Meet the new Cultural Team Leader
Tim Zijlstra recently joined us as Cultural Team Lead and we’re delighted to share his introduction with you.
“Hi all, it is a pleasure to introduce myself to all of you. The first obvious question: It’s a Dutch surname, Frisian in fact, pronounced ‘sile-strah’. With that out of the way, a bit about me.
Last August I took on the role of Cultural Team Leader, looking after the Libraries, Museums and Archives in Angus. My track-record is broad and varied, I’ve worked in school, public, academic and health libraries (NHS Tayside) before joining ANGUSalive.
I still consider myself an academic, having taught many classes in Library and Information Management at Sheffield, Loughborough and later Academic Skills at Derby. I am still carrying out a variety of research projects, from AI and societal impact to better understanding how Public Libraries can close the digital divide. I achieved my PhD at Loughborough, looking into informal learning in academic libraries.
During my time at NHS Tayside, I set up a project called Opposite Ends of the Tay, a pilot approach to bringing health and wellbeing initiatives with an innovative character into Arbroath, Dundee Central and Aberfeldy libraries. When the role for Cultural Team Leader came up, I knew it would be a chance to bring this vision to life more directly, I also live in lovely Friockheim with my wife Sandra and our two Clumber Spaniels, so location wise Angus is perfect.
The driver for me is in ‘Building Community’, whether that is through reading, art, activities or providing timely information at the right time, building our communities in this age of mis- and dis-information has become ever more important. Overseeing our fantastic cultural services provides me with a platform to help Angus achieve that. Health and wellbeing isn’t just about being active in a gym or a pool, it is also about connecting with your community, having a chance to make friends, or just de-stress with a good book.
On that note, a book recommendation (useless to you unfortunately, because it was only published in Dutch): Kieft. A biography written by the brilliant Michel van Egmond. Wim Kieft was a great Dutch striker (football…), but after his career, he fell off a cliff. His ‘tidiness’ and ‘attention to detail’ turned out to be undiagnosed OCD and his ‘energy’ was ADHD, to fight that constant nagging he nearly drank himself to death. The book chronicles his journey and ends on a positive.
Wim Kieft found pleasure again, the small things in life, reading, watching Love Island, going to a musical with his wife. All too often we forget to find joy in the little things and become overwhelmed with the big things. Remember to keep searching for those little moments of joy and remember that we, as ANGUSalive, facilitate millions of those little moments.”