all over the world. For me, the most important part of my visit were the meetings with the staff of the Harvey Cushing/ John Hay Whitney Medical Library who showed me the main library and the Electronic Medical Library and I received valuable information about their work with electronic dissertations. I also highly appreciate the work the curators and their teams have done in creating such wonderful web pages. A very useful example for my library will be the layout and organization of the web page of the Kline Science Library.  I can recommend to my colleagues when I’m back in Estonia how we can better train our users in accessing information via a well-designed web page. And most important for me is that I now have so many friendly people to whom I can turn to in the future if I have some questions or problems in my work.

My internship included visits to 3 other big libraries in America - the New York Public Library, the Harvard University Libraries and the Library of Congress. In many ways, I’m just speechless. In Boston I visited the Music Library where I have never seen so many big and rich music collections, thousands and thousands of CDs. I met many wonderful librarians and saw great buildings, collections and exhibitions. I was happy to meet Kersti Blumenthal (Estonian/Finnish Cataloger, Estonian Recommending Officer) from the Library of Congress and we discussed different Estonian vendors that might help her to select relevant new Estonian books for their collection. I also recommended to her a new vendor.

A very important part of my internship was to take advantage and to enjoy the high quality of cultural life at Yale. I found out that Yale has an extensive cultural life that includes impressive lectures, exhibitions and book presentations. I enjoyed attending interesting lectures by famous people, listened to several great musical performances in various beautiful concert halls on campus and at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. I visited many different museums and cinemas and really enjoyed this.

Yale is very fortuanate to have such rich, comfortable and open libraries filled with the best experts in their field. At Yale, fellows are not only given the opportunity to improve their skills and knowledge of the United States educational system but also to understand cultural differences between their two countries and turn them into new experiences and possibilities. I gave an interview for our library newspaper about my life at Yale and already this has been published.
This is a wonderful program with many wonderful people. I made new contacts as a librarian and I also made new friends on a personal level. I was so glad to meet Helen Eenmaa and Egle Stalnioniene and others. They helped me to overcome my homesickness.

My library in Tartu prepared a project for enhancing our information skills. This project will include training abroad and the expansion of our information skills. In relation to the project we looked for partners who will be ready to teach our librarians (1 or 2) and I’m very happy to write that Yale University Library has agreed in principle to participate. At this moment we are awaiting a decision in regard to financing the project. I hope this decision will consolidate our mutual relationship and that our future contacts will become even more fruitful.

Below is the schedule of activities in which Ms. Bachmann participated while at Yale:

September, 5th (Tuesday)

Arrived in New Haven by Connecticut Limousine, met by William Larsh, Acquisitions Assistant at the Slavic Reading Room, who helped me to find my accommodation  at  111 Linden Street.

September, 6th (Wednesday)

William Larsh  accompanied me to various University offices to settle the necessary official paperwork concerning my stay at Yale – to get my Yale ID, to apply for a social security number and to open my bank account. Visited and registered at the Office of International Students & Scholars, Yale University.
First day at the Sterling Memorial Library. Meeting with the other members of Slavic Reading Room team : Tatjana Lorkovic (Curator), Judit Balassa and Julia Muravnik.
Small tour to different reading rooms and stacks in Sterling Memorial Library by William Larsh.
Learned how to search the Yale Library catalog Orbis and the Library of Congress database.
Introduction to Voyager Cataloging module and the Library of Congress transliteration tables modules by Julia Muravnik. Started to create preliminary records for Russian books.
Had a nice lunch with William Larsh.

September, 7th (Thursday)

Working with vendor’s lists. Putting lists online.
Accompaning Julia Muravnik to different departments of the library.
Visited Payne Whitney Gymnasium with William Larsh.

September, 8th (Friday)

Working with vendor’s lists. Putting lists online.
Had lunch with the staff members of the Slavic and East European Reading Room - Tatjana Lorkovic, Curator, William Larsh, Julia Muravnik and Judit Balassa. It was a welcoming party for the new intern – me. We discussed our plans for near future, the upcoming small exhibit on the 50th anniversary of  the uprising in Hungary, and the visit of the President of Croatia towards the end of September. Celebrated the end of the Slavic Reading Room's huge summer project – putting thousands of microfilms online and available to patrons (the Archives of  the Sovie Communist Party and Soviet State).
Visited the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. I went to the closing reception for the summer exhibition “Breaking the Binding: Printing and the Third Dimension”. Had a brief tour of the Beinecke Library’s open spaces and office areas. Discussion about different aspects of work with rare books, manuscripts and personal archives. 

