As a student, I always said I would do my profession in another sector besides the library. No one knows what life will bring, look at me! Seven years ago, I moved to Istanbul, which I had never seen before, to become a reference librarian. Let us begin the story from the beginning. I graduated from Hacettepe University Information and Document Management Department in 2016. Later, I moved to Istanbul to start my new life and began to work as a reference librarian at another institution. Throughout my career, I saw that university and academy were environments I was always happy to be in. At this point I want to explain what a reference librarian is. Sometimes explaining my job as an academic librarian to others can be challenging. After answering the question:
- What do you do?
- I am a librarian.
Other questions arise in people’s minds. A librarian!? So, what are you doing? Do you only borrow books? How is it different from working in a bookstore?… While trying to answer these questions for a long time, I realized that reference librarians are academic advisors. After providing all the services to students and researchers, we support them in promoting and using these services.
If we continue my humble adventure; the idea of moving to Istanbul scared me at first. However, I have always motivated myself by thinking it is a city where I can find different opportunities and advantages. And that’s how it was. Istanbul gave me one of the best advantages I’ve ever had. I started my master’s degree at Istanbul Technical University – Science, Technology and Society in 2017 and graduated in 2020. Meanwhile, I had the opportunity to develop and present many projects on international platforms. I also have a published article.
In December 2022, I started on a new adventure as a reference librarian at Koç University Suna Kıraç Library. On my first day here, I realized that this adventure is another one that is exciting and challenging and it will have a different place in my life. In addition to being a reference librarian, I am an Academic Engagement librarian. This means if you have questions about evaluating academic outcomes, research analysis tools, scientific research and more, I will be happy to help you. Since I am also the College of Administrative Sciences and Economics liaison librarian at SKL, I can help you with specific subjects.
Thank you for reading this. If you want to talk about your adventures, I am at SKL Office 206.
Ebru Gönül Türk
eturk@ku.edu.tr
