My Burkina Journal: Checking out the library

Well I have come here with the intended purpose of checking out the library so I spent Monday morning talking with Laurel and making comparisons with my experience in both Ouagadougou and Bamako. Laurel worked in Bamako for several years, from 2006 on, so it is no surprise that the library software and cataloging methods she instituted are the same in both. She took a different tack in treating the West African languages, though, found in the 496s in the Dewey schedules than I did. Because our collections are a little unique--no library has the density of languages crammed into so few Dewey numbers--that she decided to create her own variation with her own additions and changes using the Ethnologue order for the different language families instead. I guess I have some problems with this as I can easy see that the Gur (496.35) and Mande (496.34) languages are reversed from the traditional Dewey order that I am familiar with when I look at her chart. This deviation gives me pause . . . but it is a noble effort.


SIL Linguistics Library--Abidjan

Laurel has been recently working on indexing of the archival material so there are boxes piled up on most of the available study space in the library. As a result, a couple of regulars had to find space to do their work elsewhere. I felt guilty taking up the only available spare table, especially since I have been on prominent display upon entering the room. It is no surprise that several people have taken me for the librarian when there is no one else here. I talked at length to one visiting pastor and showed him the SIL-Burkina Faso website with its scanned language documents and the library's online catalog. I did a simple online subject search for him to show him our all-in-one searching of the library's holdings. Here in Abidjan various collections need to be searched in indexes squirreled away on the librarian's computer that searching for something can be a challenge. He was so impressed, he took my photograph and I gave him my card with the library's email address. I have found a small glitch in the display of journal holdings, though, and will have to work with Doug Higby and the ResourceMate people to get that addressed. I understand that there are even more improvements I can make to the library's web catalog but will need a lot of help from the server configuration end--something I can't do myself.

After work Laurel drove me to a local shopping mall to show me a totally different face of West Africa. Apparently there are three nearby, this one called, simply, the Abidjan Mall. I think Orca, the decorator and home goods store from Zambia that seems to be taking over Africa, is one of the anchor stores. Orca is a sort of Ikea (without the self-assembly),Target, and Bed, Bath and Beyond rolled into one. There is even one in Ouagadougou.

The following day we visited another one with a giant supermarket, the French chain, "U" and a lot of French stores.

He are some street scenes. As you can see there is much greenery around . . . But I miss the blue skies of Ouagadougou . . .

Here are some random street scenes

Here is a turn into a shopping center

there are many, many apartments

there is also a large area of construction of really huge houses

here is a mixed neighborhood of residential and commercial

and a nice residential neighborhood

And after having a look around, we stopped for tea and cake at Nice Cream which specializes in ice cream. We had just eaten ice cream they day before in one of their smaller shops in the Abidjan Mall, so the cakes and pastries looked more tempting. . .

That evening we tried out a reasonably priced Vietnamese restaurant that had been in business for quite a while, the Nuit de Saigon. Apparently the place had a number of customers interested in carry-out because since were early, we waited a few minutes for the doors to open. As we watched from the car, we saw a steady stream of them visiting the window of the adjoining kitchen, emerging with bags of carry-out food.