Monday 29 July 2013

Hello and welcome!



Hello! My name’s Rachel and I’m the Academic Liaison Librarian for the department of Sport Science and Physical Activity here at UoB. What that means is that I’m here to support staff and students in the department with all aspects of Learning Resources, from buying the books for the library that you need for your assignments to helping you to locate information and material for your work. I maintain subject guides which you will find helpful, and I am always available to meet you in person or chat via email if you need any help with using the library – you can find my contact details here – please don’t hesitate to get in touch. And do say hello if you see me around campus!

There is lots of info available to you about finding material and using the Library on the Learning Resources webpages, in my subject guides, and directly from me in the sessions I’ll run for you as part of your courses, but I wanted to start a blog for several reasons. I won’t bore you with all of them, but one major part of my thinking is that I want to create a space where I can help you to maintain current awareness within your subject and to develop your ability to evaluate and think critically about the information that you find. So, I’m sure I will sometimes be posting announcements about library services which will be useful to you, but I’m hoping that mostly you’ll see posts from me pointing you towards resources you might not find in DISCOVER; television programmes, reports etc., which can help to inform your subject knowledge and your work.

We’re all human (even librarians), so here’s a little bit about me, so that you know who it actually is who’s blogging at you: when I’m not at work I am usually writing my novel, reading other people’s novels, listening to music, playing netball, going to gigs, going running, going to the pub, or going off on my travels (usually by myself – nothing compares to that thrill of being alone in a foreign country). I’m originally from Birmingham and have lived all over the country; I’ve been in Bedford and at UoB for a few months now and I’m slowly getting used to living in a town rather than a city. Growing up I variously wanted to be a volcanologist, astronaut, writer, storm-chaser, actor, musician, teacher, journalist and prime minister – no, I’m not sure how I arrived at librarian either! I’ve been to university twice, completing a BA in English Literature in 2008 and an MA in Librarianship in 2010, so I have plenty of experience of being a recent student myself, and my favourite part of my job is working with you, the students, and supporting your learning.

I hope you’ll find this blog useful. If you want to ensure you see the latest posts, you can subscribe by email (look for the "follow by email" box at the top of the page) or by RSS (look for "subscribe"). I’d love to hear from you about how useful you find it, what you’d like to see on here, or just any feedback or comments on what I write; please get in touch.