James Bachmann has been with UBC since 2021 as the Instruction Librarian at UBC Law Library. In this role, he is responsible for coordinating the first-year Legal Research & Writing (LRW) program at the Peter A. Allard School of Law and teaches first-year LRW and upper-year Advanced Legal Research.
Before coming to UBC, James worked at Simon Fraser University (SFU) Library, first as a co-op student and then in a temporary position. Prior to pursuing librarianship, James received a PhD in philosophy, served as a sessional instructor in philosophy, and completed his JD and LLM.
“I was looking for a position that would draw upon my teaching background—so this position becoming available really worked out well for me,” he says. “UBC’s prestigious reputation was a big draw as well.”
Opportunities for variety and networking
James shares that the variety of work and opportunity to meet new people are some of the most interesting parts of his job.
“I really appreciate the diversity of the position. While most of my time is spent teaching (prepping class and grading), I’ve still had time to take part in or lead various projects, including leading a team of law librarians from around the country in the creation of a new open access legal citation guide (the Canadian Open Access Legal Citation Guide), hiring students using TLEF funding to create a critical thinking tutorial with a focus on law, and being part of another group of law librarians from around the country that created a guide for assessing AI systems in the context of legal research and writing.”
In fact, the open access legal citation guide became one of his favourite projects since joining UBC, and led to him winning an Innovation Award at UBC Library’s 2025 Employee Recognition Awards.
“While this wasn’t specifically a UBC Library project, the open access legal citation guide is a very important project in the contexts of open access and access to justice,” notes James. “Plus, I got to get to know and work closely with over a dozen law librarians across the country, and they’ve been a really great group of people to work with—kind, dedicated, knowledgeable, and great at compromise and flexibility.”
Freedom and flexibility
When James is not busy teaching, grading or prepping for class, he enjoys having the freedom to take on new and interesting projects and grow his expertise.
“I have the freedom and flexibility to take on a variety of projects and join a variety of groups, which allows me to take advantage of opportunities, explore interests, and develop skills and experience in new areas.”
Of the Library’s six aspirational values, James says Trust and Respect best describes his experience as an employee, noting that there is a general culture of trust and respect among his colleagues.
His advice to new hires is to not be afraid to ask questions and to pursue projects that are both personally interesting and beneficial to others.
Outside of the Library, James enjoys photography, taking long walks with his dog, reading mystery books and learning new things. He also enjoys tuning in to the World Cup every four years.
Learn more about working at UBC Library.
