I had an un-rushed opportunity to stroll around the Vernissage outdoor market, a mecca for all sorts of commerce in goods both used and new. Spread over several acres and loosely organized by zones for commodities such as linens, rugs, paintings, automobile parts, laboratory equipment, as well as lots of arbitrary placement for souveniers such as clocks, handbags, table and wall ornaments, pottery, musical instruments, chess sets, just about anything you would want to carry away. There are also a large amount of families selling possessions from arbitrarily placed blankets (though they try to be near the better vendors). Being there first thing in the morning, the prices were often high and firm, though I occasionally invoked the "first customer of the day" good-luck discount. I could also go to more than one vendor and engage in real hard bargaining, as I did with aquiring a set of three cotton table clothes (one large and two small) at the same price that the largest one was quoted originally. The fluctuation of the American dollar is making life as a vendor challenging, as they would accept payment in either dollars or drams (the Armenian currency, about 303 drams to $1 dollar yesterday). Picture by Karine.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Last Sunday morning: Vernissage Marketplace
I had an un-rushed opportunity to stroll around the Vernissage outdoor market, a mecca for all sorts of commerce in goods both used and new. Spread over several acres and loosely organized by zones for commodities such as linens, rugs, paintings, automobile parts, laboratory equipment, as well as lots of arbitrary placement for souveniers such as clocks, handbags, table and wall ornaments, pottery, musical instruments, chess sets, just about anything you would want to carry away. There are also a large amount of families selling possessions from arbitrarily placed blankets (though they try to be near the better vendors). Being there first thing in the morning, the prices were often high and firm, though I occasionally invoked the "first customer of the day" good-luck discount. I could also go to more than one vendor and engage in real hard bargaining, as I did with aquiring a set of three cotton table clothes (one large and two small) at the same price that the largest one was quoted originally. The fluctuation of the American dollar is making life as a vendor challenging, as they would accept payment in either dollars or drams (the Armenian currency, about 303 drams to $1 dollar yesterday). Picture by Karine.
Last Day of Instruction: LibGuides
I introduced the librarian cohort to LibGuides, thanks to the generosity of the publisher SpringShare and their sales and marketing founding partner, Mazen Koury. He granted Yerevan State Medical University at subscription, based on the country's HINARI status that limited the ability to acquire a wide variety of databases. I have a great class and a great translator, and with slow and and deliberate demonstration and explanation, we were able to create several new beginning guides for their institution, on topics such as allergy treatment by homeopathy, resources on stress, anesthesiology, tuberculosis, family medicine, and biostatistics. One of the great things about libguides is the ability to wait to publish during the guide polishing stage, which is where YSMU is right now.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Yerevan State Medical Unitersity Graduation
Tonight I attended the graduation ceremony for Armenian medical students from YSMU. International students had their own ceremony on a different night, given the size limitations of the the Opera House in Yerevan. The bright and high energy ceremony featured presentations to distinguished faculty, three popular Armenian pop singers (with the students swaying and clapping in the background), and a recitation of the Armenian version of a Hippocratic oath. Then it was all over, with hugs, tears, and a new traditional event of graduates presenting their parents with baskets of flowers.
A Teacher's Best Friend- A Live Translator...
Alina (seated next to me) has a Master's Degree in Linguistics and knows both Spanish and English. She works in the Office of the YSMU Dean for International Programs. She is very helpful with the librarian students and has learned so much about medical library tools and techniques that I am tempted to make a health information professional out of her. But alas, she is eager to start a PhD in Linguistics start learning a new language. Oh well...Speaking about Librarianship at the US Embassy
The library staff at the US Embassy in Yerevan invited me to talk to a general audience of Armenian academic librarians on June 26th about the digital library era we have entered. Besides showing off the main Yale Library and Cushing/Whitney Medical Library web page and explaining the dominance of an Electronic "front door" in the US, I also showed off the usual array of tools for contemporary library outreach and reference: blogger, meebo, Elluminate vroom, Zotero, and the tool that YSMU is about to experiment with, LibGuides. (courtesy of a SpringShare donation).
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Entertainment at The Club
On my second night at The Club with a member of the American Embassy in Armenia, we were treated to a guitar-violin duo about twenty feet from our table. With no amplification for the violin and only a little for the guitar, the sound was great.
Librarian Students
These are most of the students in the Yerevan State U. Medical Library and the Republican Scientific Medical Library. They do all the right things, like come for extra help during my office hours and ask good questions. I have a translator with this group. I will feature this special person in another entry.
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