During her November 9-11 visit to Vladivostok, Information Resource Officer (IRO) Magia Crause from U.S. Embassy Moscow visited the newly renovated Vladivostok city library #12 and gave a professional development presentation for city library staff. She talked about current trends in U.S. libraries, including the role of social media, comic book collections, “makerspaces,” etc. The audience asked a number of questions about American libraries – how their budget is formed and how and by whom their work is evaluated. Russian librarians contrasted library services in Russia and the United States and agreed that although there are many similarities, there are services typical of American public libraries which are unusual for their Russian counterparts; for example, job search assistance, tool lending and equipment, etc. On November 10, Magia Krause gave a talk at the art studio “Kvartira #1” on U.S. Comics and Graphic Novels for a standing room-only audience of comics enthusiats.
