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Sophie Bury, Business Librarian & Head Bronfman Business Library

Published Friday Nov. 23, 2012

My name is Sophie Bury and I’ve been at York University since May 2003 and boy has time flown since then! My role at York during the past nine years or so has primarily been one of business librarian. I love being a librarian, even though I was not impressed when my late mother suggested to me, as a final-year undergraduate in 1992, that I might think of becoming one in my future career! I think I suffered from the influence of stereotypical images a bit like this one shown here. Ah, but didn’t she know me so well!  And heck, if one of my favourite vocal artists, Tori Amos, can title a whole album “Tales of a Librarian” and classify the songs in it with Dewey Decimal call numbers, there must be something cool going on with this profession! And so my current image of what it is to be a librarian has changed dramatically and I now like to think we’re really “A Hipper Crowd of Shushers”, as a quite recent New York Times article explains.  Check it out!

The role of business librarian at York is quite varied and my favourite part of the job is undoubtedly the public service element including helping students with their research, as well as teaching sessions about how to find, use, evaluate and cite business information sources as part of workshops and classes. Librarians like to describe this as “information literacy” – often non-librarians don’t know what we are talking about which is, admittedly, an issue – but it’s an important life-long learning skill and if you’ve got it there’s research to show it translates in to academic success, while being a transferable skill that employers often value.

In early July 2012 my role at the Bronfman Business Library changed when I assumed the role of Head of the library for a five-year term. I feel lucky to have learned so much from senior colleagues, especially Elizabeth Watson (founding Head of the Bronfman Business Library) and Toni Olshen (former business librarian and Associate University Librarian). I feel privileged to have been given the opportunity to take on this new role and every day is varied and stimulating and brings new opportunities and challenges. In academic librarianship we experience an information world that is rapidly changing and where technology is constantly evolving and so we are always kept on our toes and never bored! Indeed, in my experience, it’s very rare to find an academic librarian who doesn’t love their job. So, not surprisingly, a big part of the joy of this position is that I work alongside very talented and motivated librarians and staff, some of whom have already introduced themselves to you on this blog. More introductions will follow, so stay tuned…

In terms of other things to share with you, I’ll just mention that I have a number of research and professional interests and if you are interested you can read more about them on my professional web site (http://sophiebury.ca). A bonus of being an academic librarian at many universities in Canada is that you are basically expected to attend and present at professional conferences and to engage in some research.

Let me conclude by expressing my sincere hope that you’ll feel comfortable approaching me if you have any suggestions or concerns about library services or resources at the Bronfman Business Library. We want students and other patrons to feel welcome in our space and comfortable approaching us for help at our reference desk or circulation/reserve desk and through other means including our online reference chat service. If you see a librarian’s office door open and you have a library-related or research question, please feel free to approach us. My office is the second door on the left when you enter the Bronfman Business Library.

We’re aware assignment deadlines are looming, so remember we are here to help and we hope you enjoy our quiet study atmosphere as you prepare for assignment deadlines and get ready for end-of term exams. Remember the holiday season will be upon us before long and then we all get to take a well-earned break!