Students looking for an alternative approach to papers or presentations may want to check out the International Resource Center (IRC), located in Room 6 of Hamilton Hall

The center houses “culture kits,” boxes which are labeled with the name of a specific country and contain items related to the culture of that country.

More than 200 countries are represented at the IRC, as well as many multicultural kits, including items such as games, clothing, books, cooking utensils, recipes and articles about the country.

“The IRC is Iowa State’s best kept secret, even though it’s used quite extensively,” said Wendy Henerlan, secretary at the IRC.

Some of the kits are more complete than others, because of the difficulty in obtaining items from foreign countries.

“We try to avoid politics and use daily life and culture as the focus of the kits; we try to counteract the negative images usually seen from the news about some countries,” said Ruth Osborn, IRC Program Assistant.”We would like to build international understanding and appreciation of other cultures so people can find things in common with people of other cultures.”

Roughly 65 percent of the IRC’s use is by students, faculty and staff, Osborn said.

The kits are used in a wide variety of ways. Some are used for props in plays, diversity days on campus, church research on a country for missions, theme dinners at greek houses and language classes at ISU, as well as in preschools and senior citizen centers.

“Hands-on items appeal to all ages as a way to increase understanding about a topic,” Osborn said.

To obtain the information that goes into the kits, the IRC subscribes to a background notes service at the U. S. Department of State, which updates notes on each country every time there is a change, and then sends them out to the IRC.

A large portion of the kits’ contents are donated to the IRC from people who have lived or traveled around the country.

International students also donate things from their home countries.

Many times the international student clubs will improve a kit as a project, Osborn said.

Monetary donations come from the ISU Foundation and alumni members who specify they want their donation to be used at the IRC.

The IRC also has people who travel abroad to scout out items.

When they find something, they buy it and add it to that country’s kit.

Then, the IRC reimburses people for the items, Osborn said.