Subject Librarians

Here at the library, we try our best to provide students with the support they need during their studies, Napier. Whether that be helping you find the books you need in the library or fixing any pesky IT issues you might be having. However, our Information Assistants aren’t the only people at the library who are here to help you. We also have our team of Subject Librarians here to help provide you with in-depth study support and research guides tailored to the different schools here at Napier.

Our Subject Librarians

There are five Subject Librarians in the library, and you can find a full list of them along with their contact details on the MyNapier library help page.
At our Sighthill campus library, we have Catriona Robertson, who serves as the Subject Librarian for the School of Applied Sciences (as well as the Department of Learning and Teaching), and Dawn Adams, who serves as the Subject Librarian for the School of Health and Social Care.
At Merchiston, we have Joyce Templeton at the School of Computing, Engineering & Built Environment, and Sarah Jeffcot with the School of Arts and Creative Industries.
And at Craiglockhart, we have Keith Walker for the Business School, which includes our law degree courses.

Subject Librarian Support

If you’ve got a question for the Subject Librarians or would like to arrange a 1-on-1 session to go over any concerns, you can just get in touch using the details linked above. The 1-on-1 sessions are especially useful if you have any research concerns. For example, if you’re unsure about how to use some of the more specialised and complicated databases used by the university (a common concern among some Health and Social Care students!) then you can get in touch with the Subject Librarian for your school and get the guidance you need.
The Subject Librarians can also advise you on how to understand and best make use of the different referencing styles used by the different departments here at the university, something that you’ll definitely need to get to grips with when it comes to writing your assessments!

Along with answering any questions you might have for them, the Subject Librarians are also responsible for writing the library LibGuides, a collection of in-depth guides to walk you through different aspects of research. These guides are tailored to each of our schools or to different aspects of research (such as reference management or literature reviews), so you can get the exact help you need. If you ever find yourself with a question about how to go about doing your research, then be sure to have a look at the appropriate LibGuide page before contacting the Subject Librarian. You might find out there’s already a LibGuide that has all the information you need.

The Subject Librarians also support you by working with your course lecturers and the library’s Resource Acquisitions team to manage the catalogue of books and journal articles that you have access to through the library.
Each Subject Librarian helps to oversee the library collection for their respective school, and is responsible for ensuring that the university has access to any of the materials included on your course reading lists. If there is a book your lecturer thinks would be just perfect to use as reading material for your module, then it’s up to the Subject Librarian to ensure that we can get a copy of it for the library.

We hope that this brief overview has helped you to better understand the role that our Subject Librarians play here at Napier, and the ways that your learning is supported by them, even if you don’t realise it!
And we hope that those of you who feel you need extra support in your studies now know who to contact for the help you need.

By Matthew Ferrie