Librarian Spotlight: Nicki Clarkson

A day in the life of a university librarian

Days at the University of Southampton are so varied. I love the diversity my job offers, meaning no two days are ever the same. I work across three themes: Open Research & Publication Practice, Curriculum Engagement, and Communications and I am also the liaison librarian for the Schools of Chemistry and Biological Sciences.

I have great opportunities to work with colleagues from across the university, and there is always something interesting happening, for example the Chemistry and Biological Sciences Staff Student Liaison Committees (SSLCs).

As part of the Curriculum Engagement team, I use our Library Research Skills Framework to work with academics to ensure appropriate curriculum design based on the learning outcomes and the assessment within a module.

We ensure that all students are taught Library Research Skills (including finding and evaluating information, academic integrity and digital literacy) at the right time and that library sessions are embedded in the curriculum. For Chemistry this means I teach undergraduates in their third year. I often start the session with a Vevox poll asking what they would like to get out of the session, and what they are most excited about in the current semester – the passion for independent research always shines through.

I also deliver training sessions for postgraduate researchers and university staff on topics including open access publishing and the essentials of journal publication.

A front-row seat to groundbreaking discoveries

I am privileged to have been invited to return as a judge in the University of Southampton Three Minute Thesis (3MT) final and I am constantly in awe of the incredible research taking place at the university. I feel a sense of pride in our research community whenever a new journal article is published, especially if the author is someone I know, or if we have been involved in open access publishing of the article.

I always enjoy knowing I have made positive changes or enhanced someone’s day. This can be as small as answering a query from a researcher, seeing the lightbulb moment when a student understands the power of “phrase searching”, or acting on ways we can improve the library as a study space.

Sharing our successes with the wider library community is always rewarding. Towards the end of April, I was one of 3 speakers at a Jisc webinar, talking about our experience of supporting the ‘new’ UKRI open access policy one year after it started.

Earlier in the summer I presented at the Southern University Libraries Network with the theme "the power of communication". My talk, which had laughs and groans from the audience as I had hoped, looked at techniques we can use to help students realise that librarians are not terrifying gatekeepers of knowledge, ready to shush anyone who makes a sound. When students see us as knowledgeable yet approachable, they are confident to come to us when they have questions and participate more comfortably in interactive sessions.

Navigating the costs of accelerating research

One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced in my role is the cost of access to knowledge, specifically hyperinflated fees and restrictive user licenses imposed by eBook publishers and the vast profits made by many commercial journal publishers.

Overcoming post-pandemic struggles

Having the time to innovate is always a challenge, along with working on projects with time or resource dependencies across multiple teams. There is some amazing work taking place across the library, including using 3D-printed models of knitted objects to showcase our Knitting Reference Library and our Digital Scholarship team has recently bought a drone (which I am not allowed to fly).

A perennial challenge is that friends and family who do not work in higher education think I have no work to do all summer, which is certainly not the case!

The new norm post COVID-19

Before the pandemic we delivered all of our postgraduate training face to face but we now use Microsoft Teams. This opens up the sessions to larger groups and means attendees can slot training into their day without spending additional time travelling.

The move to online and hybrid conferences has been transformational. We have more opportunities for collaboration with other libraries, webinars for knowledge exchange, and can input into national and international initiatives without the time and cost of travel.

I feel that it is easier for academics and researchers to reach out to us – dropping someone a Teams message can be much less formal than sending an email, and Teams video calls are now part of my daily life. I am much more relaxed about seeing myself on screen but still don’t like hearing my voice when I edit recordings of teaching sessions I’ve delivered!

Advice for your fellow information professionals

Being part of local and national communities and networks can make a huge difference. Someone else is probably experiencing the same issues as you and may even have a solution you could adopt.

Carve out time for continuing professional development. My focus for the next year is to improve my Excel skills so that ChatGPT does not have to repeatedly coach me through VLOOKUPs.

If you see an open research role advertised, please don’t be put off because you don’t have experience with the specific tasks listed. Librarian skills are very transferrable: your strength and experience of talking to students and researchers, managing and developing staff, working effectively with others, increasing and supporting discovery, attention to detail and giving clear explanations of policies are key – specific open research knowledge can be easily learned.

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