Long trip and first day at QUT

Yesterday evening I arrived in Brisbane after a really long trip from Trondheim via Copenhagen and Singapore. The journey went very well, but it also was exhausting since I can't sleep properly on a plane. Anyway I arrived safely and Gill and her husband Dave picked me up at the airport. Gill (Gillian Hallam) and I are on the same IFLA committee and without her support and huge network it wouldn't have been possible to do this study tour. She get me in touch with colleagues from all the university libraries I will be visiting, has always answered my many questions quickly and in addition she offered me to stay in her house while being in Brisbane. Gill and Dave are just marvellous and I am very grateful for their help and hospitality. Thanks so much!!!

This morning Gill drove me to Queensland University of Technology (QUT) where I had a good first day. I met the research support manager Stephanie Bradbury and her team and some time was used to sort out my access card, username and password. Of course the IT system was down for quite a while :-) Reminded me of all the problems we have at NTNU in Trondheim.
I got desk time at the desk they have prepared for me, was introduced to many colleagues working at QUT Library, and I also got to see the nice Gardens Point campus. It is located next to the Brisbane River, the Botanic Gardens and Parliament House and I just like it very much. One building at the campus is the Old Goverment House and we went there for an exhibition opening. This exhibition is a photographic one called To Sir With Love – The Dr Wilton W.R. Love Album and features images of Brisbane and surrounding areas from 1862 through to 1896. The photo album was originally created in 1894 by chemistry students from Brisbane Technical College – a predecessor to QUT - as a gift to their lecturer, Dr Wilton Wood Russell Love, including images of Dr Love, also a prominent Brisbane doctor at the time, with his students from this bygone era. 50 years later the album was bought by a US Naval serviceman, Borivoj Franko-Filipašić, as a souvenir. He donated the album to QUT Library after another 50 years and in 2014 it was digitised. At the opening Borivoj's daughter was present and Borivoj himself (94 years old now) followed the opening via Skype. It was just wonderful to hear this story and see the lovely images. Here you have a poster of this story/exhibition: http://digitalcollections.qut.edu.au/3524/

And here you have some 2014 statistics on QUT:
Student enrolment:  47,229
Full-time students:  31,169
International students: 7,982
Staff: 12,983 (individuals employed in the 2014-2015 financial year)