University Librarian Janette Burke shares with us lessons learned through her career, tips to grow in the job and anecdotes for librarians who have not quite decided if this is the job for them.

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Before Janette Burke could even begin her career as a librarian, she was told that she should probably not work in a library

“I used to live in an isolated community where we would get books in the post from the state library. That started my love for librarianship”, Janette told us. She defied the advice she received despite being a fresh graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Library Studies at the South Australia Institute of Technology (now known as the University of South Australia) and began her career in a joint role in TAFE and the public library in country South Australia.

She eventually moved to Rockhampton, a large regional Queensland town and took on a Faculty Librarian role where as part of her role she worked with earlier forms of technology including networking CD-ROMs. Intrigued by the diversity that an academic library offers, her career went through several more vertical and parallel moves. She took on roles at the University of Wollongong, Federation University and Monash University, where she was a Director for over 15 years and ended her journey at Monash University as Interim University Librarian for 12 months.

Janette is now University Librarian at the University of Tasmania enjoying the distinct experience of living and working on a very special Island. We had the pleasure of interviewing Janette on what she loves about the job and the lessons she has learned over the years. We hope you enjoy the interview as much as we did.

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