Academic Liaison Librarian:
Faculty of Health & Social Sciences
Hours of work:Monday & Wednesday: 9:00 - 17:00, Tuesday: 9:30 - 14:00
Based at:Polhill Library, Bedford Campus
You can contact me to make an appointment or check my availability by:
Telephone: 01234 793074 ext. 4074
Email: sally.fensome@beds.ac.uk
In person: Customer Service Desk, Ground Floor, Library
I'm Sally, one of the Academic Liaison Librarians for the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences (HSS). I work part-time (you can see my working hours above).
It's my job to support staff and students within the Faculty - particularly within the Department of Applied Social Studies but I also provide assistance to any members of the HSS Faculty visiting the Bedford Campus.
What I do:
- Purchase resources (books, journals, DVDs, databases etc.) to support courses within the Faculty at the Bedford Campus; in consultation with lecturers and students
- Identify new resources to support courses within HSS
- Arrange for the digitisation of course materials for Breo
- Teach information literacy skills (e.g. how to get the best from course resources - both print and electronic, research skills, plagiarism and referencing, using Refworks)
- Produce support materials (e.g. subject webpages, help sheets, audiovisual materials, online guides, referencing, literature searching and library facilities)
- Update you on the latest news and resources from the library as well as new research in the Applied Social Studies field via my blog: Applied Social Studies Blog.
- Attend committees (e.g Field Committees, Staff/Student Consultative Committees) to review and improve our library services and respond to any questions.
How I can help you:
- In addition to timetabled workshops I also provide one-to-one appointments for any member of the the HSS Faculty. Contact me for help with database searching, using the Internet for academic study, dissertation preparation and referencing advice.
- If you're working on a research project I can help you to source materials from outside the University of Bedfordshire using the Document Supply Service.
- Current awareness - set up alerts from databases, publishers and RSS feeds to keep up to date with the latest research in your field.
- I can also assist staff with: the digitisation of course materials, validation and development of new courses, finding resources for reading lists, copyright advice (e.g. creating course packs) and advice on off-campus access to electronic resources, research support.
Background
I studied for a first degree in Law; with the intention of becoming a solicitor. Whilst working for a London law firm I became increasingly interested in becoming a law librarian. After taking time out to travel; I retrained as a librarian. I've worked for the Metropolitan Police, Imperial College London and De Montfort University before becoming part of the University of Bedfordshire in 2007. I'm particularly interested in e-learning and m-learning and how these new technologies can be used to support learning and information literacy.
Qualifications
Chartered Librarian, Chartered Institute of Library & Info. Professionals
MA Library & Information Studies, Loughborough University
LLB (HONS) Law, University College London
