In April 2024, HSLIC faculty Melissa Rethlefsen and Danielle Maurici-Pollock went to Riga, Latvia, as part of the Baltic American Dialogue Program. The Baltic American Dialogue Program is sponsored by the Baltic American Freedom Foundation and is designed to enable public organizations in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia to host U.S. speakers for talks on topics of mutual interest. Our colleagues at the Rīga Stradiņš University Library invited us to talk about librarians conducting research, library services to first-generation students, systematic reviews/PRISMA-S, and research data management. We each presented two talks, plus hosted question and answer sessions for each talk.
As part of our visit, we got a chance to visit the Rīga Stradiņš University Library, the primary medical and health sciences library in Latvia. The library contained significantly more print than HSLIC, and it offered enough copies of many major texts for nearly all their students to check out a copy. The collection encompasses medicine and related fields, as well as social sciences and humanities, and contains works in Latvian and multiple other languages, including English.
We also had an opportunity to learn more about Rīga Stradiņš University, Riga, and Latvia through a series of cultural tours. A major highlight was the National Library of Latvia, which contains a six-story high “People’s Library.” Latvians are encouraged to donate a book that means something to them with a message or personal story relating to the book written on its title page. Exhibits in the library looked at the history of the book in Latvia, including a temporary exhibit called, Text Is Not Our Type, which focused on book design and technology.
We also gazed on the National Library of Latvia (also called the Castle of Light) from the steeple of St. Peter’s Church during our walking tour of the historical center of Riga. This was our last official event of the trip, and it was a great ending to an enlightening week of learning.
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