Meet the Expert | Jos Damen
Jos Damen is the Head of the Library and ICT at the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL). After 17 years in this role, he is retiring soon. As he reflects on his journey, he shares his passion for preserving heritage and ensuring it remains meaningful and accessible. LeidenGlobal spoke with him about his work and his hopes for the future.
In 2006 he was looking for a new challenge and applied for this job at ASCL. He barely knew anyone there, but he liked the independent position of the institute, research and library. He was very honest when applying for this job about his limited knowledge of Africa. Previously, he had studied Dutch Language and Literature in Leiden and worked as a high school teacher, as a journalist, in the military and at Leiden University’s library. His lack of knowledge about Africa did not stop him from getting the job, as he did know a lot about libraries, finances, management and ICT.
Jos Damen loves Africa and he is passionate about making African knowledge more accessible to a wider audience. During his time at ASCL, he focused on three key areas that he is very proud of. The first thing is organising acquisition trips for the library staff to go to Africa and buy hundreds of books to bring back. He thinks it’s important to do this to get information directly from Africa, as to hear Africa’s voice more clearly. Secondly, he was eager to build a good digital library. Even though he loves paper books, it is important to provide people with what they want. In this case, a digital library makes a lot of information more accessible to many, especially students. Third is the collection of films which is available at the African Library. The ASCL often organises film nights for students and staff.
Looking back on his career at the African Studies Centre, he always loved teaching students about sources and information. He gave me a banknote of 50 Namibian dollars, featuring Kaptein Hendrik Witbooi, which he used in his lessons. He would ask students to find Witbooi’s birthdate by using Wikipedia or an encyclopaedia. The answers students found varied from 1815 to 1840. He asked them why they all found different results, and why are these numbers all rounded off? This exercise taught students that information isn’t always reliable and must be fact-checked. He believes that science relies on past knowledge, so it’s important to make sure the information is correct.
Jos Damen says that the African Library doesn’t collect books for them to gather dust, but to preserve heritage and to be able to do something with it. What he likes about LeidenGlobal is that it connects research and knowledge to society. Even though financially challenging times are coming for the education sector, he believes that the amount of knowledge that exists in Leiden on a vast amount of topics is important to share with the world.
He wants to be remembered as someone with a heart for the Africa & information: he loves it when people are enthusiastic about a topic and feel that they can make a change in the world. He says the role of Africa will become more important in the coming decades because of the significant population growth and availability of resources. He hopes that the African Studies Centre and its library can help shape this change. He knows it’s going to be difficult, but he loves challenges.
Interview by LeidenGlobal Intern Ilse Zwart
March 2025
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