Kristen Wong has been with UBC since 2006 and is currently a Program Services Assistant, Community Engagement at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre (IKBLC). In this role, Kristen is responsible for supervising student-staff, connecting with community members, and working closely with Community Engagement Librarians on UBC Library community engagement initiatives.
While studying for her Bachelor’s degree in History at UBC, she focussed a lot on collective memory, which ties into much of the work she and her colleagues do at the library.
“A lot of our books are written from a perspective that is not everyone’s perspective and collective memory, for me, is how a group remembers something. It’s not how someone else remembers it, but it’s how the victors remembered something. That kind of falls into the path of reconciliation, a lot of our stories are told by settlers, not Indigenous Peoples who have been stewards of this land since time immemorial. We see things through the lens of colonization, that’s a lot of where our history is from, it’s books. We don’t take into account oral history, which is just as important, and that to me is collective memory, we don’t hear from the other side.”
Before becoming a Program Services Assistant, Kristen worked as a Doctoral Exams Assistant at the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, Graduate School, scheduling and coordinating final doctoral oral examinations for doctoral candidates. As a Program Services Assistant at UBC Library, she also helped coordinate the Robson Reading Series, which she credits for learning many new skills.
“It drew on a lot of skill sets that I didn’t have a lot of experience in, but I was excited about. It was doing coordination, talking to authors, and practicing my public speaking skills.”
One of Kristen’s highlights of working at the IKBLC has been the UBC Library community. She enjoys working closely with Rochelle Mazar, Assistant Director, IKBLC, and Community Engagement Librarians, Allan Cho, Aleha McCauley, and Nick Ubels.
“I’ve been really lucky to work with librarians like Aleha and Alan who always have these ideas, who are always on projects that are new and upcoming and get me involved in it. With Aleha it’s things like the Making Research Accessible in the Downtown Eastside Initiative, which is working to make resources about the Downtown East Side (DTES) more accessible to researchers. I think DTES is often a community that is marginalized, forgotten about or looked down on, but there is some real research that is going on down there that is relevant to what people are studying now – Nick Ubels, Community Engagement Librarian, is also part of that program and hearing him speak is always amazing.”
One of the most interesting parts of Kristen’s role is being able to witness the important changes that happen with Library programs and initiatives, such as the BC History Digitization Project.
“One of the projects I’m working on right now is the BC History Digitization Project. For the last 10 years, it’s been focussed on BC history – the digitization of these projects are made public, so we get a lot of really interesting things. The most interesting thing about it this year is that there is also a portion that will be dedicated to the digitization of Indigenous materials, and this material won’t necessarily be made public, but it is recognizing reconciliation and the role of being a steward of materials. It’s very interesting to be a part of the discussions because you see the thought the librarians [like Mimi Lam from Digital Initiatives] and partners put into these projects, and removing that very colonial lens and saying we need to be more inclusive, which is what the library is about. It’s about being inclusive and being supportive of the communities out there.”
Kristen’s advice to new UBC hires is to engage with your community and ask questions. “Don’t be afraid to ask questions, don’t be afraid to say hi. A lot of people are very willing to help, sit down with you, and talk to you about things. Don’t be afraid to build those connections because you never know where they might lead.”
In her spare time, Kristen enjoys eating, spending time with her family and friends, and volunteering in her community. She is also a lifelong learner and always encourages friends to try new things. “My definition of the meaning of life is to learn as much as you can. Life is about learning.”
Learn more about UBC Library’s Community Engagement.