P&N Person of the Week: Ciara Healy

P&N Person of the Week: Ciara Healy

Ciara Healy: librarian, philosopher, chef, roller derby coach, owner of a cat named Waffles. She does it all.

How many years of service do you have at Duke?

I just started my seventh year here. For all of those years, I have been the librarian for the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. Recently, I also became the librarian for Mathematics and Physics.

What do you do for P&N?

My job title is Subject Librarian; specifically, the librarian for psychology and neuroscience. But, my job encompasses much more than just knowledge on scholarly literature of one subject; I also engage in instruction, collections, and public facing library work. When it comes to instruction, I try to connect with the faculty in the department in ways that allow me to be invited into their classrooms. I also do consultations with undergraduate and graduate students on a variety of things, such as dissertations that include systematic reviews, citation management for theses, or research for class assignments. Additionally, I collect monographs (a fancy word for print books), electronic resources like ebooks and current research literature published in journals. I also take recommendations on what to purchase; just email me. But, first check to make sure we do not already have it. The third component of my job is working at the reference desk in Perkins and answering questions in the chat on our website.

Also, I have my own research. Last year, a colleague and I published an article about troubleshooting access to electronic resources. We have over 1,000 databases, and sometimes links do not work. Most people give up when a link fails, but ultimately we want to find those sources that work best for them.

What do you like about P&N?

The nature of the research of this department is fascinating. It’s also a large department, so I get opportunities to interact with faculty and students. I also appreciate the social environment of P&N.

What is your favorite P&N memory?

When people are cleaning out an office in an academic department, they can offer to bring those materials to the library. In 2015, I received a gift of theses and dissertations from the 1940s and ‘50s to the ‘80s and from that material, I created a digitization project. I contacted all of the authors and, with their permission, scanned their thesis or dissertation. Duke Archives were instrumental and they are now available on Internet Archive. They are indexed and can be searched in Google.

What are your hobbies and interests outside of Duke?

I play and coach roller derby. When I moved here in 2011, I saw a poster in Mad Hatters suggesting people come to a derby boot camp to learn basic skills. I convinced my sister to train with me. We both tried out - she was cut early, but I made the team. I skated with that team for six years. Now, I coach of the Bull City Roller Derby league. Related to that, I have a research interest in women and sports, especially interested in the philosophy of sport.

Do you have a hidden talent?

I am a super cook. I love to cook for others!

Picture Credits: Anna Clare Spelman

P&N person of the week profile by Madison Catrett (Trinity '21) 
Have a nomination for P&N person of the week? E-mail psychneuro@duke.edu