Radboud University Library, the Netherlands

Radboud University (RU) Library in Nijmegen, the Netherlands is part of a public university with a strong focus on research.

Nijmegen is a city close to the German border. It is the oldest city in the Netherlands, and in 2005 celebrated 2,000 years of existence.

RU is named after Saint Radbod (or Radboud), who was bishop of Utrecht around the year 900 CE.

Among its distinguished faculty was Robert Regout (1896-1942 ), a Dutch Jesuit, lawyer, and resistance fighter during the Second World War. Robert Regout was ordained a priest in the 1920s. He opposed the German Occupation of his homeland during World War II and was arrested and imprisoned in Arnhem, Berlin and Dachau concentration camp, where he was murdered. The Thammasat University Library owns some books about priests who were imprisoned at Dachau concentration camp.

At RU today there are plaques listing the names of war victims, including Robert Regout.

One of the founders of RU was another such heroic priest. Titus Brandsma (1881–1942) was a Dutch Carmelite friar, Catholic priest and professor of philosophy. Father Brandsma also opposed Nazi ideology and was imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp, where he where he was murdered. He has been beatified by the Roman Catholic Church as a martyr of the faith. To be beatified means that the Catholic Church recognizes that a person who has died is now in Heaven and can help those on earth who pray to him or her. The verb beatify is derived from a Latin term meaning blessed.

The rector of RU during wartime was Bernard Hermesdorf. As the RU website explains,

Since January 2019, the Hermesdorf Awards are presented annually to a junior and a senior researcher whose research has had a major social impact. In the tradition of its namesake, the researchers selected have shown some form of courage, have exerted an uncommon level of effort, or have not shied away from resistance. Bernard Hermesdorf was Rector Magnificus of Radboud University during the Second World War. In 1943, Hermesdorf, as the only Rector Magnificus in the Netherlands, closed the University. For reasons of principle, he refused to submit a statement of loyalty with student signatures to the German occupier. He stood firm in difficult times… Since January 2013, the Hermesdorf Prizes have been awarded annually to Radboud University scientists who have been featured in the media in a distinctive way as a result of their own research.

Today, Radboud University is noted for its green campus, often mentioned as one of the most pleasant in the Netherlands.

Among its outstanding faculties are the physics department; Faculty of Law, especially in  research in business and law, European law, and notarial law; as well as political science, sociology, and theology.

Innovative programs

RU sponsors a Radboud Excellence Initiative.

The deadline for the current nominations is 1 May 2020. As its website states:

• The Radboud Excellence Initiative was created with the dual purpose of bringing the most exceptional talents from every academic field to Radboud University while strengthening international bonds between universities worldwide. The Initiative is a joint enterprise of both Radboud University and Radboud University Medical Center.

Who can join the Radboud Excellence Initiative?

• The Radboud Excellence Initiative provides two routes by which a researcher may come to Radboud University.

Fellowship

• Promising researchers may be nominated for a Fellowship provided they completed their doctorate no more than eight years before the moment of nomination.
• Fellows stay at Radboud University for two years and truly become part of the academic community. Fellows conduct their research projects in cutting-edge research teams in cooperation with or under supervision of their nominator.

Professorship

• Researchers who are more established in their discipline may be nominated for a Professorship.
• Professors stay at Radboud University for one to six months. They may split their stay into smaller blocks and spread their time at Radboud University over a longer time period so they can maximise the effeciveness of their collaboration.

Radboud University Library

The vision and mission of the RU Library are as follows:

Vision

In partnership with researchers, university teachers, students and administrators of Radboud University the library delivers services and products that best meet teaching and research needs. The library ensures:

• Sufficient critical mass of academic information by expanding its range of digital sources.
• Storage and visibility of university’s academic research output in Radboud Repository.
• New interactive services in a highly accessible digital library, independent of time and place.
• An integrated and differentiated physical study and information environment.
• A range of training courses in academic communications skills.

Mission

• The University Library lends its support to achieving the quality aims of Radboud University Nijmegen by providing optimum academic information services and a high-quality study environment.

The RU Library’s core values include being

• Reliable

In our time, information is becoming more and more essential and our library can provide you with reliable and academically validated information and material. The high quality of our information and services is always upheld as we innovate the way in which we offer it to you.

• Accessible

Our library offers quick, easy and direct access to academic information. Our excellent knowledge of various academic disciplines enables us to respond effectively to the needs of our users. We also understand where our users are coming from and what they need, both digitally as well as in the physical library.

• Proactive

The world is constantly changing. Our library looks ahead and responds to the changing needs of our users. In other words, we continually develop new services and alter existing ones. We do not do this independently but together with our target audiences. This guarantees we are able to continually offer topnotch services.

• Connective

Our library not only offers students and academic staff members access to academic information but also a place to connect with one another. We offer a learning environment that encourages academic growth, in-depth contemplation and a mutual exchange of knowledge.

The Director of Radboud University Library is Professor Natalia Grygierczyk. Professor Grygierczyk earned a master of arts degree in Russian Language and Culture at Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Open Access Radboud University Press

Last year, RU Library announced plans to establish its own academic publishing house. The Open Access Radboud University Press will be investigated in the coming year.

The goal would be to provide freely accessible, cheaper publications to students and instructors. Professor Grygierczyk was quoted in an online publication: We will not need to make profits the way a commercial publishing house does. Open-access publishers also charge fees, which are not always in proportion to the costs actually incurred.

The Open Access Radboud University Press would follow the example of the University College London (UCL) Press, the United Kingdom’s first fully open access university press.

The RU Library already supports the linguistics Open Access platform LingOA.

As part of the open access initiative, the RU Library has launched a pilot program ensuring that publications by Nijmegen researchers are available for download after six months, regardless of any contractual agreements with journals.

In 2015, Professor Grygierczyk has also co-authored a LingOA presentation, A Fair Open Access Publishing Model at a conference on Alternative Open Access Publishing Models: Exploring New Territories in Scholarly Communication in Brussels, Belgium.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)