Skip to main content

European librarians praise MU libraries and their approach to students

Before the start of the semester, Masaryk University welcomed a total of 15 librarians from several European universities who came to Brno for a one-week course organised by MU libraries.

The University Campus Library welcomed participants from many parts of Europe, namely Austria, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden

Since 2013, MU libraries have been organising the MUST Week (Masaryk University Staff Training Week), which focuses on providing services in the field of information education, support for science and research and Open Science. This year’s main organiser was the University Campus Library, which welcomed participants from many parts of Europe, namely Austria, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Read on to find out what the participants liked most about the programme and what they were most excited about.

Damien Belveze, France, University of Rennes

It was my first time at Staff Week and it was a great experience. We had a very interesting week-long programme; everything was well organised and perfectly balanced so we also had plenty of free time to explore Brno. Thanks to this I was able to see more of the city where our exchange students go for their Erasmus.

The content of the training was very useful. We are dealing with similar issues in Rennes, so I am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn about MU’s experience and also to meet colleagues from other European universities. Our discussions were very enriching. I was also very impressed by the modern and beautiful campus facilities and the local library. It must be a pleasure to study there. I was also very surprised at how technically skilled the MU librarians are and how closely they work with the IT staff. One shouldn’t take that for granted.

Lucyna Dąbrowska, Poland, Warsaw University of Life Sciences

I enjoyed my week at MU from beginning to end. I learned a lot of new things and I am very grateful for the opportunity to learn from others.

It was interesting to compare how different our library systems are – while at our university we have a central library for the whole university, here each faculty has its own. And they're really wonderful places. I really liked the modern library on campus and the beautiful library of the Faculty of Arts, which is housed in a spectacular building surrounded by greenery. Amazing place, one of the nicest libraries I've ever visited.

I am also excited about the large number of activities and workshops that your libraries organise, such as those aimed at developing students’ information literacy. We don’t do this at all at our university and I would like to introduce this practice there. The lecture on Open Science was also very useful. You are very advanced in this area at MU and I was glad to learn about your experience because we are at the very beginning and we are just building the department. So the whole week was very inspiring for me.

Christian Kieslinger, Austria, St. Pölten University of Applied Science

This was my fourth time at the library staff week and I must say that it was one of the best. It is obvious that Masaryk University is ahead in many areas and I am very grateful that it is passing on its experience so that other universities and libraries can benefit from it.

I’ve been to Brno five times, I come here regularly thanks to our long-standing inter-university cooperation. And I always love coming back to the city, it’s such a great place to study. Plus, you have great beer in an endless variety. So I always look forward to my trips to the Czech Republic.

Àngels Carles-Pomar, Španělsko, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

I’ve been to several international library training courses, for example in Berlin, Lisbon, Vilnius or Edinburgh, and I always take away a lot of useful information.

In particular, I came away from MU with very useful insights into Open Access, which has been a hot topic in recent years. You have come a long way in this area and I am very grateful to share your experience and discuss it with other colleagues from European universities.

It’s rare that you get to meet so many international colleagues in one week and hear a lot of interesting presentations from them on a variety of topics, such as data management, so I’m very glad I attended Staff Week. And I’ve also taken away a lot of practical things from MU – for example, following the example of your campus library, we’re going to introduce blankets in our own library, which our students will definitely appreciate in the context of the energy crisis, because in winter it’s only about 19 degrees there.

Maria Tsioutsiou, Greece, University of Thessaly

I attended the third international training course for librarians and I must say it was the best. Everything was well organised, I learnt a lot of new and interesting information, and most of all I was impressed by your libraries.

You have beautiful, well-lit, modern spaces, so it’s a very pleasant environment in which to study. I’m also surprised that the faculty libraries stay open until the evening. We close around 6 pm, so our students have to go somewhere else to study.

I also really liked how the libraries have built seminar rooms where students can work in teams on group assignments without disturbing others. I envy you and I'm sure our students would like to have something like that in our library – because they always have to find other places to study.

Giovanna Frigimelica, Italy, University of Cagliari

I have worked in university libraries for many years and the international librarian training at MU was exactly what I needed. We had an amazing group where we shared experiences and I also learnt a lot of new useful information about Open Access.

I also found it very inspiring to visit the libraries on campus and at the faculties of education and arts. They are beautiful and modern. What I liked most, however, was their unique and welcoming approach to students. I was impressed with the lending of headphones, blankets and free coffee and tea. We need to introduce this here at the University of Cagliari, it will make students feel welcome and at home in the library.