Welcome to our new University Librarian Kylie Percival! We asked Kylie to share her thoughts on starting at Curtin University Library and what excites her about her new role:
My application for the University Librarian role at Curtin University was the result of a serendipitous combination of events. I had enjoyed my previous Associate University Librarian role at the University of Adelaide, however I had been with the University for a considerable period in different roles. I was interested in pursuing a new challenge as a university librarian and Perth was at the top of my preferred list of locations. When I attended the International Association of University Librarians conference in Perth in 2019, I was really impressed with the energy and professionalism evident in the wider academic library sector here, so the University Librarian role immediately caught my interest. Once I did more research on the Library and Curtin itself, I was very attracted to the values-led culture at Curtin and specifically the innovative Library services for which Curtin is very well-known.
Libraries and specifically academic libraries are vital places of discovery, knowledge sharing and community belonging for both students and staff. It’s that unique combination which really attracts me to academic libraries and the potential impact they have on both the student experience and supporting the development of new knowledge. And here at Curtin, we do all this in the midst of a truly beautiful campus which I am still exploring as I find my way around.
Since I started three weeks ago, my Curtin experience been overwhelmingly positive and has resoundingly validated the decision to relocate for this new role. The Library team is a strong one and extremely capable as evidenced by people’s ability to rise to the challenge of delivering services across multiple decanted sites for an extended period.
Along with everyone else, I am very much looking forward to re-establishing the staff and our services back into a single building in 2023. And it will be an impressively revamped building with enormous opportunity to re-engage with students both on campus and remotely. The promise of a fully refurbished library building is the envy of many of our academic library colleagues, but it will also be a huge challenge to leverage all the opportunities inherent in the new building. The preparation for our return to Building 105 is one of the most exciting aspects of my new role and it will be an opportunity to showcase the creative student-centred approaches that are distinctive to Curtin Library.