September, 9th (Saturday)

First free day to get more acquainted with New Haven. Attended guided tour on Yale campus. Visited with Judit the supermarket in Hamden.
Walked in the East Rock Park area and listened to some gospel music.

September, 10th (Sunday)

Visited the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Walked in the Edgerton Park and listened to folk music (New Haven Folk Festival 2006).

September, 11th   (Monday)

Working with vendor’s lists. Putting lists online.
Had a nice lunch with Julia Muravnik and Dika Goloweiko-Nussberg (Technical Assistant in the Manuscripts and Archives Collection at Sterling) in the restaurant Thai Taste.
Receiving books from exchange partner – National Library of Latvia.

September, 12th (Tuesday)

Working with vendor’s lists. Putting lists online.
Went shopping with Julia Muravnik.

September, 13th (Wednesday)

Working with vendor’s lists. Putting lists online.
Attended the Slavic Department Party, met other staff of this department.
In the evening I took part in Yale World Fellows Night in the beautiful Betts House. Met Dorothy Woodson (the African Collection Curator). I was also introduced to S. Blair Kauffman (Librarian and Professor of Law). Was very nice party - good music and conversation.

September, 14th (Thursday)

Working with vendor’s lists. Putting lists online.
Met Helen Eenmaa (Yale Law School, and a fellow Estonian), and had a nice lunch with her at Au Bon Pain cafe. Small tour of the Yale Law School and Library.
Visited the Yale English Language Institute. Overview of fall courses 2006. Filled out the registration form to enroll in the  class of advanced English pronunciation.

September, 15th (Friday)

Working with vendor’s lists. Putting lists online.

September, 16th (Saturday)

Invited to traditional YANIS (Russia/Ex-USSR) Club Picnic celebration of the beginning of the academic year (Shashlyk get-together party) in the East Rock Park. Met a lot of friendly Russian people and enjoyed good company and conversation and food.

September, 17th (Sunday)

Went to the top of  East Rock with Jakov Klots.

September, 18th (Monday)

Took my first formal English lesson (Advanced pronunciation).
Beginning of my cataloging and receiving books, and recording the items in the acquisitions module.
Had lunch with Tatjana Lorkovic, Ellen Hammond (Curator East Asian Collection) and Ann Okerson (Associate University Librarian) in the Italian restoraunt Scoozzi.
Visited the Babylonian Collection. Ulla Kasten talked about the history of the Collection and showed me its wonderful holdings of cuneiform inscriptions.

September, 19th (Tuesday)

Met Brad Woodworth, an American and former Yale graduate student, who speaks Estonian very well.
Receiving new books from Lithuania on exchange (creating bibliographic records, holdings and items, creating purchase orders).
Searching Voyager Catalog for Estonian and Baltic books based upon a list from Hellar Grabbi (Alexandria, Virginia).

September, 20th (Wednesday)

Applied for permanent social security number. Receiving new Books from Russian National Library and from Sofia University Library. Learned how to receive multi-part monographs and serials; learning predictive and non-predictive patterns.
Had a nice dinner at Pierson College. Met Jeffry Larson (SML Reseearch Services and Collections) and Robert D. Greenberg (Associate Dean College of Arts & Sciences).

September, 21th (Thursday)

Receiving new books from the Library of Congress and from Kozmenko.
Visited a free English conversation group at the McDougal Center.

September, 22th (Friday)

Receiving new Books from Sofia University Library. Attended a forum to discuss e-journals A-Z list at the SML Lecture Hall. Kimberly Parker presented a short overview of the current challenges in keeping Online Journal A-Z list, YaleLinks, and the ERM (Electronic Resources Management) in synchronization, and the benefits of moving the Journals A-Z list to a new interface.
Had a nice lunch with Helen Eenmaa at the Atticus Café.
Visited the Russian Club Friday Movie. Watched a nice comedy entitled “Everything is Illuminated”.

