Elizabeth Cardoso Fernandes
2019/20 Honourable Mention iSchool MLIS Co-op Student of the Year
Excellence in the Workplace
As Co-op Student Librarian at UBC – Woodward Library, Elizabeth was a dedicated liaison librarian to the faculties of Forestry, Science and Land & Food systems. She also provided reference services to all 7 Faculties that Woodward Library supports. In addition to participating in collection development and providing reference assistance in the use of information resources, she provided both web-based and in-person instruction to students, faculty, staff, and members of the public. For example, she taught in the 3+2 program, a UBC Faculty of Forestry collaboration with several Chinese forestry universities.
One of Elizabeth’s excellent contributions was the initiative she took to create a glossary of library terms for international students. While teaching a class to the 3+2 program, she noticed they were struggling with the English language library terms she was using. An international iSchool student herself, Elizabeth helped create a glossary to support their learning. Moreover, she took on a large-scale project of writing metadata for the Noel Money gamebooks. This is important work that facilitates researchers to find these otherwise difficult to discover resources. Finally, she put in a significant amount of time researching best practices to create an engaging display of ocean-related books in the Woodward Memorial Room cabinets for Science Literacy Week. In the words of her supervisor, “Elizabeth was truly willing to tackle anything.”
Community Involvement
Outside of co-op, Elizabeth has long been an active contributor in the librarianship community. On top of serving as a librarian at a government environmental library for 8 years, she also worked as a student librarian at an academic and special library in Brazil. After taking a workshop from the UBC Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT), she was invited to work with CTLT as a Graduate Student Facilitator. Most recently, she participated as a senior student at the 2020 iSchool Co-op Conference and undertook Professional Experience in GIS Librarianship at UBC Library’s Research Commons. Elizabeth has also joined the Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians (CAPAL).
Co-op: A Foundation for Future Success
According to Elizabeth, co-op has influenced her journey both academically and professionally. Following her time at Woodward Library, she started to not only tailor her assignments in a way that could be useful for prospective jobs, but also focused on courses that would allow her to work with patrons at academic, public and special libraries. In terms of professional development, Elizabeth has cited the shift in her career goals as one of the greatest outcomes of her co-op experience. Among other roles, she has since completed a position as Project Assistant at the UBC Arts Co-op office, worked as Student Librarian at University Canada West, and most recently started working as Student Librarian at Koerner Library. All of these experiences have broadened her job perspective. When she was first enrolled in the co-op program, she was predominantly focused on working for Public Libraries. Now, however, she looks forward to working at most libraries. “I learned that there is a world of learning opportunities at every library, if I am willing to take it – and I usually am,” she reflects.
About the iSchool Co-op Student of the Year Award
The Arts Co-op Program’s Student of the Year Award recognizes two co-op students in UBC iSchool (Library, Archival, and Information Studies). Two annual awards of $1,000 are available: one to a MLIS or dual student (who used their MLIS background on the co-op job) and the other to a MAS or dual student (who used their MAS background on the co-op job).
These annual awards recognize outstanding achievement in all aspects of the UBC iSchool co-op student’s performance, including academics, the workplace, and professional/community involvement.
Elizabeth Cardoso Fernandes
2019/20 Honourable Mention iSchool MLIS Co-op Student of the Year
Excellence in the Workplace
As Co-op Student Librarian at UBC – Woodward Library, Elizabeth was a dedicated liaison librarian to the faculties of Forestry, Science and Land & Food systems. She also provided reference services to all 7 Faculties that Woodward Library supports. In addition to participating in collection development and providing reference assistance in the use of information resources, she provided both web-based and in-person instruction to students, faculty, staff, and members of the public. For example, she taught in the 3+2 program, a UBC Faculty of Forestry collaboration with several Chinese forestry universities.
One of Elizabeth’s excellent contributions was the initiative she took to create a glossary of library terms for international students. While teaching a class to the 3+2 program, she noticed they were struggling with the English language library terms she was using. An international iSchool student herself, Elizabeth helped create a glossary to support their learning. Moreover, she took on a large-scale project of writing metadata for the Noel Money gamebooks. This is important work that facilitates researchers to find these otherwise difficult to discover resources. Finally, she put in a significant amount of time researching best practices to create an engaging display of ocean-related books in the Woodward Memorial Room cabinets for Science Literacy Week. In the words of her supervisor, “Elizabeth was truly willing to tackle anything.”
Community Involvement
Outside of co-op, Elizabeth has long been an active contributor in the librarianship community. On top of serving as a librarian at a government environmental library for 8 years, she also worked as a student librarian at an academic and special library in Brazil. After taking a workshop from the UBC Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT), she was invited to work with CTLT as a Graduate Student Facilitator. Most recently, she participated as a senior student at the 2020 iSchool Co-op Conference and undertook Professional Experience in GIS Librarianship at UBC Library’s Research Commons. Elizabeth has also joined the Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians (CAPAL).
Co-op: A Foundation for Future Success
According to Elizabeth, co-op has influenced her journey both academically and professionally. Following her time at Woodward Library, she started to not only tailor her assignments in a way that could be useful for prospective jobs, but also focused on courses that would allow her to work with patrons at academic, public and special libraries. In terms of professional development, Elizabeth has cited the shift in her career goals as one of the greatest outcomes of her co-op experience. Among other roles, she has since completed a position as Project Assistant at the UBC Arts Co-op office, worked as Student Librarian at University Canada West, and most recently started working as Student Librarian at Koerner Library. All of these experiences have broadened her job perspective. When she was first enrolled in the co-op program, she was predominantly focused on working for Public Libraries. Now, however, she looks forward to working at most libraries. “I learned that there is a world of learning opportunities at every library, if I am willing to take it – and I usually am,” she reflects.
About the iSchool Co-op Student of the Year Award
The Arts Co-op Program’s Student of the Year Award recognizes two co-op students in UBC iSchool (Library, Archival, and Information Studies). Two annual awards of $1,000 are available: one to a MLIS or dual student (who used their MLIS background on the co-op job) and the other to a MAS or dual student (who used their MAS background on the co-op job).
These annual awards recognize outstanding achievement in all aspects of the UBC iSchool co-op student’s performance, including academics, the workplace, and professional/community involvement.