| The
inside story of Ambika Raghavan |
| |
Venturing beyond one’s comfort zone
can be an intimidating experience. Yet, unless a
person dares to try, he or she will never know what
joy the future can hold. Ms Ambika Raghavan is a
public officer who has proved that taking on new
challenges can be worthwhile and most fulfilling.
After working in a tertiary institution library
for 25 years, Ambika felt she had reached a plateau
in her career and decided to do something about
it. So she quit her job to start afresh in a new
organisation.
Ambika joined the National Library Board (NLB) as
a reference librarian in 2001. Since then, she has
not had any regrets but admits that moving on was
not easy.
“I wasn’t sure what the new organisation
would be like. I had to work with young people.
My learning curve was very, very steep,” she
said. “But I told myself to go in with an
open mind, ease myself in and work from there. And
I think I succeeded.”
Make a trip to Jurong Regional Library and you can
find this inspirational officer at the reference
counter, helping library users with their queries.
Ambika also handles email enquiries from Reference
Point, NLB’s remote information service. Enquiries
can also come by fax, snail mail and through AskNow,
NLB’s collaboration with the National Library
of Australia to offer an online chat information
service.
Being reference librarian can be stressful. “Anyone
out there can ask me anything, so I have to be always
on my toes and make sure that I’m on top of
things,” said Ambika, who has encountered
questions on topics as diverse as the law, business,
history and religion.
Reference librarians have to be familiar with the
collections, both print and non-print. They must
be able to recommend reliable and authoritative
sources of information besides value-adding them.
They direct customers to relevant books, websites,
journals and databases.
Another aspect of Ambika’s job scope involves
auditing, selecting and updating NLB’s business
collection. Her job also requires her to promote
the National Reference Library’s services
and resources during NLB’s programmes, and
at schools and events like the Asian Children’s
Festival and Singapore Learning Festival.
On top of these, she produces information products
such as resource guides and pathfinders for schools,
organisations and the general public. Some of the
topics she has written on include terrorism, family
violence, entrepreneurship, and gender and sexuality.
Some of these are displayed at Community Libraries.
Ambika, who loves to write, has also submitted articles
for foreign journals and is now busy writing an
article on the history of publishing in Singapore,
which will be uploaded to the Singapore Pages at
the eLibraryHub (www.elibraryhub.com/)
later this year.
Ambika is currently handling publications and other
publicity materials in preparation for the opening
of the new library next year. She is also helping
to organise tours, exhibitions and infoliteracy
programmes.
“Here at NLB, we need to multi-task. I can’t
just do one thing. I have to do several things concurrently,
which is what I enjoy because it breaks the monotony,”
she said.
Ambika also enjoys working closely with people.
“I like meeting people and making them happy.
When someone comes to me with an enquiry, I want
that person to leave me feeling very happy. That’s
my ultimate goal,” said Ambika, who has received
over 100 compliments to date.
Pleased with the way things have worked out for
her, Ambika shared, “Starting afresh in a
new organisation at the midpoint of my career and
doing well is quite an achievement to me.
“In fact, when I thought of quitting my former
job, my family wondered how I would cope with a
new job. I just did — and now I’m happy.” |
