Have you met Chris, Public Services Assistant at Cameron Library? Spend the next few minutes getting to know him a little better.
Where is your favourite place on campus?
Lately it’s been the couches in SUB. I’ll often go there after lunch to read a book or take a nap.
Tablet or paper?
Paper — easy. I don’t even think it’s because I work at a library. I just don’t do well with things that aren’t tactile.
Name one thing you’ve brought to work from home.
An Allen key set for my bike just in case anything happens to my bike while I’m here.
What is the one thing you can’t live without?
The two things that I always have to have on me are a jar of Red Rose tea and a jar of Adams peanut butter. That’s what I eat for breakfast and what I drink in the mornings.
If you won airfare to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I’m not much of an international traveler so I would probably go visit my immediate family spread across North America. My brother has been in Ithaca for three years, my little brother is moving to Minneapolis, so I would like to visit them.
You can invite anyone — alive or dead, real or fictional — to dinner. Who would it be?
I would want to have dinner with my mom who passed away when I was very young.
If you could switch jobs with someone else on campus for a week, what would you do?
There’s three. One is the giant bear in the bookstore that just sits there all day half-asleep. The other one is one of the therapy dogs that come into the library sometimes. My more literal answer would be David Hohm who works in the bike library who helps people all day fixing bikes.
What does “uplifting the whole people” mean to you?
There are a lot of small things we do at the library to uplift the whole people. The first that comes to mind is that we make it really easy for members of the public to access both our physical and electronic collection. Anyone who comes into the library has access to the same thousands of dollars worth of databases that we do. To me that’s a really meaningful way we are a part of uplifting the whole people.
If you could solve any problem in the world, what would it be?
Empathy — I’d love to be able to foster a stronger culture of empathy for us all.
What 3 words best describe your U of A experience?
Pleasant — I find it pleasant to be on campus. I feel really fortunate to work in a place with so much green that also feels like a small town — it’s nice to be able to have spaces like Quad.
Open — I feel very free to make my own decisions at my own pace.
Trusted — I don’t feel that I have to get immense amounts of approval from my supervisors to start initiatives — I feel that they trust me to do that.
About Christopher Bateman
As a Public Service Assistant with the Cameron Science and Technology Library, Chris helps the university community with their research. He has a Library Technician’s diploma, is trying to garden for the first time this summer, and can be found on Goodreads.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.