Student profile: digitizing collections with Matthew Murray

As Matthew Murray sees it, collaboration is key for libraries to succeed against a backdrop of rapidly changing technology. The Digital Projects Student Librarian was hired by UBC Library’s Digitization Centre to assist with projects that increase access to information for a wide range of users, including the digitization of the Uno Langmann Family Collection of B.C. Photographs.

“Technology is not a static thing, and technology used by libraries is constantly changing. The constant need to create and develop resources and knowledge, and opportunities relating to them, is important,” Murray says. “Librarianship is all about change, and libraries need to seek out partnerships with other groups instead of being insular.”

Although the UBC MLIS student’s original goal was to work in a public library after graduation, a course in digital libraries and his subsequent experience in the Digitization Centre has Murray considering other options. The student is also a prolific writer – his website features a pulp fiction anthology zine entitled Two-Fisted Librarians. “I think my dream job might be digitizing old comic books and making them freely available online!”

Roles such as Murray’s give co-op students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in their chosen field, including invaluable practical knowledge of new technologies and project management. As Murray puts it, “I could read about these things one thousand times without really understanding how they worked, so learning by doing has been invaluable.”

During Murray’s time with the Digitization Centre, the team expanded into a new space, started new projects and hired more students than ever before. 

“It’s exciting to have people from different departments around the university approach us to create partnerships for digitization projects!”

Read more about UBC Library’s Digitization Centre, including a joint effort with UBC’s Department of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies to digitize Greek epigraphic squeezes.