September, 23th (Saturday)

Went shopping with Judit to Hamden.  Walked in the East Rock area.

September, 24th (Sunday)

Walked in the Edgewood Park and enjoyed  free food and drinks and had a nice day.

September, 25th (Monday)

Worked in Voyager cataloging and acquisitions module. Receiving new books from Kozmenko. Went to an 
English lecture (The Advanced Pronunciation) in Center for Language Study, 370 Temple Street.

September, 26th (Tuesday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Went to the Manuscripts and Archives Orientation (Cowles Reference Center, SML). The orientation included information on searching the department’s databases and finding aids.

September, 27th (Wednesday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko. Tried for the first time some street vendor food with Judit.
Watched film “4” by Ilya Khrazhanovsky in the William L. Harkness Hall. This film was last year’s winner at the Rotterdam Film Festival.

September, 28th (Thursday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Visited with Judit the Department of Conservation.
Meeting with Tatjana Lorkovic and Ann Okerson. Discussion about the possibility of a partnership between the Tartu University Library and the Yale University Library.
Took part in a Nooks & Crannies Tour of the Yale Map Collection.

September, 29th (Friday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko. English practicum times in the Office of International Students and Scholars, 421 Temple Street.
Had nice lunch with Julia Muravnik at Zaroka Indian Cuisine.
Visited the Lamar Center Symposium and listened to lecture “Got Yourself a Gun: Frontier Violence in American History and Culture” by David Milch, Red Board Productions and creator, producer and head writer, HBO series “Deadwood”. Followed by a reception in the Beinecke Library.  Met Egle Stalnioniene from Vilnius Music & Art Library.

September, 30th (Saturday)

Yale University Library Fall Open House Day, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Met Graziano Krätli (Curator of International Programs), Pascal Mouhouelo, Evviva Weinraub and Kimberly
Visited Milford and met Julia Muravnik. We did some shopping in the malls in Milford. Spent evening in Julia and Constantine’s house in Milford. We had a nice dinner, talks and walks on the beach. First time in my life I ate clams, brrr….

October, 1th (Sunday)

Walked and toured the Edgerton Park Green Houses and ate gorgeous raspberries and tomatos.

October, 2th (Monday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
English lecture (The Advanced Pronunciation).
Visited Ministry Resource Center, Yale University Divinity School Library and met Carolyn Hardin Engelhardt (director of the Ministry Resource Center). She visited Tartu this summer and her daughter-in-law is Estonian.

October, 3th (Tuesday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Had a lunch With Julia Muravnik at the Whole Enchilada.
Listened to concert by Robert Blocker and the Biava Quartet in Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall (All-Mozart). It was the first great concert from Horowitz Piano Series.

October, 4th (Wednesday)
Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Postdoc & visiting scholar welcome reception at the International Center, 421 Temple Street. Enjoyed good company, good food and had good fun.

October, 5th (Thursday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Met Ken Crilly (Head, Music Library) who introduced me to library staff and gave me an interesting tour around the Music Library.
Visited free English conversation group at the McDougal Center.
Attended a lecture by Simon Eliot, the first in a new annual series in the history of the book hosted by the Beinecke Library. Simon Eliot, Professor of the History of the
Book at the School of Advanced Study at the University of London,
spoke on "Recovering the Contents: Public, Circulating and Pornographic Libraries in the United Kingdom, 1857-1912." The lecture took place on the Beinecke Library mezzanine.

October, 6th (Friday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
English practicum times in the Office of International Students and Scholars, 421 Temple Street.
Visited Arts and Architecture Building at Yale and Arts of the Book Collection. Christine de Vallet (Art Librarian, Arts and Architecture Library)  introduced me to their fields of work. Visited the Arts Library. Hannah Bennett (Public Services Librarian) gave tour of the library’s extraordinary building.
Attended a Happy Hour First Friday & Five Oktoberfest at HGS Courtyard and McDougal Center with my friends.

October, 7th (Saturday)

Visited the Yale Center for British Art,

October, 8th (Sunday)

My first trip to New York with Helen. Boat trip to the Statue of Liberty. Walked around Manhattan and had a nice dinner at Hudson Place.

