Excursions to other libraries

İstanbul Ticaret Odası

December 3 Gurbet, Mithat (the 2 new Koç business librarians) and I were scheduled to visit ITO. We researched the ferry schedule in order to avoid the horrific traffic and settled on our meeting time. Then Gurbet informed us that the library director had arranged a driver for us. I said let's take the ferry anyway, but Gurbet said that wasn't an option now. (the driver then just waited all day for us to finish our meeting...so much for Turkish productivity)


It was very boring when the librarians started out by explaining their thesaurus terms. Gurbet had to translate because the librarian would not speak English. I was there to learn about ITO- what I thought was the Istanbul Trade Organization. I asked to speak with a researcher and when I proceeded to ask about how they support businesses who want to import to Turkey, I learned that we were at the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, who just support local businesses! They produce a lot of sector reports on the major industries such as textiles, automobiles and agriculture. So if you want to know how many red apples are grown on the Black Sea coast - this is your address.

They invited us for lunch. Gurbet hesitated, thinking we needed to be back at work. I said I will take responsibility for the decision- we're staying for lunch! Most places of employment provide lunch. The food is basically the same, it just varies whether or not there are waiters and tablecloths.


Our host warmed up when we visited their publications department and started talking English. He was very generous and gave me a cd of traditional music, Istanbul guidebook and more. Then he proudly gave me a paperback book and explained to all that this was written by the first prime minister of the independent Armenian Republic. The intro states: "this is a full fledged documentary ...historical document..entire facts about the 1915 Armenian issue. It is a silent cry against the unfounded Armenian genocide claims made by Armenia and in particular the Armenian Diaspora with the purpose of embarrassing the Republic of Turkey..." This opinion is in sharp contrast to the 200 Turkish intellectuals that apologized on Dec. 15 for the Armenian ethnic cleansing.


Sabancı University

Mithat, Gurburt and I visited the rival university on 18.12.08. About 3 families control Turkey, Koç and Sabancı being 2 of them. Sabancı is located on the Asian side- quite remote from the center of activity. The campus is not as pretty as Koç, but it has some nice architecture. I felt like a visiting dignitary from the EU when we arrived! Librarians greeted us at the door and ushered us into the Director's office. He was a bit obnoxious saying how much better they were than Koç, listing all their firsts.

The librarians gave powerpoint presentations of all their services. Their mission: Access vs. Ownership." So they want other libraries to purchase the materials and they will just borrow!They have a proprietary database of Ottoman Culture images - some from the Topkapi Palace. Students are given free laptops so very few computers in the library. Library staff does more manual labor than us- clipping articles, etc.- we are more automated.


I was blown away by the MBA Director who came straight from the hospital to deliver his talk. His first child was born the previous night- talk about dedication to your work!! Sabancı,like Koç, is a new school so they are very proud of their accomplishments.


Freshmen are required to be involved in a civic project. This is not for credit, 40 hrs in the semester, work as a group, a significant percent continue with their project after fulfilling the requirement.

They were very proud to show the stats of how they attract the top students. Turkey has a very antiquated education system. High School graduates take an exam and depending on their grade, get placed in a university. Students must list 20 preferences- specific university and major- their scores determine their placement. University is free, but there are few good public schools. Koç and Sabancı are private, they provide scholarships for the top students. Some rich students attend Engish, German, Italian or French private hıgh schools where they acquire very good education. Most universities offer a year of preparatory English. Sabancı is unique in allowing students to choose their major in the 2nd yr.


CAFE- Center for Applied Finance Education has a simulated trading floor- real-time date from Istanbul stock exchange, Bloomberg and Reuters terminals- to support teaching and research. This is the only trading floor in the Middle East, except for the one in Israel. It started in June 2008- 25-50 M dollars to set up. Most interested in energy trading.

Turkey strives to be an international player, but now they are a regional actor in the Middle East and E. Europe. Turkish companies are now investing in Russia, E. Europe, Romania, Ukraine and Egypt. Challenge for companies in this region to find competent management. Sabancı wants to attract students from these countries.

It was great to learn that Sabancı has signed on the the UN Global Compact. They have committed to integrating principles of human rights, anti-corruption, labor and environmental issues into their curriculum. "By doing so, business, as a primary agent driving globalization, can help ensure that markets, commerce, technology and finance advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere." Seems like more US companies need to get on this bandwagon.


SINAİ KALKINMA BANKASI
23.12.08 we visited the TKSB- the Industrial Development Bank of Turkey. It is a private investment and development bank whose mission is to grow investment in Turkey and the surrounding region. The researchers and economists create sector reports, mainly in the areas of textiles, banking, energy, automobiles, education, health, paint, metals, mining, scientific fibers, transportation, logistics, renewable energy, meat, poultry and tourism. The librarian reads 13 newspapers daily and scans relevant articles into a database. This is something we did 30 yrs ago, but Turkish newspapers are not in a database so users cannot easily conduct their own research. The World Bank helped create the library. They don't have databases, mostly purchase paper reports.

They are proud to be the first Turkish Bank to obtain an ISO 14001 environment certification. "TSKB has been involved in important environment related activities in Turkey through the loans extended for the projection of the enviroment as well as the loans provided for investmentsin renewable energy."

I asked to speak with a researcher and was pleased that an Economist came down. This man was very smart and knew well the global economic scene. They track US, China and then Europe. Of course he knew that Nouriel Roubini (a Turk) at Stern was most correct with his predictions on the economic crisis. He said Turkey is in recession now and they predict negative growth for '09. They are in the worst position since 2001, when they experienced a macroeconomic crisis. The World Bank took over and reformed the banking system. Turkey does not have a direct exposure to the mortgage crisis because they only started offering mortgages in 2004 and they have a 5-7 yr maturity. They'e waiting to see what kind of government intervention Obama will take. He thinks the entire financial architecture must be restructered. He noted how Hyman Minsky was right. He proceeded to give us a short history of the mortgage crisis. If there is going to be a short recession, we should see positive signs by April- watch commodities- oil should rise. If this doesn't happen world economy could recover in 2010.

Of course they took us to lunch and our driver joined us.