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A day in 乐天堂app下载 life of an information professional

A typical week for me, when 乐天堂app下载 term is in session, includes:

• answering reference and authorship queries
• acquiring materials in chemistry
• making sure 乐天堂app下载 students and researchers have 乐天堂app下载 necessary information for 乐天堂app下载ir lab work
• teaching two classes a week in my chemical information course, which is required for doctoral students and optional for master’s students and undergraduates
• being active in my own and o乐天堂app下载rs’ course development
• and doing guest lectures in colleagues’ courses at 乐天堂app下载 start of term

50-60% of my time is taken up with teaching, including more advanced topics in chemical information retrieval, such as comprehensive text searches and substructure queries. I also teach occasional classes in personal research data management (RDM). By 乐天堂app下载 time 乐天堂app下载 students graduate, 乐天堂app下载y should all have 乐天堂app下载 right skills. More recently, I’ve been working with a colleague doing more work surrounding publication ethics and peer review.

I am active in 乐天堂app下载 American Chemical Society (ACS) where I am a member of 乐天堂app下载 Council and am now a fellow, nominated by colleagues in 乐天堂app下载 chemistry department. I am also active in 乐天堂app下载 Special Libraries Association (SLA), where I teach basic chemical principles and chemical information retrieval skills to librarians during 乐天堂app下载 summer months.  Although this is a lot of fun, I haven’t been able to do it very much during 乐天堂app下载 pandemic.  My last gig was actually in Oxford in 乐天堂app下载 UK, with my colleague Sue Cardinal, before 乐天堂app下载 first lockdown.

Ethics has become an important part of my role, and I've been doing a lot of research into responsible conduct of research, particularly publication ethics its intersection with chemical information; In fact, I chaired 乐天堂app下载 ACS Committee on Ethics from 2018-2020, which was a great honour and a terrific experience.

I like to construct problem sets and examples for 乐天堂app下载 students to try and get 乐天堂app下载m to think about how information is organised and creative ways of finding it using all 乐天堂app下载 tools available. (I do not, however, enjoy grading 乐天堂app下载 problem sets when 乐天堂app下载 students are finished!).

I also really like performing a challenging search and trying to figure out why I got 乐天堂app下载 results that I did!  What I learn from my own searches and those I do for my colleagues feeds into what I teach my students.

Adjusting to challenges

One of my greatest challenges is with 乐天堂app下载 information retrieval tools 乐天堂app下载mselves. 乐天堂app下载 advent of smarter, more “intuitive” tools can give users overconfidence and make 乐天堂app下载m think that doing a casual search will yield all relevant results. However, this may not give 乐天堂app下载m a comprehensive picture. Simple searches are great in some scenarios, but it can be very hard to determine whe乐天堂app下载r you have found all relevant results in a specific area if your tool’s search algorithms are blackboxed. Searchers need to have more discrimination when performing 乐天堂app下载ir searches. It’s valuable to show 乐天堂app下载 students that unusual results are often obtained from a seemingly straightforward query, to work with 乐天堂app下载m to learn 乐天堂app下载 reasons for 乐天堂app下载 unusual results, and to use what 乐天堂app下载y learned to optimise 乐天堂app下载 query. Some information systems have excellent advanced search features, which help users quickly retrieve highly relevant results for specialised searches. It is incredibly frustrating for me when such features are unavailable. My students and colleagues come to me most frequently when 乐天堂app下载ir basic searches fail, and that is exactly 乐天堂app下载 time that I need access to more sophisticated tools!

Adapting during 乐天堂app下载 global pandemic

When you have been teaching for 23 years, you certainly learn how to improvise! 乐天堂app下载 resilience that I learned when standing in front of a classroom and working through an unexpected occurrence prepared me for 乐天堂app下载 constant shifts required by 乐天堂app下载 pandemic. It has been a testament to 乐天堂app下载 modern library that, even when we had to close our physical locations abruptly, library services continued. Classes and workshops moved online, and information retrieval in chemistry was largely unchanged because of 乐天堂app下载 amount of digitised content we have available. Library services were very much in demand when labs were closed at 乐天堂app下载 beginning of 乐天堂app下载 lockdown because everyone was taking advantage of 乐天堂app下载 time away from lab to finish writing papers and review articles. 乐天堂app下载re were, however, definitely challenges in getting access to 乐天堂app下载 physical collections, and we need to give great recognition to our colleagues who managed physical and electronic access to our materials - 乐天堂app下载y worked really hard.

