Glass doors, a circulation desk and rows of collected wisdom are the first things you see when you enter the AUA Papazian Library. It’s a place full of discoveries. Energy of academia flows all over you when you see the students chatting and studying behind desks. Behind the circulation desk, you are welcomed by the librarians who are ready to help you discover the library and improve your academic life.
Nanor Hovanessian, an EC sophomore who has been working in the AUA Papazian Library as part of the work-study program since May 2022, describes the environment as “welcoming.” Being a librarian requires strong communication skills and although she struggles with it sometimes, she says that “It’s really satisfying to help someone find a book or find a good resource for their studies.”
A lot of the time, students are not aware of the resources that are available to them, such as the kindle electronic books.
The library is also open to the public. If you are not a student, you can get a membership card, however, the membership only includes borrowing books and not the ability to use the study areas as those are for the students, alumni and university members only.
The library offers the largest collection of English books in Armenia. “I really like the collection of books AUA offers. Richard Hovhannisian, Vartan Gregorian’s book collections are among my favorites,” says Nanor.
“My favorite part of the library is the interaction,” says Manushak Aslanyan, who has long been working at the library since 2007. “When you are able to help students with finding the books or the articles they need, I really enjoy it.”
What makes the library special is that it offers the largest e-resources in Armenia. “Most of the other libraries do not offer this service, they have printed press, but the online resources are specific to the AUA Papazian Library,” says Manushak.
She also adds that the AUA library is the only library that offers its books on open shelves. People can come in and look for the articles or the books they want themselves and save time, unlike the other libraries, which require the member to request and wait for the librarian to get them the book.
Armine Melikyan, Learning Commons desk monitor, who has been working at the AUA Papazian Library for six years, says that “Indeed, AUA Papazian Library as a library differs from both university and public libraries because it has more active engagement with students.”
She joined the AUA Papazian Library team in 2016 when the Collaborative Study Space first opened its doors and she had previously worked in other public libraries, such as the National Library of Armenia. “As a library, AUA Papazian Library creates an engaging academic environment, part of which is the work-study program which helps the students to get a job and the experience.”
The library frequently updates its academic resources and provides various service extensions such as Grammarly, which helps students with spelling, grammar and plagiarism. Also, librarians work on expanding the material of library sessions that are provided to freshman year of students. The sessions help students to learn how to use Library resources, how to avoid plagiarism and cite sources either by hand or the extensions provided.
“The library regularly updates its website’s interface and creates library guides so that the student can be informed about what services are available to them,” Armine says. For example, the library offers an Interlibrary loan service. If a student or a professor as a researcher cannot find a source, they’re looking for, they can request the library to provide the source.
AUA Papazian Library uses its partnerships with other libraries in other countries and sends a request to them in two days. If it’s available, they send the scanned version, however, in the case of books, only chapters are available. “Even if we don’t have the resources, that doesn’t mean we won’t help to find them,” says Armine. The service is free of charge for the students and the professors.
The library organizes information sessions designed to help the professors with the learning management system “Moodle.” “We show how the professors can design their own courses on Moodle, although it’s mostly Tatevik Zargaryan and Araz Margossian who do that,” says Armine.
There is no place without its obstacles. The main obstacles AUA librarians face are connected with communication. Manushak Aslanyan says that especially first-year students who have just graduated from high school are not yet adapted to the policies that are regulated at the library, causing miscommunication to happen. “We always show them the policies which are not a personal thing, we just show how the policies should be regulated.”
During midterm and final exam season, students have high levels of stress, which also causes miscommunication to happen. “We always do our best to solve those issues,” says Armine. “You have to have the patience.”
AUA Papazian Library is a place where students can learn with love. It’s a place that offers both the professors and the students to have access to any resource they need to succeed in their academic life. Besides being an academic environment, it is also a place where you can spend your free time reading your favorite books.
