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Meet the Community: David Osberbur
Interview by Brian Gottesman
Q: What are your responsibilities as the Head Librarian? A: I oversee the running of the library. I'm responsible for selecting all of the materials that come into the library and everything that goes onto the library website. I supervise an assistant and two student helpers who mostly do the circulation of materials. I participate in several university-wide library committees. One of the committees I’m on is responsible for the design of the HOLLIS [Harvard Library System] website. Another one is responsible for putting information about science reference materials on the web. So there are several of those kinds of committees. And right now I’m involved in getting together an institutional repository where faculty members can put their scholarly materials on the web so they’re freely available to anyone. Q: This would be Harvard-wide or department-wide? A: It’s going to be concentrated in science libraries first, but we’re hoping to make it Harvard-wide. Q: How long have you been working in the library sciences? A: I got my master’s degree in 1999, so I’ve been doing it for five years now. I’ve been at Harvard just a little over three years. Q: How has the technology changed since you first started doing this kind of work? A: There’s a tremendous increase in the amount of material available over the Internet now. There’s a huge issue in scholarly communication, because of the high prices that publishers are charging, about whether we can make things more freely available, that is, whether scholars are willing to put their material on the web for free and let anyone have access to it. Q: The library recently changed its physical location. What was that like? A: It was a bit trying for a period of time, but actually it went well and I’m quite happy with the way the space has turned out. Q: What are the benefits of the new space? A: There are a lot more computers available than before. I also think the organization is much tighter. Because there is more access to materials on the web we don’t need quite as much space in the library, so we did lose some space. My biggest complaint is that there is less space for people to work. But I think it’s worked out actually better than I thought it would since our computers are small enough that people can push them back and use the desk space that’s there.
Q: Can you envision a time when physical libraries will be a thing of the past? A: No, not completely, simply because I don’t think that there are the resources to put all of the material that’s now in print on the web, and printed materials are still very valuable for people to use. I don’t think everything will ever be completely on the web but I do think it’s going more and more that way. Many of the archival things will not be, but future things will. Q: From your vantage point, what’s changed within MCB as a department in the time you've been here? A: It’s interesting to be in an academic environment because there are always new people. Every year there are new students and there are students graduating. Every year there are new postdocs coming in, and it’s always a good thing to get new ideas coming in, people asking about new resources. I enjoy that. Of course, there’s the big change in the physical environment with the courtyard being renovated. [laughs] Q: In terms of research, people come to you saying, “I’m looking for resources on X, Y, or Z.” Have you noticed trends in what people are asking about, or areas of research that people are starting to look at that they maybe weren’t looking at three or four years ago? A: Not so much, but I think that’s because the faculty here were already looking at things that are new to everybody else. For instance, RNAi, which is one of Craig Hunter’s main areas of study, is now becoming a very big thing, but that’s always been his focus. So it’s not so new here. There are maybe more questions about resources that we have, not because those resources are new but because people are becoming more aware of how to research things more effectively and what they require to find something when Google’s not working so well. Q: What’s the typical day like for you here? A: I usually start around eight o’clock in the morning. I always walk through the libraries and make sure everything is looking good before people begin. I do a lot of the general maintenance on the computers so I make sure that everything is connected and that the Internet sites are working. I do that as a routine in the mornings. I answer questions that people have about library resources and help them find the information they need. I answer many of these questions over the phone or by email. I troubleshoot when people have access problems with electronic resources. Then I sit down, answer email, and start working on whatever project I’m working on. Right now, I’m doing a book review for a library newsletter. I’m redoing a course that I teach at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) in Washington: it’s a weeklong course on bioinformatics in which we teach the NCBI resources to people from all over the country. I’m preparing to teach some of the bioinformatics course being offered at the Center for Genomics Research (CGR). I’m also giving a talk in May at a medical libraries association meeting, so I’m preparing that. Another project is the preparation of a database of electronic resources for the library’s web page to make those resources more easily searchable. So mostly I spend my time in front of the computer. [laughs] Q: How would you describe the social universe of MCB and the ways in which you interact with it?
Q: Ah yes, the annual defeat of the G1s. A: The annual defeat of the G1s, right. [laughs] That’s a lot of fun. So there are a lot of good things going on. And the staff members really put a lot of effort into what they do and are helpful to people. Q: Anything else that you would want people to know about MCB? A: Since I’ve been here I’ve found it to be a great place to work. The people are all really good. In my case the faculty and staff really seem to appreciate everything that I do, and they let me know. I enjoy that.
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