Tampereen yliopiston kirjasto sai jälleen ottaa vastaan kollegoita Namibian yliopiston kirjastosta osana HEI ICI –hankkeen yhteistyötä. Tamperelaiset vierailivat huhtikuussa vetämässä koulutusseminaaria Windhoekissa, ja Laimi Iyambo, Edwin Tjazerua ja Irmela Buchholz matkustivat puolestaan Namibiasta Suomeen tutustumaan työskentelyyn Helsingin ja Tampereen yliopiston kirjastoissa. Heidät oli valittu vierailijoiksi Namibian yliopiston kirjaston sisäisen hakuprosessin kautta. Jokaiselle laadittiin oma perehtymisohjelma, jossa huomioitiin heidän työtehtävänsä Namibiassa, hakemuksessa mainitut osaamisalueet ja niiden kehittäminen.
Laimi Iyambo
Opettajankoulutuksen kampuskirjastossa työskentelevä Laimi Iyambo arvostaa vierailuviikkoina saamaansa kokemusta:
“I have gained valuable insight into my personal development and my work. I was able to observe and learn numerous aspects from establishing faculty librarian relations, selection of library materials, collection management, information literacy, acquisition of both print and e-resources, processing of new materials to making the library visible and memorable in the life of students.
The Tampere Library staff was most responsive to my questions and always made me feel like a full-time member of your library. Our meetings were extremely useful and provided me with insightful constructive criticism of work.”
Edwin Tjazerua
Edwin Tjazerua tutustui Tampereen yliopiston kirjastossa omaan työalueensa kysymyksiin yhdessä kirjaston ATK-palveluiden asiantuntijoiden kanssa.
Irmela Buchholz vastaa Namibian yliopiston kirjastossa hankinnasta, luetteloinnista ja lehdistä, ja terveisinään hän listaa Suomen vierailulla opittua:
”What did I learn?
- that library buildings are inviting and places that one wants to go to
- that a lot of the work is done in the for users invisible background
- that information literacy is an integral part of librarians’ duties
- that a lot of former shelf space is now dedicated for student workspace
- that job tasks have to be re-assessed because of the shift to increased electronic access of information
- that it is important to make statistics of everything
- how collection mapping is working and that it is not working at all if the above mentioned is not done
- how to co-write an article with a wonderful person like Merja (Hyödynmaa)
- that it is acceptable to have cafeterias inside library buildings without having the whole collection destroyed by greasy fingers and spilled coffee
- that Finnish librarians are extremely friendly and helpful
- that everybody excused their bad English and there was nobody I could not understand
- that sun is as important in Finland than rain is in Namibia. And much, much more…
I want to thank all those colleagues that took time to show me around and explain topics and the rest of them that always greeted me kindly in the corridors so that I later felt part of the staff establishment.”
Irmela Buchholz
Teksti ja kuvat: Outi Viitasalo
