TRAINEES STORIES: ANGELIKI GIANOPOULOU – WBL BIBLIO PROJECT

Our greatest success is the feeling of accomplishment our trainees feel. But let’s hear it from them!
This is Angeliki Gianopoulou talking about her experience attending the CECO (Community Engagement and Communication Officer) training course, from Greece at University of Patras library.
In the next following weeks, we will get to know other trainees from all around Europe, make sure to follow us!
  1. Why did you decide to take part in the BIBLIO course?

I have been searching for a long time for an opportunity to enhance my skills. I have finished my bachelor and postgraduate studies some years ago and I quickly realized that recent developments in my scientific field would make my knowledge obsolete. It was time that I decided to become more active in the process of enriching my educational background. At the same time, I realized that my participation in such a program would have made me more efficient. I think that in the future I will always search for such opportunities. Our educational needs will continue to exist in the future.

  1. What change do you want to make in your library?

I think that change in my way of thinking will also affect the change in the way I work. In this way I will try to bring innovation into my work environment, and at the same time I will mobilise my colleagues in this direction. Achieving innovation is difficult, but I believe that as long as there is a human capital with up-to-date knowledge, it can change the culture of the organization. Knowledge changes the future not only of the employees but the future of the whole organization.

  1. Tell us more about the work-based learning – how does it work, what do you expect from it, how do you work with your mentor?

What I like about this process is the constant communication with both my colleagues and my mentor. During the learning process, questions are created and it is important to automatically give answers both from someone who knows, and from someone who has experienced something similar. I consider important not only the presence of the mentors in the program, but also the library community, as it is this that transfers problems and experiences to the program. Practical teaching is also very important, since what we learn does not remain issues that we examine only theoretically. Overall I think the program is structured adequately to meet all the needs of the participants. It is important for me to have a clear picture of the librarianship aspects approaching them both theoretically and practically.

  1. What is, in your view, the future role of libraries?

Libraries have long ceased to deal exclusively with the management of books and in general with the management of printed materials. Additionally, libraries are now and will become even more multidimensional in the future. They should communicate the information directly to their audience, while at the same time they should fight against fake news. At the same time, they should be in the foreground regarding open access. Libraries are the ones who will democratize information and will make it available to their public freely. I would like through my library to work in the future in this direction and provide content that is both reliable and free.

  1. If you have to explain to people in one sentence why they should come to the library and what they will find there, what would you say?

Libraries are not just collections, but they are places where services are born.