I have been a librarian at the University of Regina since 2005. In the beginning of my work here, I provided help to the students, faculty, and staff in the Faculty of Science. My areas of responsibility have expanded since then, and now, besides the Faculty of Science, I also provide assistance to the Faculties of Social Work and Engineering & Applied Science, and to the Department of Anthropology. Additionally, I am the University’s “guru” on the citation management software RefWorks, for which the University has a site license.

In my day-to-day work, I provide consultations to students and faculty members, to help them find the information they need, or in the use of RefWorks. Many of these consultations were in-person before the pandemic hit. Since we started working from home, they have, of course, all been by email and Zoom. One issue that has arisen is that some of the students I have connected with on Zoom are in very different time zones. One student I helped was in India — an eleven and a half hour time difference!

I deliver instruction sessions to classes in my subject areas on the use of Library resources, and on how to find information pertinent to their class assignments as well as on information literacy more generally. I also give instruction sessions on the use of RefWorks.

Another one of my activities is collection development in my subject areas. Since the start of remote working and teaching, much of my effort in this regard has been on identifying suitable class textbooks and other material that is available online without any cost to students. Some of this material is open-access, while other material is available to students via the Library’s vast collection of online books and journals.

The best part of my job is working with the students to help them find the information they need. I never cease to be impressed by their interest, enthusiasm, and the creative topics they work on.