Designed to Inspire: A One-Year International Exchange of Academic Librarians

Abstract

This paper, based on an exchange of librarians between academic libraries in Canada and Australia, describes the process of planning for and participating in an international job exchange. It highlights the benefits of the exchange and lessons learned from it and reflects on the opportunities for career development and renewal afforded by such a swap. This experience will be contextualized within the continuum of literature on library exchanges. By describing our successful exchange process, the authors aim to encourage more library staff exchanges.

Supporting the best: Professional development in academic libraries

“…The librarians were able to use their experiences to share innovative ideas for making useful organizational and service changes (Eichenlaub et al, 2019).…”

Becoming a global library at the local: internationalization activities and practices of Philippine academic libraries

“…Respondents believe that the logistics internationalization are challenging to manage due to their limited human resources. For instance, the international exchange of personnel requires a lot of initiative and perseverance in planning (Eichenlaub et al, 2019). Additionally, respondents identified personal attitudes and library employees' discomfort regarding cultural and social differences, as well as cultural mismatches between international students and library staff, as problems of internationalization.…”

“…Respondents believe that the logistics of internationalization are challenging to manage due to their limited human resources. For instance, the international exchange of personnel requires a lot of initiative and perseverance in planning (Eichenlaub et al. , 2019).…”

“…Bordonaro's (2013) survey presents the several benefits of library internationalization, including broadening the knowledge of academic librarians, expanding the cultural perspectives of librarians, providing personal satisfaction to librarians, enhancing library services and collections, making the university more diversified and vibrant and strengthening the dissemination of knowledge across borders. Additionally, Eichenlaub et al (2019) state that the international exchange of jobs for librarians offers an opportunity to discover the world in a meaningful way. Librarians are immersed in the culture of the host country and the local community, enabling them to expand their understanding of other cultures and values.…”