Oh, man, this week is almost over! And so is our first class! Records Management with Professor Kevin Glick started on Monday. Since Monday, we?ve had seven lectures, a case study review, an executive summary, a memo, and a retention schedule due. It?s been homework every night and a good dose of reading as well. This week, on Tuesday, we visited the Yonsei Samsung Library. It was amazing. In the Information Commons on the first floor, the Library has touch-screens for everything! They have news media touch screens for reading newspapers across the globe. They also have digital library access, a message board, games, and an electronic koi pond. Now, if only you could feed the fish like the games on my smart phone.
Here is the koi pond as Clare tries to touch the fishes.
Here is the top of the Yonsei University Library! There?s a caf? on the top! And the views are awesome.
Yesterday, we went to visit the National Digital Library of Korea. It was also awesome! They have a whole section of this National Library dedicated to digital materials. They had rows of computers, a digital media section, video-viewing, video-editing, a studio, and multi-screen computers. It was just astounding how invested in technology this Library was. It was not our idea of a traditional public library. It was up-to-date and well funded. Investments had been made in this media and technology that we haven?t seen on a local level in the United States. But we can?t really compare because we actually don?t have a national library. We have the Library of Congress, which is devoted to Congress like its name suggests.
We went from the third basement level to the sixth floor in the National Library, where we were shown the rare books collection. The library staff brought out books on Confucius, a map of China, Korea, and Okinawa from the 18th century, and a copy of one of the national treasures: Songjopyojeonchongnyu, a book printed with movable metal type, which the original is kept at Seoul National University. (If that?s wrong, forgive me. We didn?t take notes.) Then we were treated to a tour of the Deposit building, where conversation of the library?s material takes place. We saw a leaf caster and deacidification machines.
On Monday morning, Lori and I found this great place for breakfast where they served us boiled beef slices, ox bone soup, and all the side dishes. It wasn?t spicy! We brought Chris with us there on Wednesday as well. On Tuesday, we stopped at a chicken restaurant. They suggested to us what we should get because there wasn?t any English on the menu. It was spicy chicken soup with squash/pumpkin, onions, and a raw egg which cooked in the soup afterward because it was so hot. Literally, the meal was excellent with ?pap? or rice, but it was so spicy that the outside of my mouth was completely red. It hurt to eat, but I was so hungry. It was an experience, anyway! I might cry if I have to eat something like that again, especially so fast.
One nice thing about Seoul is that there are these water machines everywhere! Free ones! So you never run out of water, especially if you have a water bottle. I love it.