Today was the last day of classes. We tried to wrap up reflections and share what we have done. Tonight I wanted to learn what others have done with the European Network of Open Education Librarians (ENOEL) which is part of SPARC Europe’s. The session entitled “Open Education Academic Librarians at Work in Europe: Building Capacity with Peers” was presented by a panel. They shared their experience as academic librarians building capacity to “make open education the default.” The network has eighty-five members from twenty-four countries. Paola Corti, the community manager from SPARC Europe, shared the history of the network and their mission. Monique Schoutsen from Radboud University was in one of the first cohorts and spoke about their involvement in the network and how the community helped them share resources. Corti mentioned that all their recordings of webinars are shared on their YouTube channel. I want to check it out and learn what the webinars are about! Kris Meen is an assistant librarian and described the interviews with librarians they have conducted with open education champions. In addition to the video, a “web text” version is shared too. Meen talked about the light editing they do of the interviews to include intros, outros, and subtitles. They want to interview open education champions from as many European countries as they can. Martha Bustillo from the University College Dublin in Ireland described joining the network and contributing to something they care “passionately about.” Bustillo worked with colleagues on the call to decide on areas that librarians want to get into and recover documents to share. They described the materials they reviewed and the wealth of information from the United States. Bustillo wants all librarians to start taking the resources and adapting them to reflect the requirements of the European diversity context. Celine Peignen from TUS:MM explained how resources are created. Peignen and Caorti shared some of the ways they have shared resources and how to improve resources. They meet online on Mondays at noon, and Corti explained why they record and the differences in time zones. Some challenges I had not thought about were English as a second language and the busy and unpredictable day job schedules. They are all passionate and believe in the goals of the network, yet often other tasks take priority. European copyright details are another challenge, and the group looks for expert input. They also request volunteers to help translate resources. I find the translation of resources a challenge I would like to have an opportunity to help with… it may also be a neat way of connecting countries and students. The ENOEL seems to have experience with multiple languages and partners. I’ll now know what network to search for Open Education Resources in Europe.
