My first EAHIL 2024 was kicked off with a…

Nadine Jetten,  Information specialist, Utrecht University Library, Utrecht University, Netherlands.

My first EAHIL 2024 was kicked off with a CEC workshop introducing me to efficient ways to approach systematic literature searching. Showing up at the wrong location for the first workshop is very inconvenient to say the least, though the 45-minute walk turned out to be a very nice surprise. Compliments to the organization committee choosing Riga as a host city, what a beautiful place it is!

Amidst skulls and glass bottles filled with tissues in formalin, EAHIL first timers were introduced to the EAHIL board and to each other with games, drinks and excellent food in the Anatomy Museum of Riga. This introduction made the first day of the conference easy to connect with other visitors. I met people from Italy, Wales, The Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland.

For my first workshop I ‘traveled’ to Belgium, where two enthusiastic hosts from KU Leuven presented their brilliant “research survival game”. This was a very fun and interactive session focusing on “open access publishing” and “data research management”. The game is a very helpful tool to actively get the discussion between researchers going. Truly inspiring and – in the spirit of Open Science – freely available on Zenodo!

Choosing between available workshops, parallel sessions and taking enough time for good conversations with sponsors felt like an impossible assignment. I consoled myself with the thought I couldn’t have made a wrong choice as all items in the program were interesting, still slightly repressing my fear of missing out. Luckily every attendant was willing to share their experiences of the day during the social events, which were a true delight to attend as well. For me personally, this was actually the highlight of EAHIL which I never will forget: the interactions with fellow librarians, the conference hosts and the enthusiastic sponsors. I’ve made connections for life, I’m very certain. I always knew that librarians were the nicest of people but did not expect it to be a global phenomenon.