It is nearing the end of the semester, and for many students here at WashU, the deadline for final papers is fast approaching. Writing projects can take a lot of time and can be especially draining if you don’t know where to start. Luckily, the subject librarians here at WashU might be able to help you with your next paper.

But what exactly do these “subject librarians” do? Well, according to two subject librarians, it turns out things are much more interesting on the other side of the Olin Help Desk. 

Eliot Boden, the Physics and Mathematics Subject Librarian at Olin Library, was not originally focused on mathematics. As Boden said, “I have a background in French and international studies.” 

Boden explained that it is common for subject librarians to not have a specialized background in their subject focus. So, if a strong background in the subject isn’t necessary for being a good subject librarian, then what is? As it turns out, these librarians have a pretty good understanding of how to navigate libraries and the information in them. And when it comes to independent research or a class writing project, having credible and relevant sources is critical for a good paper. But as Boden points out, finding sources can be daunting.

“Library research can be overwhelming, and it can take a lot of time. And I think by reaching out to a subject librarian, a student can build their own confidence in where to start and how to do research and save themselves a lot of time instead of stumbling around in the dark,” Boden said.

In other words, a subject librarian’s main purpose is to assist students in finding the information they need to do their own research. For the WashU libraries, this means that subject librarians serve as a first point of contact between students and “behind-the-scenes” staff, such as the acquisitions librarians, circulation librarians, and tech-services librarians who help the whole operation come together. 

Not only can subject librarians help students find sources located in the WashU libraries, but they can also help students find resources from other institutions. As Boden said, “If we don’t have it, we’ll get it … If you need an article from a specialized journal and we don’t have a subscription, we can request one for you or show you how to request one from another library, and those will come within 48 hours. So as long as you start your research a couple days early, it’ll arrive in time for you to read it and write the paper. And we can also get books from other libraries. That takes about a week.”

However, there is a certain subset of subject librarians who do have a specialized background in their fields. These are the subject librarians with a focus on foreign languages, such as Walter Schlect, the Germanic Languages & Literatures and Comparative Literature Subject Librarian. 

Schlect said that all of the language-focused subject librarians “can speak one of the languages that we cover fluently. … The language expertise has been really crucial for the library services here because there just are certain things where it’s hard to be able to find something if you don’t know how another language works, and that includes using a database that’s in another language.”

For subject librarians with a focus in foreign languages, a working knowledge of their subject language also allows them to help others access information from other countries. For Schlect, this means working with interlibrary loan partners in Germany to acquire German-language material that WashU libraries might not have.

While connecting students with resources may be the main focus of subject librarians, they also help the school in other ways. For instance, subject librarians constantly work to keep WashU libraries updated with the latest information in their respective fields. Likewise, subject librarians also help test and acquire new databases for the WashU community to use. 

But these librarians aren’t just focused on staying in the library. Boden and Schlect also said they worked to engage with their departments in-person to establish a stronger connection with the students and faculty in their subjects. For Boden, this means sitting in with the Physics Department during “Scribe and Vibe” on Mondays, a time for physics students to peer-edit each other’s work. Meanwhile, Schlect hosts his own weekly office hours in the Comparative Literature and Thought Department, a merger between the Comparative Literature and German Language Departments. These in-person events allow students to get to know their subject librarians and ask any questions they may have about library resources or where to find new material for research.

Now this all sounds like fun, but how do you get in touch with these people? As it turns out, a librarian is on the clock 24 hours a day to assist you with your research needs.

According to Boden, “If you’ve ever been on the website there’s a 24-hour chat that you can ask research questions of, and most of the subject librarians handle that.” That’s right, the 24-hour library chat has not been co-opted by AI chatbots just yet. This means that if you need any guidance at any time of the day, you can get in touch with a librarian who will help you out.

While you can find out more research advice by talking through the online chat or contacting your subject librarian here at the WashU library website, Boden and Schlect also offered some of their own recommendations for students looking to improve their research workflow.

Boden recommended a way to navigate around paywalls: “If you’ve ever been researching and you get to a page where it’s ‘pay $49.99 to read this article,’ LibKey is a browser extension that will check to see if the library has it, and it’ll have a little pop-up and it’ll say, ‘Just download the PDF from WashU libraries.’”

Similarly, Schlect suggests reaching out to WashU librarians for help accessing new material. “I always recommend to students, anytime you encounter a paywall, to contact the libraries and see if we can get it, even if it’s a non academic source … oftentimes we’re able to get access,” he said.

And for citation management, Schlect also recommends that students make use of Zotero, which as he explains is “an open source tool for citation management, and so it makes it easy to save things that you find as you’re researching. It makes it easy to generate citations and generate a bibliography. It works really well with Microsoft Word, so you can, as you’re writing a paper, insert footnotes and/or in whatever style.”

By reaching out to your subject librarian, you may find that your next writing assignment won’t be so bad. 

“Writing a paper is stressful. It’s always going to be, but hopefully we can make it less stressful,” Boden said.