Lisa Shin

Anecdotes from a Film-Loving Health Science & STEM Librarian

3 months into my first academic librarian job, these last couple weeks have been by far the busiest, but most exciting! From getting posters accepted into conferences, planning a forum (Check out the upcoming student journal forum 2026! ), continuing to teach and do consultations, I have been feeling quite occupied and positively stressed. I decided to be share some of my personal projects and celebrate the week of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA2025) Conference in Baltimore and how it fits into my work as an early-career academic librarian. Seemingly unrelated at first, I continue to be amazed at the different intersections at which film and librarianship continue to meet. Although fundamentally and theoretically very different, the practice of archiving and librarianship hold many of the same important values and ways of providing access to information, building community, and promoting educational engagement across all domains.

Originally from Calgary (a.k.a. cowtown), one of the most exciting things about moving to Toronto for grad school was its proximity and availability of so much culture, and events like the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Film festivals were one of the best ways to not only watch films, but to share oral histories, learn about local diasporic communities, and become introduced to film archives and libraries in the city. This seemingly small interest of mine led me to take a course called “Introduction to Archiving Audiovisual Materials,” then “Film Preservation” where I learned to handle and preserve various film materials. Then I made a map of various Toronto diaspora film festivals because I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t missing any films or screenings around the city. It happened quite often that I would find about an anticipated screening or a festival after the event had passed, since there was no consolidated resource. It was something I wanted to make for myself but definitely thought it would have more potential as a collaborative community resource. Thanks to the support of a graduate fellowship from U of T’s School of Cities and supportive mentors, this was the project I ended up presenting in Baltimore this week.

Another project I was able to explore was the last one that I completed as a Graduate Student Library Assistant at the Gerstein Science Information Centre at U of T. This project will be presented at the Ontario Library Association conference in January and I am super excited to share the different methods in which health sciences education and cinema share a symbiotic relationship. One aspect of the project I was passionate about was the interaction with students, the idea of receiving input and participation, even as a stand-alone library display. Just having the space to talk about alternative ways of learning can be a beneficial opportunity to learn more about different ways to approach the same material outside of traditional text and articles. There is definitely a lot of potential for film archives and libraries to explore this area of medical humanities, as already seen in the many graphic medicine collections around the world.

I also continue to be interested in libraries and librarian representation in mainstream culture and on screen. From the idea of library as a “third space” to the notion of a helpful librarian, I hope to do more research on these various topics and really understand how they came about and continue to have an effect on those looking into entering the profession, those interacting with librarians and libraries, and the impact it has on librarians and information professionals.
I had thought that this “film phase” would fade out after high school, but as I moved around cities and travelled more, this hobby of mine allowed me to grow as an individual and engage with the world in another way. The various opportunities that I’ve had related to film and librarianship, even over just the last 2.5 years have been so unexpected, but wholeheartedly rewarding.

Attending the Telluride Film Festival’s student symposium program in 2024!

I hope to continue refining my research skills and expand my horizons as a new information professional while continuing to fuel my passions in librarianship and film. I am also so curious if there are other academic librarian film enthusiasts out there or other ways librarians have brought their passions into their jobs. I have found quite a few film blogs and papers on the topic and would love to learn more (my personal favourite: https://reel-librarians.com/). Finally, I have to mention this Letterboxd list (https://boxd.it/tgNBu) that I continue to update whenever I notice a librarian in a movie?

The Unexpected Overlaps Between a Don and a Librarian

Something that I try to think more about these days, is to find meaningful intersections between my current career and the various experiences I had in the past. Maybe it’s due to my lack of confidence due to lack of experience as an academic librarian, but I always find myself leaning on my past experiences whenever I encounter a question that I don’t know, or a new workaround to a problem that I hoping to solve.

