Sandy Hervieux is a liaison librarian and virtual reference coordinator at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Sandy has been a member of ACRL for 4 years and is your ACRL Member of the Week for June 13, 2022.
Describe yourself in three words: Curious, resourceful, hard working.
What are you reading (or listening to on your mobile device)? I just finished Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li which was very entertaining but also underlined important issues related to colonialism in museums. I’m about to start Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen and the audiobook for Simu Liu’s biography We Were Dreamers. I’m also looking forward to reading Invisible Women; Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez and Uncanny Valley: A Memoir by Anna Wiener.
Describe ACRL in three words: Community, collaboration, growth.
What do you value about ACRL? I appreciate the opportunity to connect with other members and learn from them. I became involved with PPIRS (Politics, Policy and International Relations Section) after becoming a Political Science liaison librarian and it helped me greatly to acquire subject-specific expertise. I really enjoy working with the members of that section and building connections to librarians who share similar responsibilities.
What do you as an academic librarian contribute to your campus? My main role is to support student learning as well as faculty teaching and research which I do by offering reference, information literacy sessions and individual consultations. I’m also responsible for the virtual reference service which provides assistance to members of the university community and general public.
In your own words: One of my favorite parts of being an academic librarian is the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues who have different expertise than I do. I’ve enjoyed working with other liaison librarians to create information literacy sessions and developing programming and research projects with colleagues in other units. I enjoy learning and as a librarian we have the opportunity to continue engaging with learning throughout our careers. I also appreciate how engaging with students can change how we think of certain topics or issues. For example, my research partner (Amanda Wheatley) and I offer workshops on artificial intelligence and the discussions we have had in these sessions have helped us think about future research avenues.
Editor’s Note: Would you like to be featured as ACRL Member of the Week? Nominate a colleague? Fill out this form and we’ll be in touch!