A couple of months ago we got a mail from Jeanna Clampitt, a student of Library Science at a University in California with a request. This is the account of the events in her own words:

I am a Library & Information Science student at San José State University in California, USA. This summer I enrolled in a course called International & Comparative Librarianship. The course has covered topics such as the motivations behind international partnerships, the current state of professional development, and strategies for increasing library accessibility globally. We have examined the library landscape in several countries and listened to guest lecturers from various organizations around the world.

One of the assignments was to conduct an interview with a librarian outside North America who is involved in collaborative international librarianship. I decided to focus on Europe because we had not much discussed European libraries in the course. I found the NAPLE website and thought the project seemed very interesting and would be a good fit for the assignment. I emailed Mr. Diego Gracia, of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, who put me in contact with Ms. Saša Ambrožič of the Ivan Tavčar Public Library in Škofja Loka, Slovenia.

I read the NAPLE blog posts about the sistership between the Škofja Loka Public Library and the Public Library of Panevėžys, Lithuania. I used this information as the background for my interview questions. Ms. Ambrožič replied to my questions by email and her responses were very informative. It was interesting to learn about the sistership activities as well as to get a peek at some of the programs at the individual libraries.

I initially found the prospect of contacting an international librarian and requesting an interview very daunting, but Mr. Gracia and Ms. Ambrožič were both very kind and generous with their time. I am glad to have had this opportunity. I hope that once I become a librarian I will be able to engage in similar international partnerships.

This is the result of the work: a very interesting essay on Sister Libraries, the partnership between these 2 libraries and a fantastic interview!

An Interview with Ms. Saša Ambrožič of the Ivan Tavčar Public Library