Yale Bulletin and Calendar

October 1, 2004|Volume 33, Number 5

Signe Kant (left) of the National Library of Estonia is pictured here with Yale alumnus Dr. Kristaps Keggi and library curator Tatjana Lorkovic.

Estonian librarian learns about
American system as Yale intern

A librarian from Estonia is getting a chance to learn how American university libraries operate, thanks to a Keggi Internship at Yale University Library.

Signe Kant from the National Library of Estonia in Tallinn, Estonia, will spend four months working with the Slavic and East European Collection at Yale, as well as other library departments, and visiting several major American research institutions.

The internship, also known as the Slavic and East European Fellowship, has been funded since 2000 by Dr. Kristaps Keggi, a Yale alumnus (B.A. 1955 and M.D. 1959) and a Connecticut orthopaedic surgeon whose family has roots in the Baltic region.

Kant is a senior acquisitions librarian who coordinates exchange efforts between the National Library of Estonia and various partners in the United States and western Europe. A graduate of the Tallinn Pedagogical University in Library and Information Science, she searches for, selects and buys Estonian and foreign-language books and periodicals for Estonia's national library.

As a Keggi intern at Yale, Kant can observe the operations of one of the largest university libraries in the world. Currently she is doing professional-level acquisitions work and helping to catalog Estonian books in the Slavic and East European Collection, where she will also have the opportunity to meet the many scholars and researchers who visit the collection. During her time at Yale, she will rotate through the library's many other departments to learn how they build and maintain their collections.

Kant says winning this competitive internship has been "the perfect opportunity for me because of my acquisitions work" and because of Yale's extensive collections.

"Everything and everyone is very nice, and the atmosphere is so charming," she says.

The National Library of Estonia has enjoyed a longtime book exchange program with Yale, and Kant says she is gratified to see the Yale collection that she has helped build. "We want Estonian books to be abroad, and for foreign libraries to have our best books," she says.

Tatjana Lorkovic, curator of the Slavic and East European Collection, notes that even in the more intellectually restrictive environment of the Soviet Union, librarians in the United States and Eastern Europe enjoyed open lines of communication. That exchange "will only get better, if there are people who make sure Yale receives the best of their national publications," she says.

As part of the internship, Kant will also visit several other major American research libraries, including the Library of Congress, Harvard and Columbia university libraries, and the Slavic and Baltic Division of the New York Public Library.

Part of the learning experience takes place outside working hours as well. The Keggi interns are encouraged to take part in University life by attending concerts, panel discussions and other academic and recreational events. The interns also have a chance to find out more about the nation's Slavic and Baltic communities and to make contacts that will continue after the fellows return home.

But Lorkovic emphasizes that the fellowship is not just a one-way educational process. "Signe brings so much to us. She knows so much about Baltic culture. It helps augment our world view and understanding of other issues" in the region, she says.

The internship was started at the Slavic and East European Collection by Lorkovic in 1993 to allow librarians from East European countries to spend several months in the United States and learn about American librarianship within the setting of a major American research university. It has brought librarians to Yale from Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic.

"We hope that the program will continue, and that other countries will participate," says Lorkovic. She added that Kant would be happy to meet with members of the Yale community who are interested in learning more about Estonia.

Before Keggi's involvement in 2000, the internship received support from several public and private sources, including the Department of Education, Open Society Institute, and the Chopivsky Family Fund.

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