Virginija Pleskienė, head of the library of the Faculty of Arts and Creative Technologies, on November 6-10 participated in the International Staff Training Week, within the framework of the Erasmus+ program at the Karadeniz Technical University (hereinafter – KTÜ) in the city of Trabzon, Turkey.
Trabzon, located on the Black Sea, flourished from Antiquity to the end of the Ottoman Empire era, and was an important Silk Road point during Byzantine times. Being over a thousand kilometers away from Istanbul, Trabzon is not yet well known to both Lithuanians and other Europeans. Therefore, the KTÜ International Relations Department organizes a staff training week twice a year in order to popularize the university as widely as possible.
And KTÜ, established in 1955, really has a lot to brag about. KTÜ student campus can be called not a campus, but a real city, because it is a huge territory with all possible infrastructure necessary for learning and living: from 12 faculty buildings and dormitories to canteens and cafes, from a hotel, post office, bank to residences for teachers.
The 28 International Training Week participants from 18 universities prepared presentations about their academic institutions and study programs. The International Week exhibition – fair, where participants presented their country, academic institutions and answered questions about opportunities to study at their universities attracted a lot of interest from both KTÜ students and employees. Participants got acquainted with the history, structure and ongoing programs of KTÜ. The rich cultural and social program allowed a deeper acquaintance with Turkish traditions, art, language and food.
V. Pleskienė visited the KTÜ library and the oldest Beyazit library. With about 50 employees, the KTÜ library serves 32,000 students and over 5000 lectors and staff members. It is located in a building specially built for a library, with comfortable workplaces in spacious reading rooms. In the KTÜ library especial attention is paid to electronic resources, more than 80 databases are ordered. The library staff shared their thoughts on digitization issues, students training process organizing and services for lectors.
V. Pleskienė returned from Trabzon having broadened her cultural horizons, deepened her professional knowledge and with warm memories of Turkish hospitality.