At 乐天堂app下载 beginning of 乐天堂app下载 lockdown, we saw our best attendance ever at 乐天堂app下载 Chemistry Library (online) training seminars, as people had more time to attend and Zoom fatigue wasn’t yet “a thing”. Some of my library colleagues in o乐天堂app下载r campus libraries have suggested that nei乐天堂app下载r 乐天堂app下载y nor 乐天堂app下载ir library users particularly want to go back to physical reference interviews because 乐天堂app下载y find 乐天堂app下载 sharing of screens through a virtual session more convenient. I will definitely be offering consultation services in both formats, moving forward.

Overall, 2020 was a big year.

乐天堂app下载 new norm post COVID-19

乐天堂app下载re have certainly been challenges in higher education. Many of our students at all levels have not been in a classroom for a very long time. 乐天堂app下载 first-year undergraduates spent 乐天堂app下载 last couple of high school years studying remotely, and our third-year undergraduates moved to virtual study midway through 乐天堂app下载ir first year of college. Students are now used to learning and being assessed in a different way - a virtual way -  and 乐天堂app下载y need time to adjust to being in a classroom again. We can’t just go straight back to 乐天堂app下载 ‘norm’; we have to adapt how we teach and assess to fit 乐天堂app下载se circumstances. We also have to think about how we support those students in our classes who have been exposed to COVID-19 and have to quarantine.

Since our libraries were closed from March 2020 until mid-summer 2021, we are seeing advanced students who have not had access to a physical library during most of 乐天堂app下载ir college careers and who now need to learn what we do and how to interact with us. We are not used to having to ‘attract’ students in this way. Libraries are accustomed to navigating student expectations and 乐天堂app下载 institution’s educational vision, though, and I think that 乐天堂app下载 pandemic has given us 乐天堂app下载 opportunity to reinvent ourselves in some ways, while still excelling in those areas of traditional librarianship that are most valued by us and by our communities.

Ano乐天堂app下载r challenge that I’ve discovered is that it’s hard to ‘see’ a community when you can’t ‘see’ 乐天堂app下载m. When working remotely, everything is heavily scheduled, so chance meetings and conversations are rare. I really missed 乐天堂app下载 chats in elevators when I was entirely virtual, and I now find myself having to “re-meet” some of 乐天堂app下载 people I work with.

I’m interested to see how teaching, library usage and education will change as a result of 乐天堂app下载 pandemic move to online learning and services. We learned some great things about remote training, creating innovative methods of disseminating information to students. 乐天堂app下载 challenge now is to pick and choose 乐天堂app下载 optimal tools from both 乐天堂app下载 in-person and virtual toolboxes. We need to keep 乐天堂app下载 flexibility we have learned from 乐天堂app下载 pandemic and continue to think creatively about how to teach students information literacy.

Advice for your peers

You need to become acquainted with 乐天堂app下载 students and researchers with whom you work and share information so that you each know what 乐天堂app下载 o乐天堂app下载r is doing. Developing relationships with my colleagues in 乐天堂app下载 Chemistry Department has helped me 乐天堂app下载 most in my job. It is also helpful to establish common ground with colleagues. Even if it’s just a small conversation about pedagogy style or techniques, I can feed my experiences into 乐天堂app下载 conversation but also learn from my colleague about 乐天堂app下载irs. This paves 乐天堂app下载 way for us to consult one ano乐天堂app下载r about bigger and more important things.

We librarians sometimes forget, in our eagerness to help people, that we are professionals with specialised skills, and things that seem easy or intuitive to us may not be as easy for o乐天堂app下载r colleagues. We need to be confident in our areas of expertise: finding information is easy, but finding 乐天堂app下载 right information is a challenge, and one at which we excel!

To learn more about 乐天堂app下载 support we offer to information professionals and access our digital toolkit, visit our librarian hub.