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In a couple of month’s time I will be moving to a new job in a new country, learning a new language and experiencing a new culture. So if you were to ask me if my Erasmus experience broadened my horizons, I would very quickly answer no, it hasn’t merely broadened them, it has well and truly changed them forever.
In June this year, I spent five days in the Netherlands for my Erasmus programme and it’s amazing how such a short time can change your whole future. I currently work at the University of Warwick Library where I coordinate the Academic Services’ research and development activities. This involves supporting the development of e-learning resources including videos, tutorials and social networking tools for educational use. As such I spend my time investigating advances in the field, exploring new tools and technologies which could possibly be implemented within our services, and developing our provisions in line with the ever changing expectations of our university community. Although this means I’m always looking at what’s happening elsewhere to make sure that Warwick stays ahead of the game, the Erasmus programme gave me a superb opportunity to get out there and experience this first hand. Not only that but I’m pretty new to the profession so learning from others is incredibly valuable for me and the visit offered me a wonderful chance to do this whilst also experiencing a different country and culture.
During my five day programme I met with colleagues from three universities in the Netherlands (Radboud University, Delft University of Technology and Utrecht University), explored four Dutch cities (Nijmegen, Delft, Utrecht and Amsterdam) and visited a total of six libraries (three public and three academic). During this trip I not only spent time meeting with colleagues to share experiences and ideas, I also work-shadowed some of them, attended a symposium and took the opportunity to present some of the innovative Library developments which I have been involved in at Warwick, to various groups, enabling me to further develop my presentation skills and advocate the work of our university.
I discovered many parallels between my home institution and my hosts’, as well as some differences. Ours is a profession currently in the midst of change due to recent technological advances, an increased focus on learning spaces (not just resources), and pressures to adapt to the evolving needs of university students. It was interesting to find that Dutch libraries were not unlike Warwick, with similar challenges being faced and their responses to them, reassuringly the same as ours. Libraries are aligning their aims more closely with those of their university’s and I was able to both learn and share ideas in this respect. I learnt about new staff development and training methods being implemented to deal with future changes, how departments were working with others across the university and how they were promoting and measuring the success of their initiatives. This has allowed me to report back on the new ideas and activities in place at these institutions so that my managers can take these different approaches and their outcomes to date, and consider how they might be implemented to benefit our own environment.
As well as spending time learning from staff, I was also able to immerse myself into the real culture of the university environment as well as the country more generally. I spent time in the student learning zone, I ate traditional food in the university canteen (yes, I even ended up with pancakes for lunch!), met with academics from the university and was taken to dinner by colleagues. I even stayed at the home of one of my hosts and spent time travelling across the country by train to see a number of different universities, libraries and cities, even hiring a bike and cycling to my destination the Dutch way!
The whole Erasmus experience proved an excellent way of refreshing my thinking and broadened my perspective. It revitalized me, reignited my passion for my work and reassured me that some of the challenges we face on a day to day basis are the same the world over. But what I really took away from my visit was the professionalism of the staff that I was lucky enough to work with and which has led to an established network of international contacts for my department. All the libraries I visited are trying to take their services forward, sometimes against considerable odds. All the staff were keen to enter into debate in order to advance understanding and help us on that collective path, and this is how the Erasmus funding was of greatest value.
Aside from that, I enjoyed my experience in the Netherlands to such an extent, that upon my return I endeavored to explore job opportunities out there so that I could build on my time spent on the Erasmus trip and develop my skills even further whilst spending a longer period learning about the country’s culture and way of life. I’m lucky enough to have this opportunity, as I’ll be starting a new fixed term contract at the University of Leiden in November.
There are some moments in your life that change everything – my Erasmus experience was certainly one of them!
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