Turkey: Virtual library brings students together amid virus

As the novel coronavirus pandemic brought university campuses to a standstill, a group of Turkish students launched a virtual library to continue to help each other despite being isolated in their homes.

Four students across different disciplines started the initiative and shared the idea. Soon, the library had begun to attract visitors from Turkey, the U.K., Germany and others.

One of the masterminds behind the project, Ahmet Bahaddin Ersöz, is a PhD student at Middle East Technical University in the Turkish capital Ankara and was struck by the news that Turkey would be completely shutting down universities as part of its measures against the virus.

"As graduate students, we are so used to working at libraries, study rooms and offices. Most of us don't have experience of working at home for such a long time. Since we can't meet our friends to study together, we were feeling quite lonely. Most importantly, we needed to feel like we weren't alone in having difficulty in concentrating," he said.

Upon learning that universities would remain closed until the end of the semester, the group together came up with the idea of setting up the virtual library.

Video-conferencing

Coming across study videos on Youtube, the group decided to carry this to their virtual platform, inviting their colleagues and friends and create a study-friendly atmosphere.

"We tested the current video-conference software and prepared a live broadcast platform. We wanted participants to join, open their cameras, see 20-25 people working at the same time and feel motivated by this. We shared the idea with our friends first, then it spread through a larger group," said Yasin Göktaş, another organizer and master's student at Swansea...