“Both electronic and print resources are essential to IWP students as they pursue knowledge at IWP.”
-Dmitry Kulik, Library Manager
On February 15, 2018, IWP’s Library Manager Dmitry Kulik was awarded an MS Degree in Library Science from the St. Petersburg State Institute of Culture in Russia. It took him nearly three years to complete this degree while he worked full time at IWP.
Evolution of the IWP Library
Dmitry has been working at the IWP Library since 2003, when he became the assistant to the Librarian. At that time, the Library had just acquired an electronic catalog without remote access. There was only one user workstation and no electronic databases.
Dmitry remembers: “Within the next few years, our former Librarian and I switched to a more sophisticated electronic catalog with remote access (still used today) and later started to grow the suite of electronic databases for our faculty and students.”
The Library was also growing physically. Dmitry was instrumental in setting up the collection of former CIA Director William J. Casey, which currently resides on the first floor of Bently Hall.
He also installed three computer workstations for students to use on campus, which now reside near the main library stacks.
Dmitry’s IWP Master’s degree impacts the Library
In 2007, Dmitry received his Master of Arts in Statecraft and World Politics from IWP. At that time, he remembers, “I realized that the databases at the IWP Library did not fully complement the needs of our faculty and students.”
As he was now intimately familiar with the IWP curriculum, he started researching relevant databases so that students could have access to the most up to date electronic resources. Over the next few years, the Library’s electronic resources adapted to the IWP curriculum, covering most of the subjects taught at IWP — from Western moral tradition to current issues in national security, international affairs, and intelligence.
Today, thanks in no small part to Dmitry, the IWP Library offers one of the best electronic databases at an educational institution library.
Dmitry becomes Library Manager at IWP
In 2008, Dmitry took the helm of the IWP Library. He established a relationship with the Georgetown University Library, which allows IWP students to use Georgetown’s more extensive facility. He improved the infrastructure of the IWP Library’s study spaces and student lounge areas.
Meanwhile, the print collection continued to grow at a fast pace, thanks in part to our supporters, alumni, faculty, and friends. Donations to the Library include gifts from the collection of the late IWP professors General Walter Jajko, Brian Kelley and Herbert Romerstein, as well as the private library of George Lenczowski, a Middle East scholar and professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley.
Dmitry’s MS in Library Science to professionalize the IWP Library further
Of his recently acquired degree in Library Science, Dmitry commented: “I never expected that I would learn so much since I have been working in the IWP Library for so many years… But apparently, there is a lot to learn. I will soon be implementing what I learned to continue to make the IWP Library an excellent resource for our students.”
Dmitry’s thesis topic was “The reference services and research tools in an educational institution library: the problems of creation and utilization.” His research led him to consider the theoretical foundations of a library’s reference services and tools and how they improve based upon new technologies.
“I am planning to integrate this knowledge into the development of a professional and highly specialized Library from which IWP faculty and students can benefit in their information gathering and other research purposes,” said Dmitry.
“Dmitry persevered summer after summer in completing these studies, and his efforts have been vindicated,” commented IWP founder and president John Lenczowski. “I couldn’t be more delighted for him and the Institute.”
Looking to the future
Dmitry plans to join the American Library Association, the oldest and largest library association in the world, to educate himself further about today’s rapidly expanding library services.
His vision for the future of the Library also includes collapsible shelves, which will allow the Institute to double its physical collection of books. It will also allow IWP to make immediately available to our students 3,200 books which are currently in storage.
“The IWP Library will continue to enlarge its resources, whether print or electronic, which are essential to developing leaders with a profound understanding of international realities,” says Dmitry. “The Library is a crucial part of the educational process and must continue to adapt to a rapidly changing world of information services.”