Books, books, books... and biscuits.

Having access to one of the largest research libraries in the States makes one think about one's home institution and its way of doing books - a comparison not altogether favourable for my beloved Alma Mater. I know, of course, that Ghent simply doesn't have the kind of money to spend that Cornell has, so I won't hold the impressive (but not very pretty) new "Kroch Library" against it (Kroch is an add-on to the older library building, but largely underground, with high-end facilities for preserving and viewing the more precious items in the collection, exhibition spaces and so on), but it is really mainly the general organisation of the library that makes Ghent look a bit backward: for instance, this library is open from 8 till 9 every week day, it is open on Saturday, and even on Sunday afternoon. I won't even begin to compare that to the parochial opening hours of the Eng Lit library in Ghent (I used to think it actively tried to thwart thesis-writing students' attempts at getting to books - now I know it's just understaffed and inefficient), but our main library is also pretty primitive by those standards. Apart from that, the book stacks are openly accessible, so you can simply go in and get your book when you need it, and there is plenty of reading space in the building (and, very much unlike our reading room, these are generally smaller and pleasant spaces with comfortable chairs if you want one). One of these spaces is in the White Library - look at those pictures and tell me you wouldn't want a living room like that. (The White library is named after A.D. White, the first president of Cornell, who also has an eponymous White Hall and - somewhat unfortunately - White House .) Indeed, it is surprising to a prejudiced European like myself that this library is not only way more advanced when it comes to logistics (and internet sources), but also (as you can see) far more aesthetically pleasing and conducive to study than ours.

Lévi Strauss suggested (somewhat problematically, I grant) that you do not go and visit other cultures in order to change them, but in order to come back and change your own culture according to what you have learned. Well, maybe the people who are organising our new facultary library should come and take a look at the way Cornell Library (or any other big American university library, I'm sure) is being run... Not all is rotten in the States of America, after all. Even if only because, here, you can at least get a coffee and a nibble in the library - consumer culture; you gotta love it.