November 24, 2022

UOW librarian wins Australian Business Deans Council network award

Award recognises Lauren Richardson’s achievements providing exceptional support services to students

Ms Lauren Richardson from the University of Wollongong’s (UOW) Sydney CBD campus has been recognised by the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) Network for her outstanding contribution to student services.

The annual ABDC Network Awards recognise and reward innovation and excellence in Australian business schools.

Ms Richardson has been an integral part of the University for over 10 years, and has remained at the forefront of delivering high-quality, client-focused library services to the students and staff.

Her role is to provide a supportive learning environment to UOW students and assist them in gaining an understanding of academic research and apply those learnings to their assessments and workplace through mentoring, workshops, tools and consultations.

The Award recognises Ms Richardson’s efforts in developing and implementing a multipronged program that creates a measurable impact for MBA students.

“I am delighted to have been recognised by the prestigious ABDC awards,” Ms Richardson said.

“The Executive MBA course at the Sydney CBD campus has a high number of mature-age students, many of whom never have, or have not recently, studied at a university.

“A study using gap analysis identified that many students studying an Executive MBA at our Sydney Business School campus are unfamiliar with academic research and need inbuilt flexibility to cope with their studies.”

To assist mature-age students in developing the necessary academic skills and increase their student experience, Ms Richardson developed a librarianship skills program to ensure students have access to high level support when they need it.

“The librarian skills program includes workshops that continuously develop study and time management skills of students and keeping their learning progress on par with other students.

“Having a student-centred approach that assists, supports and develops skills of our students has been the core idea of the program. It builds a pathway for students who haven’t attended a university in a long time and gives them the same experience that is on par with other students.”

Ms Richardson has also been involved in other key projects such as building a library service from the ground up at Innovation Campus, starting the Sydney Business School football team and supporting UOW academics with their teaching and research needs.

She was recently recognised for her excellence in teaching and learning in the annual Australian Awards for University Teaching.