October, 9th (Monday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko. Had a nice lunch with Egle Stalnioniene.
English lecture (The Advanced Pronunciation).

October, 10th (Tuesday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko. English conversation. Orientation to Digital Collections activities.
Opening reception for the exhibition “Making No Compromise’: Margaret Anderson and the Little Review” at the Beinecke.

October, 11th (Wednesday)

Tour of the Yale Library's Department of Preservation. Visited "Highlights of the Near Eastern Collection" and saw the  exhibit “Black Gold: Geopolitics of Oil in the Middle East” English conversation. Visited the Map Collection where Abraham Kaleo Parrish gave me an overview about their great collection.
Watched the film “Wesele” by Andrzej Wajda in the William L. Harkness Hall.

October, 12th (Thursday)

Attended the special orientation program for newly arrived international scholars (a Yale campus tour).
Visited the free English conversation group at the McDougal Center.
Tour of Sterling Library with Patricia Thurston. It was a very nice behind-the-scenes tour.

October, 13th (Friday)

English practicum times in the Office of International Students and Scholars, 421 Temple Street.
Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Listened to Yale Concert Band (Three Japanese Dances) at Woolsey Hall.

October, 14th (Saturday)

Visited the Yale British Art Gallery.

October, 15th (Sunday)

Attended a reception of the Edgerton Parks friends. Listened to folk music and had a nice company and food.

October, 16th (Monday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Visiting the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Had a brief tour of the Library’s open spaces and office areas. Met the staff and got a closer look at their work.
English lecture (The Advanced Pronunciation).

October, 17th (Tuesday)
 
Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Visited the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. A brief tour of the Library’s stacks. Had discussion about different aspects of work with rare books, manuscripts and personal archives. 
Visited free English conversation group at the OISS.
Attended the lecture by Laura Engelstein (Henry S. McNeil Professor of History, Yale University), guest curator of “Russian Graphic Art and the Revolution of 1905”. Followed by reception and viewing of the exhibition.

October, 18th (Wednesday)

Orientation to International Digital Special Projects and to Digital Collections activities.
Visited the Kline Science Library, together with Egle Stalnioniene from Vilnius.Talked to David Stern (Director, Science Libraries and Information Services) about the libraries’ profiles, collections, working routine and collection development policies.
Tour of the Elizabethan Club. The Club hosts a library which consists of about 300 volumes of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literature, including the first four folios of Shakespeare, the Huth Shakespeare quartos, and first editions or early quartos of all the major dramatists.
Attended the lecture “Librarians without Borders: Venturing beyond One’s Comfort Zone” by Patricia Thurston at Pierson College Fellows Meeting and had a nice dinner and conversation.

October, 19th (Thursday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Visited the free English conversation group at the McDougal Center.
Had a nice Tea break with Tatjana Lorkovic and Egle Stalnioniene at the fancy Elizabethan Club.
Had a nice dinner with Ken Crilly and Egle Stalnioniene at Egles' apartment.

October, 20th (Friday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
English practicum times in the Office of International Students and Scholars, 421 Temple Street.
Watched a Russian funny comedy “Slushatel” at the Davis Auditorium in the basement floor of the Becton Center.

October, 21th  (Saturday)

Visited with Judit the supermarket in Hamden. Listened to a nice concert by Yale Schola Cantorum at Sprague Hall.

October, 22th (Sunday)

Visit to Hamden with Helen. Shopped the whole day.

October, 23th (Monday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Visited free English conversation group at the McDougal Center.
Attended the new staff reception at Sheffield, Sterling, Strathcona Hall.
English lecture (The Advanced Pronunciation).

October, 24th (Tuesday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Visited the free English conversation group at the OISS.

October, 25th (Wednesday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Attending the discussion series “Understanding America” at the International Center. Discussion of Race & Ethnicity in the USA”.
Watched a movie “Mother and son” (1997) by Aleksandr Sorokin at the William L. Harkness Hall.

October, 26th (Thursday)
Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Visited the free English conversation group at the McDougal Center.
Attended the course “Using Predictive Patterns in Periodical Workflows”.
Had a nice dinner with colleagues and friends at Kendall Crilly home.

