Name: Katy Watson

Position: Repository Coordinator

Qualification:

Masters of Information Technology

Graduate Diploma Library and Information Studies

Bachelor of Arts

Organisation: University Library

Previous positions:

Electronic Services Librarian – University Library

Collections Services Librarian – Public Library

School Librarian – High School Library

What’s great about your job?

• Playing with the latest technology
• Working across disciplines – I get to liaise with different types of researchers
• Providing a service that helps people without them having to pay for it – clients are usually really appreciate of the work you do for them
• Working with low supervision and getting to plan my daily work schedule
• Lots of travel to meetings and seminars all around Australia (in the last 12 months I have had funded trips to Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Hobart)
• 9-5 weekdays – leaves the weekends free for sport!
• Nice fresh work environment
• An employer who supports my post-graduate study

What’s the most fun experience you’ve had at work?

• Lots!
• Working with scuba dive researchers making their research and image collections of the ex-HMAS Brisbane wreck available to the world
• Working with leading researchers in making their latest research and datasets searchable and highly ranked free via Google
• Library chicks winning the University-wide tug-of-war in O’Week! Yes we even beat the sports centre staff and a team of rugby students – who said Librarians were quiet non-sporty types!

Describe a typical day at work.

• Checking latest technology developments via blogs and elists
• Liaising with IT staff, Copyright staff, and Library staff on repository specific issues
• Writing and updating repository guidelines and reports
• Repository marketing
• Meeting with others in the field on repository developments via teleconferences, wikis, and in-person
• Adding repository items using XML 

What do you find rewarding and challenging about you job?

Rewarding aspects include: helping clients, providing technology solutions to meet client needs, providing infrastructure for open access research to the community.

Challenging aspects include keeping up with the latest technology developments.

What are the personal skills & attributes that you need to do this job?

• Information Technology skills
• People skills
• Customer-service skills and personality
• Self-management skills
• Project management skills

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