Innovation Through Internationalisation: Barriers for going abroad and actions to overcome them

International exchange brings new knowledge, shows new perspectives, promotes professional development and is inspiring. Going abroad on work placements or study tours will broaden our minds both professionally and personally. We even claim it is necessary if libraries and librarians want to be innovative and meet the constantly increasing demands. Unfortunately only a few staff members of the NTNU University Library use the opportunities of travelling to other countries and learning from other libraries. Why is that so? There seems to be various reasons for this but nobody has examined them. But knowing the reasons is essential for proposing actions to facilitate international professional exchanges. We therefore initiated a survey among all library staff members. This study will document opportunities for international exchange and work placements and identify how they are used. The main purpose is to explore the barriers for such exchanges. Based on these findings we will suggest activities that encourage educational visits abroad as well as recommend an action plan to overcome the barriers. By presenting the survey results and discussing specific proposals in a poster session we hope to meet colleagues from other countries, get to know about their practices and share experiences.