October, 27th (Friday)

English practicum times in the Office of International Students and Scholars, 421 Temple Street.
Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Visit to the Library of Oral History American Music at Yale University and had a meeting with Vivian Perlis (Director) and Libby van Cleve (Associate Director). It was a very interesting meeting and a new experience for me.

October, 28th (Saturday)

Had a nice Tea break with Ken Crilly and Egle Stalnioniene at the fancy Elizabethan Club.

October, 29th (Sunday)

Attended the university public worship at Battel Chapel.

October, 30th (Monday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Visited the free English conversation group at the McDougal Center.
Visit to Research Services and Collections, where Susanne Roberts (Librarian for European History, Coordinator of Humanities Collections) gave a short overview of their main tasks.
English lecture (The Advanced Pronunciation).

October, 31th (Tuesday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Visited the free English conversation group at the OISS.
Met with Karen Spicher from the Beinecke who promised to help me find some original Wiiralt works at Yale in the Aleksis Rannit collection for the New York Public Library.
Attended the Brazilian Halloween Party featuring “At Midnight I will Take Your Soul”, directed by Jose Mojica Marins. So many very sweet candies!!!

November, 1th (Wednesday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Visited free English conversation group at the OISS.
Grad Night & British Art Gallery at Yale Center for British Art. Perfomance of Italian music.

November, 2th (Thursday)

Meeting with Elizabeth A. S. Beaudin. She introduced me to a new software program called SAKHR.
Visited the free English conversation group at the McDougal Center.
Attended the lecture “Poetry in Motion: Lyric Circulation in the Antebellum U.S.” presented by Meredith McGill as part of the Beinecke Lectures in the History of the Book series.

November, 3th (Friday)

English practicum times in the Office of International Students and Scholars, 421 Temple Street.
Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Visit to Research Services and Collections, where Alan Solomon introduced me to the staff of his department.
Watched a movie “Piter FM,” a Russian romantic comedy – one of the best Russian films of the year at the HGS.

November, 4th (Saturday)

Attended a tour of New Haven.
Went to the Folk Festival “NOMAD 2006”

November, 5th (Sunday)

Trip to New York City with Egle.

November, 6th (Monday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Visited the free English conversation group at the McDougal Center.
Visited the Department of Manuscripts and Archives and had a meeting with Dika Goloweiko-Nussberg (Technical Assistant in the manuscripts and archives).
English lecture (The Advanced Pronunciation).

November, 7th (Tuesday)

Visited the Harvey Cushing/ John Hay Whitney Medical Library for an orientation and tour. Met R. Kenny Marone and Charles J. Greenberg (Coordinator, Curriculum & Research Support), who showed us the main library and the Electronic Medical Library and told a lot of interesting things about their work. The library is very nice. I also had lunch with R. Kenny Marone, Charles J. Greenberg, Pascal Mouhouelo (Reference Librarian, AFRO Library) and Egle at the Scoozzi Restaurant. We had a nice conversation and enjoyed the good food.
Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Attending the lecture “Oil, Islam, and the Press in Putin’s Russia," by Evgenii Kiselev (Russian journalist and independent political analyst) at the Luce Hall Auditorium.

November, 8th (Wednesday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Attended the class RSS and Blogging by Charles J. Greenberg. Learning about how to find and create blogs.
Attended the Poetry reading by Natasha Trethewey, winner of the Grolier Poetry Prize.

November, 9th (Thursday)

Took the Acela Express to Boston with Egle and Ken Crilly.  It was a new and fast train. Took the subway to Cambridge to Harvard University. Walked through the Harvard campus to the Music Library and met Sarah Adams. She gave us a tour of the Harvard Music Library and we met with her colleagues. Their music collection is very big and rich, thousands and thousands of CDs. Later we had a nice lunch at the Harvard Faculty Club.
Had the tour of the Fine Arts Library and met Mary Claire Altenhofen (Director of the Library).
Walked around downtown Boston, saw the Boston Common, and had a brief look at the city. At 6.45 we took the Amtrak train back to New Haven.
It was a wonderful day – my birthday.

