The American Library at the U.S. Consulate General has plans to tailor its resources based on the feedback it receives from students and faculty visiting the Library’s Travelling Exhibition to secondary and tertiary cities.
“We are reaching out to students and teachers in non-metro cities in large numbers through such exhibitions,” Michael P. Pelletier, Consul for Public Affairs, told journalists on the sidelines of the exhibition that was inaugurated on the premises of the Bishop Heber College, on Tuesday. The exhibition will be open on Wednesday and Thursday between 10 a.m. and 7.00 p.m.
The American Library has already conducted a travelling exhibition at Kottayam (Kerala) and will conduct similar exhibitions at Salem and Erode next week. The library will hold these exhibitions in non-metro cities in the Consulate’s jurisdictional areas encompassing the four southern States and Puducherry.
Optimal use of cyberspace and new technologies means saving money on learning resources, he said, adding that at such exhibitions, students were also provided guidance on higher education in the U.S. under the aegis of US-India Education Foundation.
The awareness of the people on e-resources was on the rise, said Mr. Michael, terming India as the capital of new technologies.
The exhibition features a power-point presentation on the resources and services of the American Library, book display, video corner, and exhibits. The staff will demonstrate to visitors how the library’s extensive resources could be accessed via mail, telephone, fax, email, and the Internet.
Inaugurating the exhibition, Vice-Chancellor of Bharathidasan University M. Ponnavaikko spoke on how the concept of library had grown from strength to strength.
Principal of the Bishop Heber College Marcus Diepen Boominathan thanked the American Consulate for conducting the exhibition in Tiruchi in the interests of the student community.
The formal inauguration was followed by screening of “Inside the Meltdown: What Happened to the Economy”, a documentary on the causes of the worst economic crisis in the United States in 70 years, and how the government responded. The film chronicled the inside stories of the Bear Stearns deal, Lehman Brothers collapse, the propping up of insurance giant AIG, and the 700 billion dollar economic stimulus package.
