By MARK HARPER
July 20, 2009
Last summer, as news broke of Russia’s invasion of neighboring Georgia, Heather Wakefield was in the throes of a months-long process, applying for a Fulbright grant to study and research literacy in the Central Asian nation.
“I had come to love the country even before I knew I was going, and the fighting scared me for Georgia’s sake,” said Wakefield, a 34-year-old Daytona Beach resident interested in international libraries. “I almost did not apply.”
But her advisers at Florida State University, where she was finishing a master’s degree in information studies, convinced her the worst that could happen was she would not get the highly competitive grant.
In the past year, things have settled down there. Meanwhile, here, Wakefield got word that she had won the Fulbright, which will provide her about $19,000 to travel to Tbilisi, the capital city, for 10 months.
She intends to learn more about Georgia’s library system, then collect data from the National Parliamentary Library and libraries throughout the country.
“Georgia’s library system has closed stacks, meaning patrons must request books from the librarians who retrieve them for checkout,” she said in an e-mail interview. “Patrons are not able to physically browse the bookshelves.”
There are a few libraries set up by the U.S. Embassy and the YMCA where children can browse the stacks.
Wakefield intends to compare data and interview children and parents about how the ability to select their own books in the library affects interest in reading.
Don Latham, associate professor of library and information studies at Florida State, said Wakefield is dedicated to improving lives through literacy.
“Her work with libraries in Georgia will help promote information access and foster recreational reading among children. By modeling exemplary children’s services in libraries, her project has the potential to impact services in other libraries throughout the country.”
Wakefield has never been to Georgia, but an academic enrichment program at Oxford University in England and a two-month stint teaching English in Seoul, South Korea, have fueled her interest in worldwide libraries. She is interested in working for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or other international literacy groups.
She came to library sciences after earning a bachelor’s in English at Clemson University and a master’s in theater history and criticism at Ohio University. She has worked in theater, including performing at the Daytona Playhouse.
“I had dreams working in theater, but it’s hard to find paid work,” she said. “To me, there’s no such thing as too much education. I really enjoy learning, whether it is in an academic setting or real life.”
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