During the first week of the program, I really felt how much effort the Mortenson Center put into preparing this experience. It was clear that they genuinely wanted every librarian coming from different countries to learn as much as possible. I’m very grateful for that.

The first week of the program was structured as follows:

DISC Workshop

Since most participants are working as mid-level managers (or above) in libraries, we attended a leadership workshop designed to help us better understand organizational behavior.

While learning about the D, I, S, and C types, I naturally started thinking about my colleagues and how important it is to understand different working styles in a library environment.

Compared to similar trainings I’ve had in Korea, which tend to focus more on personality traits, the DISC model was more focused on how people actually work in professional settings and how we can better understand one another in a team.

One part that stood out to me was the session on change—how people approach, respond to, and adapt through change. The way it broke down terminology and explained stages of change in a logical way was especially helpful.

Assessment in Information Literacy Instruction

Then, we had the opportunity to learn about assessment methods for information literacy instruction from librarians at the University of Illinois Library who specialize in information literacy. As this topic is closely connected to my own work, I found the session especially valuable.

At our library, information literacy instruction is a non-credit course, so it can be challenging to engage students. More over, Many students also prefer recorded or online sessions over in-person classes.

Another challenge is measuring learning outcomes—especially understanding what specific benefits students gained or what additional instruction they might want.

It was helpful to hear how other libraries are facing similar challenges and what methods they use for assessment. I also conduct short surveys after classes, and it was reassuring to hear that the University of Illinois uses similar approaches.

At the same time, it made me think more seriously about how we can better encourage student participation and how we might integrate new trends, including AI, into future instruction.

Ohio Trip

1) OCLC Visit

One of the most anticipated parts of the program for me was visiting OCLC. It was fascinating to see how people working under the shared mission of libraries and librarianship approach their work in different contexts.

I had known OCLC since my undergraduate studies, mostly through textbooks, so it felt very meaningful to finally visit in person. I was able to see their data center and service operate center as well as learn more about their operations.

What I found particularly interesting was the difference in organizational development models. In Korea, large government or national institutions often develop systems centrally first, and smaller libraries then adopt those standards. At OCLC, however, I got the sense of a bottom-up model in which smaller organizations initially came together around shared needs and eventually developed into a global collaborative system.

In Korea, I have been part of several library networks (such as public university library associations), but I had not thought deeply about how active and strategic such collaboration could be. This visit gave me a new perspective on library cooperation networks.

2) Ohio State University Libraries

We also visited The Ohio State University Libraries, which were renovated in 2009 and felt very modern and well designed. We toured the rare books collection, interlibrary loan services, and the Research Commons.

The Research Commons was especially impressive. It goes beyond what many libraries in Korea currently offer, providing comprehensive support for faculty and graduate students’ research and data. In Korea, similar services are often distributed across multiple departments, but here they are integrated into one space.

This visit helped me expand my understanding of what academic library services can look like in the future —not only providing databases and information literacy instruction, but also actively supporting the full research lifecycle.

3) Westerville Public Library

Finally, we visited a public library in Westerville. I used to work in a public library, so this visit felt very familiar. Even across countries, the role of public libraries in supporting local communities is quite similar.

It was both surprising and comforting to see how similar the daily work of librarians is in the U.S. public library system. At the same time, I was reminded of how much effort goes into maintaining strong public library services, which made me appreciate and support their work even more.