One particular experience that comes back to me even throughout library school was my time as a student residence staff (aka a “don”). Residence dons are upper-year students who live on the floor with students who are often in their first years, or on exchange. When I started library school, there was a class called “The Information Experience” which was my first encounter with a whole new side of academia for information science and information behaviour, in particular. The major project for the course was doing our own study conducting information horizon interviews (IHI) with 3 participants who share commonalities between each other and discover their information behaviour. Being freshly out of undergrad and still in my 4^th year mind, the first thing I thought about was to ask my friends who were and are still student workers in residence. The interviews and conversations confirmed my gut instinct that indeed, the two professions had more in common than I originally thought.

A Librarian (in a different sense)

One of my favourite memories from working both in student housing and libraries always seem to be from the events that often took a lot of hard work and organizing. From screening the entire world cup tournament across 4 residences, to hosting campus-wide alumni reunion events at the health science library, being able to creatively adapt and proactively start initiatives is something I am grateful that I could pursue. Going beyond the open house booths and orientation day tables, programming combining both departments is something I wanted to bring to fruition.

During final exam time or programming that dons were recommended to host, some ideas that my fellow student staff and I had were around writing, academic integrity, time management, even things like using softwares like OneNote and Notion. ChatGPT and its related academic-AI friends unfortunately? fortunately? blew up after I finished undergrad, but I am sure this would be an interesting topic to tackle in a residence program that could be both fun and educational. Guest presenters were often invited as well, from off-campus housing, academic advisors, writing centre staff, and collaborative sessions across campus with other dons occurred often.

Outside of programs and creative field trips on and off-campus, regular questions would come at my way in the hallway, the shared bathrooms, the cafeteria, on the way to class, through text, through email, and so much more. Being able to direct the student to the correct resource, developing effective workflows depending on the subject area, and being a liaison to academic resources and the student were also just some day-to-day responsibilities (sound familiar? haha).

A Possible Untapped Synergy?

Often during graduate student consultations, library anxiety is something I realized was a phenomenon. Especially for first-year students and even undergraduate students, I realized that there was a hurdle to access resources and become familiar with the building, website, staff, and services. Because I had worked and volunteered in libraries since junior high school, I think that I automatically thought libraries were my comfort space, so I did not even realize this was a thing. So when the first student told me about this back, I was kind of shocked.

After doing more reading on this topic, I realized that there were ways to combat this, such as in-residence librarians (Nicholas et al., 2015). These in-residence librarians would work inside the first-year student residences bringing awareness and breaking down any barriers that may exist. I think that this anxiety is still a thing even for profs and grad students as I always recognize the same names popping up in my emails asking questions or requesting instruction. I love seeing familiar names and faces, but reaching those who have never encountered me or library services is something I would want to try by breaking down this invisible barrier. This extra step would be possible especially through collaborations external to the library, and what better way than with experienced student housing staff who already recognize student needs and wants!

Bringing this to a close, I just want to mention the existence of libraries inside many student residences based on personal experience. In the building I worked and lived in at Western University in London (Ontario, Canada), there was even a huge room on the first floor with a nice “library” plaque. Although the books were either donated textbooks or leftover belongings, the space that it provides for students and residence staff were similar to any other academic library especially during exam season and community building events. The residence at Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto where I lived in during grad school was also equipped with an in-residence library with many books on subject areas that the college specialized in.

I hope that this at least sparks some interest and further discussion on being more involved within student housing and student residence staff as the interest is definitely there, and we share more similarities than we might think!

Resources

Hartel, J. (2017). INF1323: The Information Experience – An Information Behaviour Study Using the Information Horizon Interview. http://www.jennahartel.info/uploads/8/3/3/8/8338986/assignment_handout.pdf

Nicholas, P., Sterling, J., Davis, R., Lewis, J. C., Mckoy-Johnson, F., Nelson, K., Tugwell, Y., & Tyrell, K. (2015). Bringing the library to you!: The halls of residence librarian program at the University of the West Indies, Mona Library. New Library World, 116(5/6), 316–335. https://doi.org/10.1108/NLW-06-2014-0080

Transitioning from a Full-Time Student to a Full-Time Librarian

Editor’s Note: Please join us in welcoming Lisa Shin, Research Librarian (STEM and Health Sciences) at the University of Ottawa, as a new First Year Academic Librarian Experience blogger for the 2025-26 year here at ACRLog.

