In this second installment of the Leatherby Librarians at Home blog series, we’re catching up with Brandman University Distance Education Librarian David Carson.David Carson

1. What has been the most challenging aspect for you of working from home so far, and how did you overcome it?

The most challenging aspect of working from home has been managing outside noise, particularly when I’m on a phone call or teaching. Living in a dense neighborhood near downtown Long Beach, there is a lot of ambient noise from my neighbors. Thankfully I use a laptop and can relocate to a quieter part of my apartment (such as the kitchen) if my home office gets too noisy.

Photo of a desk in front of a window, with part of a computer monitor, a water bottle, and a lamp visible in the foreground, and a black and white cat sitting in the windowsill.

David’s home office set-up, with a guest appearance by Petey

2. What is your favorite remote resource for students and/or faculty? 

One of the silver linings of the situation we find ourselves in is that students and faculty are discovering many of the online resources we’ve had for a while. The resource that people seem most excited to learn about is Kanopy! I like to describe it to people as a “bougie Netflix” where they can watch all those indie films and documentaries that they meant to go see at the art theatre but never found time for.

3. What book(s) have you been reading recently?

Stylized cover of a comic book, depicting Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, holding a stake in one hand and an iPhone in the other, with Sunnydale High School and silhouetted figures with red eyes behind her. The image is in shades of pink and orange.

Cover of the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book series.

I’ve been reading a new series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic books! It is a reboot of the 90s TV series that finds all of our favorite members of the Scooby Gang back in high school but now with smart phones and texting. The artwork is beautiful and the writing captures perfectly the smart, quippy dialogue that the Buffy TV series was known for.

4. What is the most interesting change you’ve made to how you do your job in the past few weeks?

As the Distance Education Librarian, I’m fortunate that my job was already well-suited for working remotely and I haven’t had to make any big changes in my day-to-day work.

5. What is your number one piece of advice for students learning remotely and/or faculty teaching remotely right now?

A lesson I learned while taking online classes for my MLIS degree was to resist the urge to multitask while watching online lectures. Trust me, you don’t absorb even half of the material if you are on your phone or browsing the web while listening to the lecture!