November, 10th (Friday)
Took the morning train to New York City (NYC) with Egle Stalnioniene. Visit to the Slavic and Baltic Division (NYPL). Met Janis A. Kreslins (the Baltic Languages Specialist, Baltic Collections, NYPL) and Edward Kasinec (Head, Slavic and Baltic Division, NYPL). We discussed libraries, collection, management of information and the possible opportunities to improve the communication between NYPL and research libraries in Lithuania and Estonia. I helped him find some books about Estonia. Saw exhibition: “EHON The Artist and the Book in Japan”. In the evening we met Egle’s friend and we had a nice dinner at the Oysters restaurant. Took the late train back to New Haven.

November, 11th (Saturday)

Ken Crilly rented a car and we had a wonderful trip to Newport with Egle and Helen.

November, 12th (Sunday)

I was in the library and read my e-mails.

November, 13th (Monday)

Meeting with Charles Greenberg from the Yale Medical Library. He introduced me to their system
of electronic dissertations.
Meeting with Patricia Thurston andwe talked about cataloging. Had a nice lunch with her at Yorkside Pizza.

November, 14th (Tuesday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
CoDGeR meeting in SML. Discussion about different problems such as the Sage package exploration, updates from Authentication Sub-Group, Cambridge re-basing and claims orphans, Wilson Files CERF review and Therapeutic Triumphs Worries Whines.

November, 15th (Wednesday)

Took the Acela Express train to Washington, D.C.. After checking into my hotel room at the Capitol Hill Suites, I went around the Capitol Hill and saw the US Capitol (home to both the House of Representatives and the Senate), the White House (the Official residence of the US President), the Supreme Court (the biggest court in the United States and the last stop in issues of constitutionality), the Washington Monument (555 –ft (170 m) marble obelisk is seen from all over the city), and the Lincoln Memorial. I also visited the Arlington Cemetery and the Pentagon.

November, 16th (Thursday)

Visited the Library of Congress (LC). Attended the AAASS (American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies) orientation in the European Reading Room (Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress).
Had a nice lunch at the Greek Isles restaurant at Pennsylvania Avenue.
Met Adrija Henley (Senior Acquisitions Specialist responsible for Lithuania, Acquisitions Department, LC) and Nicholas Thorner (Senior Acquisitions Specialist in Central & Eastern European Acquisitions Section). They gave me an interesting tour around their department.
Meeting with Nina Zanegina (Senior Acquisitions Specialist in Central & Eastern European Acquisitions Section). We talked about long-time exchange relations between Library of Congress and Tartu University Library and on how to resolve some problems. I received an overview about their everyday work.
Meeting with Kersti Blumenthal (Estonian/Finnish Cataloger, Estonian Recommending Officer) and discussion about different Estonian vendors that could help her to select new Estonian books for their collection. Talked about the recent reorganization of her department. It was really interesting. Had a nice small dinner and conversation with Kersti at a Starbucks Cafe.

November, 17th (Friday)

Took the metro to the Mall. Visited the National Air and Space Museum (my son would be very happy here!) and the  National Museum of Natural History. Spent a wonderful time in the National Zoo – I saw a panda baby!!! Had lunch in the Indian food restaurant near the National Zoo.
Took the Acela train back to New Haven, CT.

November, 18th (Saturday)

Spent a nice time with my friends.

November, 19th (Sunday)

Walked around Lighthouse Park.

November, 20th (Monday)

Receiving new books from Hellar Grabbi. Had a nice lunch with Egle Stalnioniene at Yorkside Pizza.

November, 21th (Tuesday)

Attended the IBM research’s industry solutions lab trip. Presentations and demonstrations of new technology developments. I’d like to have a multilingual automatic speech-to-speech translator (Estonian-English). This tour was very educational for me.
In the evening I attended the Thanksgiving Night dinner at the Law School, everybody brought the national dishes of the American holiday. Had a nice conversation and good food with Helen and the other students.

November, 22th (Wednesday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Spent evening in Julia and Constantine’s house in Milford.

November, 23th  (Thursday)

Thanksgiving holiday. My husband and I made a trip to West Point. Weather was terrible, it was raining all day.

