Вітаємо Вас у нашому блозі! Тут Ви знайдете цікаві та корисні для роботи центрів «Вікно в Америку», відкритих у 27 бібліотеках України, матеріали. Запрошуємо Вас взяти активну участь в обговоренні важливих для взаєморозуміння між американським і українським народами питань. Цей блог призначений керівникам центрів «Вікно в Америку», директорам книгозбірень, усім бібліотекарям і читачам, кого цікавить оперативна та об’єктивна інформація про США – історію, культуру, уряд, суспільство та цінності.
Windows on America is an extremely useful project, which makes changes in lives of many common people and provides them with resources that are crucial for their personal and career development. Out of my personal experience, the resource center helped me to reach one of the most vital goals in my life – winning Fulbright Program grant. My hometown is Luhansk, Ukraine. While being in my final year of University studies I decided to apply for the above Program. One of the program requirements was taking the GRE test, needless to say I was completely unfamiliar with it. At the same time, there were certain time constraints regarding the application process, so I was not able to go to the capital of Ukraine or to another bigger city in order to look for a test manual, let alone purchase it online, for back at that time I was not familiar with electronic purchase transactions since they are not widespread in Ukraine. Luckily the Window on America section of Luhansk Regional Universal Scientific Library named after M. Gorky had thee manuals for the GRE test preparation and I was able to use those books and thoroughly prepare for the test. Subsequently I took the test, passed it successfully and was selected as a Fulbright Graduate Student Program finalist. I can say without exaggeration that participation in the above Program is my lifetime dream come true. Thus but for the existence of the Window on America center in my home city and the availability of such resources in the library I would not have been able to get prepared on time and to participate in the Program. I am wholeheartedly thankful to the organizers of the Window on America project and hope that such projects will be more numerous in the future and will keep providing resources to grassroots communities.