It’s hard to believe that a full month has already gone by as I reflect on the last 30 days or so, on getting my dream job as an academic librarian. As grateful as I am for the opportunity, I also wanted to take this time to break down some of the unexpected aspects that came with moving on as a graduate student into my first professional job in hopes to help future academic librarians and library students out.

Becoming Okay with Silence

Something that was striking to me in the last couple of months of transitioning from a student to a full-time professional, was the unexpected hurdles of communication. From months of emailing back and forth for interviews, receiving rejections, and other recruitment related communication, I soon started to receive little to no emails as I stopped applying for positions after my acceptance call. Recognizing that there are many bureaucratic processes that can often be slow, and especially since a lot of the hiring occurs in the summer when many are on vacation, it took a couple conversations with other librarians to help me find other ways to not be fixated on why I hadn’t received a physical contract yet. This can be super nerve-wrecking especially if you, like me, were already working in another job, but transparent communication with your managers and colleagues really helped me out. Letting your managers know each step of the interview process and being open about how things were going allowed me to not only gain advice but allowed my managers to get a sense of how things were going.

Moving to a New City

As I was very open to moving to a new city in hopes of becoming an academic librarian in my interested subject area of health sciences and STEM, I had always been ready to move and pack by becoming a minimalist. Something that I had not expected, was the unnecessary burden and stress that came along with looking for potential places (virtually), coordinating moving (virtually), and doing that with the uncertainties of a verbal offer. What helped me to be more comfortable with the whole process was having librarians who reached out to me who either had worked or are working to the university I was starting at. Not only did this give me a sense of preparedness, but it also allowed me to become more familiar with this new city, one that I’d never lived in before. Some prompts that I would suggest asking would be neighbourhood recommendations, must-haves in that city, moving process, quality of life, and overall atmosphere of the town.

Working in a Bilingual Setting

One aspect of the position I’m currently in as a research librarian at the University of Ottawa, is the great sense of bilingualism and respect for the Francophone culture and community. Although I am Korean by birth, and English was my second language, throughout my primary education and even thanks to things like the Explore program, funded by the Canadian government, I was always interested in developing my French further. The additional language aspect was something that I was pretty nervous about when starting this role, however, the “Frenglish” meetings, impromptu conversations with other librarians and staff, supportive French language centres, on-campus French courses, and really enjoying challenging myself with the material has been an unexpected highlight of my job. As an existing French New Wave and Annie Ernaux fan, looking into Francophone authors and researchers in Canada and abroad to learn from has been a very fulfilling time, and one that I am excited to continue. My goal eventually is to successfully teach an information literacy session in French, but please check in with me in a year from now- I hope I am at least a little bit closer to becoming trilingual ?

Establishing a Support Network

Moving from Toronto to Ottawa, and into an industry that is historically prominently white women, I was a bit nervous about moving to a new city where I had two friends in total (and both being from high school). My fears were quickly and thankfully extinguished though, as I discovered ways to branch out and become familiar with the various social committees and mentorship opportunities that were available. Being open to starting new conversations, proactively reaching out for coffee chats, going out of my way to look for BIPOC library organizations, and applying for mentee opportunities were some of the opportunities I took. LinkedIn actually also helped me to discover some connections in the city that I didn’t even know I had! The mentorship aspect was really important for me as these were senior librarians who started in a system that was more conservative than now, and who saw the various changes the profession went through. In a new city, new job, first job, and first big move, I think having this older guiding figure in my life really allowed to me to be more grounded and confident in recognizing my own strengths and what I could bring to the team.

There are many, many more things that I want to reflect back on, but perhaps I will save that for the next post where I hope to draw more meaningful ties to existing literature in librarianship.