Sept. 9, 2021, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Always remember, at GRCC, you are surrounded by people who want you to be successful and are ready to walk with you on your educational pathway. We are here to help!
Meet Lori DeBie. As a reference and technical services librarian, Lori is here to help students feel less anxiety about the research and writing process, and help them find reliable information. This help includes showing students how to find and evaluate sources for their projects and research papers.
"This prepares students for the rest of their academic career, and for life in general," she said.
Lori knows from experience that the support she's providing students now can have a big impact. She worked in libraries or bookstores since she was 16, but never considered it as a career path until late in college.
"Like many GRCC students, I changed my mind about what I wanted to do several times, first considering careers in visual arts and journalism," she said. "It's okay to not know what you want to do, but GRCC is a great place for figuring it out."
The technical part of Lori's job is working behind the scenes with the library's computer systems to make sure books and other resources can be found easily in GRCC's online catalog.
Lately much of her work involves electronic resources, including making ebooks and streaming video easily accessible from anywhere. Lori also orders materials to add to the library's collections in anthropology, biological sciences, children's literature, English, history, journalism, psychology and social work. And she works with faculty in those areas to provide resources that help them teach their classes.
"Not only do I enjoy helping students, but being at a smaller library also lets me have a lot of variety in what I do day to day, which suits me," she said.
Lori has worked at GRCC for 13 years. She attended Calvin College (now Calvin University) for her bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism, and then University of North Carolina - Greensboro for her master's degree in Library and Information Science.
You can connect with the library team through email library@grcc.edu and by phone (616) 234-3872, or by stopping in the Library and Resource Commons, 140 Ransom Ave NE, in Grand Rapids.