 Next up on our lightning round is Kali Neuberger, and she is from here in Nebraska. Crete, Nebraska is where our Down University is. Their FTE is, you know, got here at 3,470, and she's gonna talk about surviving science liaison work as a non-scientist. So. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, thanks. So I'll just start by sharing a little bit about myself. I have a Bachelor of Arts in History, English, and French from Down University, where I now work. I got my MLIS from the University of Denver, where I kind of had an unofficial focus on archives. I did a couple of internships and directed studies in that area, but I also got some academic reference experience from working at the DU Library Research Center as a student. So with that kind of background, why am I a science liaison? Well, this job at Down opened up shortly after I finished my MLIS, and I always had in the back of my mind that I would really like to return to work here one day. So I was really nervous when I was applying, and I got even more nervous when I learned that the physician would also involve working with the science departments, but I think of myself as pretty adaptable and I like to learn new things. So I went for it and happily they hired me. So that threw me into this job. So how have I been surviving? First, with a little bit of luck. So when I first started this position, I knew that the engineering department in particular would need a lot of resources in terms of collection development and relationship building. The engineering program at Down was pretty new when I first started and hadn't really had a lot of attention from the library. So I don't consider myself very mechanically inclined at all and I was pretty nervous about working with them. The luck comes in because there was an engineering professor in my cohort of first year faculty. So I was able to start building a relationship with them almost from day one. Later that semester, that professor reached out to me with a specific request for an engineering database. So I set up a trial and evaluation period and we ended up purchasing that resource. That whole experience was a gateway into working closely with the engineering department. They were really excited about the new resource that I got for them and they asked me to come demonstrate it to several classes. Since then, I have created a detailed research guide for engineering, looking at other schools' guides for inspiration. And I have done library instruction for several engineering design courses. I talk a lot with engineering faculty about strategies to incorporate research skills into their curriculum. And I've always been open about the fact that I'm not an engineer, but they view me as a trusted resource anyway, all thanks to a little bit of luck in meeting that first engineering professor. So the second way that I am surviving is by showing interest and being engaged. So every semester, I do instruction for our upper level biology research seminar, Bio 351. Students in this class are matched with research mentors for their senior capstone projects. I teach a class session on using the databases and also meet with each student one-on-one to help get their literature search off to a strong start. The first year I taught these sessions, I went in without knowing a thing about any of the research labs or what they were working on. It went okay, but as a non-scientist, I was starting from behind because I didn't fully understand the basic components of students' research topics. So later on, I learned that at the very beginning of the semester, all of the faculty members with open spaces in their labs present their research areas to this class. This allows students to get an overview of all the options and choose the lab that most interests them to work in for the next year. I realized this would be helpful for me too, so I asked if I could sit in on these class sessions. By listening to the presentations, I could get a better understanding of the research labs and have more of a chance to prepare for my instruction and meeting with students. This also had the added benefit of putting my interested face in front of the faculty researchers, showing I care about what they're working on. I think sometimes I took more notes during their presentations than the students did. So the third way I'm surviving this position is by giving myself a break. I'm usually pretty confident in my ability to help students develop a search strategy to find articles, but I can also be kind of hard on myself after a challenging meeting with a student. I'm always upfront with students and faculty about my lack of science background. If I have advanced notice that a student is coming to talk with me about their research, I try to Google a few things to get myself a little more familiar with their topic. If they drop by unannounced or the topic is complex, I do my absolute best, but sometimes I have to send a student away with a less than ideal answer. This leaves me feeling frustrated too, but I have to remember that not every reference transaction is going to be perfect and I can only get better with more exposure to different topics. If I have an epiphany after the student leaves my office and the pressure is off, so to speak, I always email the student with those new suggestions. And the fourth way I'm surviving is by seeking out help. So sometimes I just get completely stumped by a question and I have to ask for help. I really appreciate science librarian listservs for this reason, because not only can I see what other librarians are getting advice about, I can also ask for advice myself. I've asked the ACRL science and technology section listserv for suggestions on finding Python code examples for bioinformatics student. Reference works about archaeobacteria species and also what to expect during our upcoming ABET accreditation process for our engineering department. In every instance, I've gotten helpful replies from science librarians at other institutions. I'm so grateful to be a librarian in the digital age because asking for help is so easy no matter where you're physically located, even in Little Creek, Nebraska. It's also very helpful to find a mentor or reach out to a colleague with more experience in the area you need help with. In my student days at the University of Denver, I worked at the research center as one of the first lines of assistance on various research questions. This job allowed me to get to know the subject librarians at DU, including of course the science librarian. Having this relationship in my back pocket has been a great help as she has many years of science librarianship under her belt and is a super nice person to boot. I recently spoke to her about working with our engineering program and she offered some great advice on working with faculty and incorporating research and information literacy into the curriculum. And finally, the last way that I'm surviving is remembering why my job is awesome. Don is a small school, but the science departments put a huge emphasis on hands-on research. I love talking to students and professors about their projects because they're all so passionate and I think they're truly changing the world. Engineering students partner with real companies to solve design problems. Biology faculty members and students are researching cancer treatments, their countless projects related to solving climate change and a few students are even working on investigating how bacteriophages might be used as a treatment for acne, which is a topic I would have been very interested in as a teenager. Because of all of these great topics, I am constantly learning new things. That's probably the number one reason why I became a librarian in the first place because I never truly wanted the school to end. The last time I took a biology course was as a sophomore in high school, but I've learned so many fascinating things over the last two years that I almost wish I'd become a scientist. I'm also really grateful for this position because as an early career librarian, I'm gaining so many skills that will help me in the future. Many science librarians are like me, former humanities majors who have found themselves unwittingly in science librarian roles. I've hit the ground running in terms of flexibility and transferable skills because now I will have experience in not just humanities and archives research, but also in science and technology. I'll certainly never be an expert in biochemistry, but I can only keep growing from here. And so with that and surviving, thank you for listening. If you have any questions or wanna chat, feel free to reach out to me anytime and thank you again. All right, thank you so much, Kelly. Does anybody have any quick questions they wanna ask of her right now? Type it in your questions section and we can get her to answer to you. It sounds very similar to what you were describing reminded me when I was a librarian in the university before I came to the library commission and they put me in charge of everything business related. I didn't have a business degree. I've never been a business person and it was pretty much learn as you're going and don't be afraid to ask for help for anything. Yep, very similar. All right, I don't see any questions coming in. Well, it's all right. If you guys do wanna talk to Kelly about her experiences and how she's been able to survive, shoot her an email there. All right, thank you so much, Kelly. Thank you.