Many aspects of librarianship appeal to Britt Foster, but what she loves most is being in a position where she can support learning.

"Here at the University, I love getting to see how our students turn their passions into amazing work benefitting our community and our world," she said.

At Fresno State since 2012, Foster was the librarian for the V.E. Petrucci Library in the Vincent E. Petrucci Viticulture building. In 2016, she was hired into a tenure-track position as a research services librarian at the Henry Madden Library, where she serves as the liaison to agricultural business, child and family science, food science and nutrition, plant science and viticulture and enology.

Proud of the public higher education system in California, she completed a second master's degree in education (curriculum and instruction) from the Kremen School of Education and Human Development.

"I worked in K-12 special education before becoming a librarian, and went to school to be a children’s public librarian," she said. "I graduated during the recession, though, and ended up 'boomeranging' back to the Fresno area, where my family is."

In Fresno, she found work as a part-time librarian in the viticulture and enology collection, and she fell in love with working with Fresno State students.

As a research services librarian, Foster helps faculty, staff, students and the community find and use library resources.

Foster especially enjoys teaching patrons how to use library resources — showing them how to engage with a complex and complicated information environment.

"I go into classrooms and meet with students one-on-one or in research teams to teach them different information skills, like how to construct search terms, how to evaluate information or how to gather information to create a new product, like a literature review or a presentation," she said.

Foster is also one of the library's liaisons to the Foundation Center, which provides campus resources to find funding for research projects, educational needs (like conference travel) or community benefit organizations.

"I love almost everything about my job. I adore being a librarian," she said. "My No. 1 favorite thing is meeting with patrons to talk about what information they need, and then going over different strategies to find that information."

With her ag sciences students, Foster finds they often need a variety of sources: primary research articles, government statistics and consumer information.

"I love hearing about the research projects and assignments that they’re working on, and watching that creative light turn on when we come across an article that adds to and extends their topic," she said. "This kind of self-guided learning, driven by curiosity, is amazing to see."

Involved in the Madden Library's efforts to raise awareness of information literacy — the ability to find, access, use, evaluate and create information — Foster says she and her colleagues are doing amazing work in this area.

"It’s an essential academic, but also, life skill," she said.

Foster uses her research to explore ways to improve teaching practices, create resources and seek partnerships to best develop these skills in Fresno State students.

She is involved in many projects and professional committees and is co-chair of the Science and Technology Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries' Framework taskforce.

The Framework for Information Literacy is a guiding document for defining information literacy in college students. Working with other science librarians, Foster and her colleagues are developing an additional specific document that would help guide what information literacy looks like for those in the scientific disciplines.

"A previous iteration was critical for me in my own teaching practice and development as a librarian," she said, "so it’s really exciting to work with colleagues across the nation on this new document that will hopefully serve as a useful outreach and teaching tool for other librarians in the scientific disciplines."

As you might expect from a librarian, Foster approaches her hobbies with educated fervor. She loves to garden and is going through the UC Master Gardeners Trainee program.

"I’m a vegetarian, so I love growing interesting produce and herbs that are hard to find in the general market," she said. "I think I have over a dozen kinds of lettuce ready to harvest right now, and I’m also going to try growing corn for flour for the first time. We’re growing an heirloom variety bred by the Hopi nation and it’s pink! I also have a cutting garden and grow flowers for bouquets and arrangements."

Britt has been married for four-and-a-half years to husband Adam. They have a 2-year-old son, Alex. The family rescued a Chihuahua/Terrier mix, Izzie Fritz.