Hello my name is Heather and I have recently joined the University of Canterbury Library in the role of Associate University Librarian (Research and Learning).

My initial library qualification is from RMIT and I have worked in the library world for the last 25 years. My fascination with libraries began when I worked at the University of Otago Library as a shelver during my undergraduate years and received outstanding mentoring from a staff member named Cecily Buchanan.

I started my professional career in Melbourne working in a variety of special libraries and as a library consultant. Upon returning to New Zealand in 1987. I began working at Auckland Technical Institute (later to become the Auckland Institute of Technology and then AUT University) and completed a Master of Applied Science (Library and Information Management) as a distance student at Charles Sturt University. During this time I worked in a number of positions including Media Librarian, Queen Street Librarian (subject specialisation in Commerce), Technical Services Librarian and as the Associate University Librarian, Collection Services. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at AUT, however when the opportunity arose with this position at the University of Canterbury I was happy to become a Mainlander again, with the bonus of working in an established and long standing University Library.

I have two sons who over the years have taken up a variety of interests, many of them water based, and it is nice to know that I have passed on my love of swimming. I enjoy looking at and collecting antiques. I specialise in collecting Victorian and Edwardian enamelled glass, especially if it has a lily of the valley design. I am an avid reader of detective novels and am really looking forward to working my way through the collection held in the Law Library.