Last year I had a brief keynote (here is the blog that I wrote about it) at TU Delft Library during Open Education Week. In the meantime I started as Director General of KB | The National Library. There is much that I learned about us as National Library. It is a wonderful place to be and to work for. And how do I stand in the things I put forward one year ago?

Open because knowledge needs to flow

Well it will not come as a surprise that I still plea for an open world. Where it is also true that “our levels of openness and empathy are more likely to grow when we feel secure” (see the Trends Shaping Education report from OECD). And when we do not feel secure or perhaps doubt what might happen when opening up our research data, scientific results or educational resources, we build digital fences. And yes it is true that we should not be too naïve, but it is also true that knowledge should flow as much as possible, to be able to solve great challenges of this time.

We need critically thinking citizens

I read the key findings of the High-level Conference about the Perspectives of Academic Freedom (see this report), where the link is made between academic freedom, democracy and competitiveness. “Universities, policy makers and civil society must work together to ensure that higher education remains a space for free thought & democratic engagement”. And at the same page I read about the Working Group for the European Space for Citizenship Education (ESCE: meeting for the first time on 17 and 18 February 2025). Focus of this meeting was on (1) Codification of principles of quality citizenship education, (2) Accountability and quality assurance and (3) Cooperation, laying the groundwork for a more engaged and cohesive European society. The ESCE ensures that Europe’s democratic future is built on a solid foundation of informal, engaged and critically thinking citizens.

Open Education can help - all necessary skills complement each other

And that is, for me, the logical connection between the plea for open & education. It is, I should say surely now, education that can help. “To support effective listening and the negotiation of different world views”, as the OECD report states. To have education that fosters “a culture of responsible digital citizenship that balances freedom of expression with the need for accurate and respectful discourse”. And that is also important for us libraries. Where education should address “both set of skills (numeracy, literacy ánd critical thinking, media literacy) in a way that complements rather than compromises one for the other.

The Union of Skills

In the consultation to develop a Union of Skills, it is stated that we lack skills in the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) fields. On 5 February 2025 Neth-ER together with the Dutch MBO Council, UNL and the VH (all tertiary education) organised a workshop (in Dutch) on the Union of Skills. The participants concluded that both professional and personal competences are very important. The workshop also connected to life-long learning.

image Picture from: https://education.ec.europa.eu/focus-topics/digital-education/action-plan/european-digital-education-hub.

Truth needs time

And I must say that we need to realise that life-long learning does not (and should not) only take place within tertiary education schools. Is it a coincidence that I read in one of our national newspapers (De Volkskrant) on 22 February 2025 two reviews. One was about the book by Irene Vallejo and about the love for reading. In the article it is mentioned that she refers to Tacitus in her book. Where he says that “truth needs time, research and delay and that lies are fuelled by the moment, the instinctive”. So Vallejo argues that books help readers to pay attention and think. “And they do not offer prejudices; but a way to look at other realities and viewpoints.”

We all count

And even more suitable was the review about the book by Thomas Piketty and Michael Sandel (“Equality: What It Means and Why It Matters”). They argue for a public debate with more value judgements on usefulness and uselessness of people’s social contributions. Finally, to return with this to the discussion on skills. We need to temper the ‘individual performance-based megalomania’ of academics.

Uniting schools and libraries: having an open mind

Where I earlier thought that we should connect the worlds of open, because teaching & learning, research, and public community service are not separate pillars, but are strongly connected, I now plea that we should also unite (the support of) learning for skills. A library is a true “accountable space”, and as I also mentioned last year we do need safe spaces for deliberations where a diversity of publics and their problems can be heard. So I hope that we will connect all sort of schools (primary, secondary and tertiary) and all sorts of libraries where formal and informal learners and learning meet. To complement each other in a world where we all learn to have open minds, listen carefully to one another and think critically.