A Survival Guide for Librarians in the Digital Age
A Survival Guide for Librarians in the Digital Age
Gary Wan
135-291 Windermere Rd., London, On. , N6G 2J9
Home: 519-438-8063; Home page: http://publish.uwo.ca/~gwan3/home.htm
Education
Master of Library and Information Science, University of Western Ontario, London, On. , Canada. Expected Dec., 2005
M.S., Computer Science and Applications, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China. 2003
B.S., Electrical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, China. 1997
Professional Experience
Information Management and Development Librarian, Saskatchewan Provincial Library. May 2005 to September 2005
Worked independently and participated as a member of the E-library team.
Performed troubleshooting with the province-wide library management system (Horizon), communicated with clients and handled their requests regarding the use, configuration and statistics of system and database records, resulting in higher customer satisfaction.
Acted as a primary contact to Horizon customer support and the Union Catalogue Librarian at the National Library of Canada.
Developed external utilities connected with the library management system, increasing system efficiency significantly.
Developed instructions and guides for general staff and system administrators on several Horizon utilities and components; trained library staff to install, configure and use these utilities.
Extensive experience in project management.
Student Librarian, N'merind Sweetgrass Resource Center, London, Ontario. February 2005 to April 2005.
Installed, configured and maintained the library management system (ResouceMate) and OPAC.
Negotiated with the vendor regarding licenses and support issues.
Trained volunteers and staff to catalogue library materials and to use the library management system.
Catalogued a number of library materials using AACR2, DDC, LCSH, MARC, and other cataloguing tools.
Research/Teaching Assistant, School of Computer Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China. January 2001 to June 2003.
Participated in several research projects as a member of the multimedia lab.
Instructed undergraduate students in labs and projects; graded assignments and aided students in their learning objectives for the class.
Published 5 articles in Chinese scholarly journals.
Information Specialist, Resource Center, Electric Power Testing & Research Institute of Hubei Province, Wuhan, China. July 1997 to September 2000.
Provided reference services to staff and customers for research and testing in the subjects of electrical engineering, computer engineering and applied physics using a variety of resources, receiving an excellent evaluation from users.
Acted as liaison to the Electrical Measurement, Systems, and several other departments; selected and purchased books, journals and reference materials that support these departments.
Developed guides and instructions on the use of electronic resources, new equipment and software systems.
Coached clients and staff in the use of these resources and devices in group workshops and one-on-one sessions.
Designed and managed the intranet website for the Resource Center, achieving more than 99% uptime.
Developed and maintained an effective database management system for the Electrical Measurement department containing data about staffing, research projects, testing, equipment, etc., thus increasing work efficiency by 100%.
Administrated about 40 PCs in a local area network and performed troubleshooting, maintaining 98% uptime.
Library assistant (part-time), Huazhong University of Sci. & Tech. Library, Wuhan, China, 1995 to 1997.
Circulated library materials and provided quick reference to patrons.
Computer Skills
Online Resource: Lexis/Nexis, Dialog, OCLC First Search, ProQuest, Gale, Web of Knowledge, INSPEC, CAS databases, Google, etc.
Operating Systems: Microsoft Windows 98/2000/NT/XP, RedHat Linux 9.0, DOS
Scripting/Programming: Javascript, PHP, ASP, HTML/XHTML, CSS, XML, Java, C/C++, SQL
Database: MS Access, Sybase, MS SQL Server, MySQL, Foxpro
Applications: MS Office, MS Frontpage, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, MS Project, Crystal Reports, SQL Advantage, Horizon ILS, Koha ILS, ResouceMate ILS, MarcEdit, other software applications
Hardware: Specification, installation, operation, support and troubleshooting of most microcomputers and peripherals.
Honors and Awards
Donald K. Norrgard Award, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, 2005.
Excellent Graduate Student Award, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China. 2003
Languages
Fluent in Chinese; basic knowledge of French and Japanese.
Professional Affiliation
Ontario Library Association
Member, Ontario Library and Information Technology Association.
Other Activities
Enjoy travelling, culture studies, literature, playing basketball, music and movies from various countries.
References
Available upon request