At UVic Libraries, students are supported far beyond their day-to-day studies. They are also provided with career-focused development and future-ready learning opportunities, and a vast assortment of multimedia, digital and archival resources for research.
Professional development opportunities
UVic Libraries offers many employment opportunities for international students including part-time work, the Young Canada Works program, and the UVic work study program. These hands-on paid experiences align with student schedules and provide valuable work skills in various careers. Library student employee responsibilities might include helping with multimedia and video creation and editing, supporting Indigenous reconciliation work, assisting with special collections, or answering questions at the Ask Us desk.
The Libraries also hosts a wide range of professional skill-building workshops for students. For example, Career Services (which has a location in the Learning Commons at the Mearns – McPherson Library) offers a series of workshops called “Your Career Starts Here,” that guide students through essential skills such as networking, using AI to explore career options, and writing effective resumes.
The Digital Scholarship Commons (DSC) also offers dozens of workshops on topics such as data analysis, design, coding, citation, photography, podcasting, artificial intelligence tools, and more. By taking these workshops, international students can learn valuable skills to add to their resume, as well as bring innovative perspectives to their jobs.
During his practicum in a kindergarten classroom, Yangchao Hu, a post-degree Bachelor of Education student from China, utilized the DSC’s 3D printing services to create small toy models to help children make object-to-sound connections when learning to read.
“When I was teaching them letter sounds, I printed a small elephant. So, when the children see the elephant, they would be like, oh, this elephant has the eh sound, right? They could hear it, and they could see it,”
Yangchao Hu
Research support & scholarships
UVic Libraries provides access to a vast collection of multilingual media and archives to support student researchers. Within a collection of about 1.5 million physical titles, 2.5 million electronic titles, 140,000 journals, and almost 1,000 different databases, students can find more than 491,500 non-English books, e-books, and streaming media items. Extensive and specialized digital and physical archives are also available through Special Collections & University Archives.
Now working on her master’s thesis on Indigenous knowledge and climate change, Brenda Jimenez, a student from Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico, frequently consults UVic Libraries’ resources and attends research skills workshops.
“As I’m developing research for my thesis, I’ve been more engaged in learning certain skills, so I’ve attended a few workshops on qualitative data analysis,” she says. Through these workshops, she also learned about academic writing and time management—skills that were key in her journey to adapting to the demands of graduate school in Canada.
UVic Libraries also provides funding to undergraduate and postgraduate students through library awards and scholarships. In 2023/24, students received $6,600 to support their studies, and professional and research skills, using library resources that set them up for success in their careers.
