Sarah is an enthusiastic, experienced and award-winning* Librarian with broad experience working with students and academic staff to help provide an excellent student experience.  With nearly twenty years experience in Higher Education Sarah is committed to supporting students to save time and work smarter (not harder), with a current focus on supporting students studying fully online.

Sarah moved to the University of Sussex in 2019, after 16 years at the University of Brighton, progressing from a library assistant up to the senior Librarian responsible for the Art, Media and Humanities Library and managing the team, resources and budgets at the City Campus Library.  Working as the Online Distance Learning Librarian has been a great fit for Sarah, who has enjoyed working with international students in her spare time (leading an ‘International Café’ in a local church) and Sarah and her family currently host language school students throughout the year.

Outside of work Sarah enjoys spending time with her family, playing football with the children, learning crochet (and helping the eldest learn too), and binge watching Netflix late at night.

Key responsibilities include:

• Student-facing academic support, delivered online in groups or 1-2-1
• Delivering live sessions to new Online students, and recording video content to support across a range of topics at the point of need
• Supporting academic colleagues in updating reading lists and providing access to open educational resources
• Giving students strategic support and information to help avoid academic misconduct
• Supporting the ODL central team in various ways as needed
• Supporting senior ODL management at our Partner Leadership meetings every fortnight
• Managing the Canvas-based Study Online Student Support Site, for Online students.
• Collaborating with other colleagues in the University in developing and implementing the Academic Skills Framework
• Started the informal Teams Academic SKills network, to bring together colleagues supporting students across the University in this area
• Working with Library colleagues to ensure timely delivery of online reading lists and enqsuring access to resources for online students

Current projects

Working on a chapter about Inclusive Practice when supporting Online Distance Learning students, based on my contribution to the Learning Matters podcast in 2025.

Recent blog post summarising my role - Adventures of an Online Distance Learning Librarian, hosted on the Educational Enhancement blog

*Winner of an 'Inclusive Sussex' award, at the 2024 Sussex Education Awards