University libraries traditionally provide information for students’ studies and research. However, there is also an increasing demand for the library to serve as a community space offering interactivity and inspiration.

The project Book of Your Life (BoYL) was launched at Eötvös Loránd University on the 1^st of March. The staff members of the University Library and Archives, the ELTE Students’ Union, and the Rector’s Cabinet strive to create a venue and related programmes with the involvement of students. The project aims to promote the cultural inclusion of international students visiting ELTE and to encourage acceptance and tolerance among domestic and international students.

“I am extremely happy that the project focusing on international students establishes a new framework in which the library can support the students with the most efficient services possible while catering to their personal needs,” said Annamária Kulcsár Szabó, director general of the ELTE University Library and Archives, in her welcome speech.

In her thought-provoking presentation entitled Intercultural Encounters – Cultural Bonding: Creating Inclusive and Innovative Spaces for the Future, Orsolya Endrődy, assistant professor at the ELTE Institute for Intercultural Psychology and Education, gave numerous examples to illustrate how spaces designed along artistic and creative lines may be suitable for forming cultural connections. She also drew attention to the experiences of the STROLL project implemented with the involvement of students, which may also be utilised in BoYL.

The methodological elements, future events, and objectives of the BoYL project were demonstrated by Szilvia Szöllősi, head of the University Strategy Office (and the entire presentation can be accessed here). She told the audience that

in addition to the cultural and social events designed for the community space, there will be online activities.

The campaign in which students can vote for their favourite books has been launched recently on the social media platforms of ELTE.

In the second half of the event, the BoYL team invited ELTE’s international student ambassadors to brainstorm together, as they have a major role in making international students feel at home at the university. The main topic of the conversation was the experiences of international students regarding the extent they consider the university spaces to be theirs (both on the physical and interpersonal levels), and what changes could be made to render these spaces even more inviting.

According to the ambassadors, the university environment is fundamentally open and inclusive, but language barriers still represent a problem. The contributors raised many inspiring ideas that could be used in the BoYL project. They confirmed that artistic and cultural programmes can form a real bridge between domestic and international students. The discussion was moderated by Eszter Knyihár, head of the International Strategy Office.