Friday, March 14, 2014

Case Study No. 1301: Sarah Struble

An Interview with BU Librarian and Head of Distance Services, Sarah Struble (with subtitles)
4:01
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Tags: BU Libraries Boston University Libraries BU Library Film Team Mugar Library
Added: 11 months ago
From: bulibraries filmteam
Views: 11

[scene opens with a still image of Sarah at her desk]
SARAH: [in voice over] My name is Sarah Struble, and I am the Head of Distance Services at Mugar Library.
[cut to various images of Mugar Library]
SARAH: [in voice over] I actually started working at Mugar before I had finished my MLS, which is a Masters of Library Science. I started here as a paraprofessional, and I have moved up through the ranks here at the library. And then once I finished my Masters Degree, I applied for and got a job as a bibliographer, which means I worked at the reference desk and was responsible for a subject area collection.
[cut to another image of Sarah at her desk]
SARAH: [in voice over] And then about five months ago, I was hired for this position, which is a new position at the library.
[cut to more images from inside Mugar Library]
SARAH: [in voice over] Students don't always know quite what they can get from the library, or what the role of librarian and the library should be in their research and in their studies. So, I think twelve years ago, dealing with students ... they'd kinda come in and be like, "Uh, I have a question." And I don't know where to start, and I don't wanna bother you.
[cut to an image of Sarah and a female student sitting at the reference desk]
SARAH: [in voice over] It's ... Well, I'm sitting at a service desk, so you're not bothering me.
[she laughs]
SARAH: [in voice over] And we still get those questions. Y'know, our questions often still start with, "I'm not sure where to start, and I don't wanna bother you."
[cut to more images from inside Mugar Library]
SARAH: [in voice over] So I think a lot of our job has continued to be just educating students as to what a librarian can do for them, how we can help them shape the direction that their research process needs to go in, and point them towards some tools and then help them evaluate what they're finding.
[cut to another image of Sarah and a female student at the reference desk]
SARAH: [in voice over] There are various pieces to my job. I sort of look outward to the ways that the libraries can serve students when they're not on campus, and specifically when they're not in the library.
[cut to a screenshot from the BU Library website]
SARAH: [in voice over] Taking our services out onto the digital platform is really important now as well, and so I'm focused on that.
[cut to more images from inside Mugar Library]
SARAH: [in voice over] One of the things that I've done is met with the Office of Distance Education to look at integrating what the libraries have to offer, including services from librarians. So help from a librarian, integrating that into their courses. We've also looked at expanding our inter-library loan services so that people don't physically have to come here to get articles, which is kind of a pain in the butt.
[cut to more screenshots from the BU Library website]
SARAH: [in voice over] I have been working for a couple of years now on a project to work on giving access to all students in the university to consortial borrowing, and it allows students to discover stuff online through WorldCat. So, either to go and say, "Hey, I know I'm looking for this specific book," or to go on more of a fishing expedition and say, "I wanna see what else is out there beyond what is here at BU on this topic." And with that, you can say, "Oh, you know we've got all this stuff at BU," because that stuff's gonna show up first in a list, but now I see that there's also something that's owned beyond BU, that's somewhere else in the Boston Library Consortium. It'll show where that stuff is for you, and you'll be able to say, "Oh, I want it right now, this afternoon, I'll just go to MIT and use it there."
[cut to more images from inside Mugar Library]
SARAH: [in voice over] You can still do it that way, or you can say, "Get this for me." And we'll get it in usually two to four business days, so it's gonna be really fast. I'm really excited for what it's going to offer students. It's gonna hugely expand beyond what we have, to help people find things that aren't available physically here, or that we don't subscribe to here.
[cut to another still image of Sarah at her desk]
SARAH: [in voice over] The way I see the managerial part is more as a "steering the ship" sort of thing. Like, seeing the direction that we're going to need to go in in six months or a year or five years ...
[cut to more images from inside Mugar Library]
SARAH: [in voice over] And I think there've been some changes at the libraries that have really opened up a lot of new opportunities for what direction we're going in.
[cut to anotehr still image of Sarah at her desk]
SARAH: [in voice over] Most of the people that I work with are professionals. The person that I directly oversee also has a Masters Degree.
[cut to more images from inside Mugar Library]
SARAH: [in voice over] I really enjoy working here. The one side to my moving up to a managerial position is that I don't work directly with students as much, and I miss that. I was co-teaching a four-credit class at Sargent, and I really miss dealing directly with the students, but it's also nice to kind of stretch my legs and try something new and see my ability to have an impact and kind of take things in a new direction, so that's exciting.
["Photos and audio by Ali Donohue" appears on screen]
["Produced by the Anita Greene Student Working Group of Boston University Libraries" appears on screen]
["(c) Trustees of Boston University" appears on screen]

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From bu.edu:

Sarah Struble

Distance Services and Resource Sharing Librarian
Mugar Memorial Library

Education
BA Peace and Global Studies, Earlham College
MLS Simmons College

Responsibilities
Primary contact for BU WorldCat Local implementation, Liaison to the Office of Distance Education

Committees
Web Committee, Assessment Committee

Department
Interlibrary Loan
Reference and Instructional Services

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