November, 24th (Friday)

We had a trip to Niagara Falls. It was powerful waterfall, especially from Canada. We visited the Niagara casino. So many slot machines and people! We lost 15 dollars.

November, 25th (Saturday)

Trip to Canada. Visited Toronto where some of our Estonian friends live. I saw the Prince of Wales’s house. We attended a sorority party (Amicitia). The young rushees had a performance about supermodels. It was really funny and full of zestl. Later we had a nice dinner, conversation with Estonian people and dancing. Went to City Hall and saw a wonderful Christmas Tree!

November, 27th (Monday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Met Dr. Kristaps Keggi for the first time.

November, 28th (Tuesday)

Creating preliminary records for Kozmenko books.

November, 29th (Wednesday)

Creating preliminary records for Kozmenko books.
Attended the discussion “Fast Food Nation” at McDougal Center.

November, 30th (Thursday)

Creating preliminary records for Kozmenko books.
Visited the Yale University Press. Tour of different working areas and the reading room led by associate editor Keith T. Condon.

December, 1th (Friday)

Visited the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at the United Nations in New York. The Dag Hammarskjöld Library was dedicated on 16 November 1961 in honour of the late Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld. The Library Building, a gift from the Ford Foundation, adjoins the Secretariat at the south-west corner of the headquarters site. The Library's primary function is to enable the delegations, the Secretariat and other official groups of the Organization to obtain, with the greatest possible speed, convenience and economy, the library materials and information needed in the execution of their duties. Priit Türk (3rd Secretary of  the UN) gave a good overview about United Nation’s work and library. It was really interesting for me.

December, 2th (Saturday)

Spent a nice evening with Helen and Ruslan at their home.

December, 3th (Sunday)

Made a trip to New York City. Spent a lot of time on the top of the Empire State Building and enjoyed the Christmas lights and colors.

December, 4th (Monday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
English lecture (The Advanced Pronunciation).

December, 5th (Tuesday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
International Library Fellowships at Yale: Close Encounters and Future Perspectives
Talk about similarities and differences between interns' and fellows' home institutions and the Yale Library.
We introduced ourselves and our home libraries to the audience at the SML Lecture Hall. The other interns were Mr. Pascal Mouhouelo (Reference Librarian, World Health Organization, Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo) and Mr. Dong Feng (Assistant Director, Sun Yat-sen University Libraries, Guangzhou, China).
Listened to the Yale Collegium Musicum's beautiful concert “Early Music America: the Birth of Music in the World” at the Beinecke Library.

December, 6th (Wednesday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Tour of the Music Library Historical Sound Recordings and Special Collections.
The Yale Collection of Historical Sound Recordings is very rich (nearly 200,000 recordings) and I am thankful for Richard Warren for letting me listen to very old recordings of several famous authors (Verdi, Bellini etc). It was very interesting and enjoyable.
Attended the Yale University Art Gallery Open House and saw beautiful exhibitions of Asian and African art and modern and contemporary art etc.
 
December, 7th (Thursday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.

December, 8th (Friday)

Receiving books from exchange partner – National Library of Latvia.
Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
First snow in New Haven.

December, 10th (Sunday)

Spent a nice day in Tatjana’s Lorkovic house - a nice farewell party in my honor.

December, 11th (Monday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Had a nice dinner with Dr. Kristapps Keggi and Tatjana Lorkovic at Mory’s.

December, 12th (Tuesday)

Receiving new books from Kozmenko.
Beginning to work on report of my visit to Yale.
Attended the Holiday Luncheon with Helen in the Faculty Lounge at Law School.

December, 13th (Wednesday)

Receiving books from exchange partner – National Library of Romania.
Worked on report and diary.
Coffee break with Tatjana Lorkovic, Helen and Ruslan at AuBonPain.
Selected books from duplicates for the Tartu University Library.
Library Staff Holiday Party at the Beinecke Library.
Attended the Slavic Department's Christmas Party

December, 14th (Thursday)

Writing my report.

December, 15th (Friday)

Finished my report.
Nice Christmas dinner at Helen and Ruslan's house.

December, 17th (Sunday)

Left New Haven at 12 p.m. Went by van to New York's JFK airport and caught my flight to Helsinki. I later caught my connecting flight from Helsinki to Tallinn.