Kimberly “Kim” Fama has been with UBC since 2014 and is currently a Reference Librarian at the David Lam Management Research Library and Canaccord Learning Commons. As the Reference Librarian, Kim is responsible for consulting with faculty on their needs for collection, research and instructional support. She keeps abreast of trends and developments in resources relevant to assigned subject areas and supports the selection and acquisition, evaluation, maintenance and cancellation of electronic resources in accordance with faculty and subject area needs.
Before becoming a Reference Librarian, Kim worked as a Student Business Librarian while studying for her Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS), providing in-person research help using the library’s catalogue, website, online research guides, and business and interdisciplinary databases. She also has a wealth of experience working internationally in business and education in the Philippines, and is fluent in three languages (English, Mandarin and Tagalog).
One of Kim’s highlights of working at the David Lam Management Research Library has been the flexibility in her role.
“I’m working with a lot of amazing people: my supervisor, staff and faculty in the UBC Sauder School of Business,” says Kim. “They have so many great ideas and I feel so fortunate being allowed to participate in them. Many of them really do engage with the library and I feel lucky to have that experience. Having this flexibility and expanding my role has really changed the way how I feel about this job.”
Kim credits UBC Library for introducing her to a large network, which has helped her in her career development. “I feel like I wouldn’t have that same kind of experience if I worked elsewhere. The connections that this organization has brought to me is really priceless.”
At the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown, Kim wanted to find a way to share her energy and passion for helping students at the library in an entertaining and comedic format. As a Millennial, she decided to create a TikTok and Instagram channel to leverage the power of social media and connect with students virtually to provide up-to-date library branch information, business research tips, and answer questions. Since launching her TikTok channel, it has gathered over 50k likes.
“I use my Instagram handle (@businesslibrarian) as a reference tool so students can contact me regarding research help,” says Kim. “It soft-launched last year and is really easy because you can take photos on your phone and Instagram can edit the screenshots, which helps students quickly. I collaborate with the UBC Sauder Marketing and Communications team and share my TikTok stories with them to leverage their strong engagement rates and huge following.”
Coming from a creative background, Kim combined her problem-solving and user-experience skills to create innovative and engaging online/hybrid lessons that included Star Wars, escape rooms, and Zoom. “Library research is not the most interesting thing in the world, so I really investigated on how to make it more engaging for students. Sauder has many international students, so there’s that barrier where if I talk too technically with library language (i.e. boolean search), it can be boring and difficult to grasp. I used to be a teacher at an international school in the Philippines. I usually like to do scenario-based lessons, which students had fun with. I decided to implement that into my library instruction.”
Of the six UBC Library aspirational values, Kim says that Creativity and Innovation best describes her experience as an employee. “I see myself as a creative person and I do push the boundaries a little bit, which can feel risky, but I also feel that it’s necessary to move out of your comfort zone to adjust to more of the needs of your audience.”
Kim’s advice to new UBC librarian hires is to work on developing their T-shaped skills. “The librarian field is very competitive, I won’t colour it with rainbows. It’s an awesome field to be in, but you have to work hard for it. I enjoy reading self-help books and recently read a book that talks about the T-value, which explains that it’s okay to be good in all skills, but you have to be exceptionally good at one where nobody can replace you, where libraries will hire you because of that one very good skill that nobody else can do.”
Learn more about UBC Library’s David Lam Management Research Library.