168 · Representative Documents: Program Evolution
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Strategic Objective III.1 Formalize the Network of Library Liaisons… Appendix 2
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Appendix 2: Current Liaison Activities at CUL
Based on interviews with unit library directors or their representatives, as well as discussions with the
Reference and Outreach Committee, and representatives of Collection Development, Digital Scholarship
Services and IT. Examples are provided for illustration and are not meant to be exhaustive.
I. General Description
The current liaison activities at CUL are robust and diverse and take into account the specificities of the
schools, colleges, and disciplines, the expertise of current liaisons, as well as the staffing patterns at
each library.
Generally speaking, they focus on two areas: research support services (including in-­‐depth reference
support and instruction) and selection. Some liaisons focus on only one of those areas, others on both in
various proportions.
Assigning of liaisons varies by library—in some units, one liaison is assigned to multiple departments
(e.g. Mann, Vet, Engineering), in others, all liaisons are assigned to individual faculty (e.g. Law, JGSM,
ILR, Hotel), in still others, one liaison is assigned to a department (e.g. Olin/Uris, Music, Fine Arts, Math,
Africana). In rare cases, the liaison responsibilities are shared between a selector and a reference
librarian (e.g. in Philosophy where the selector is in LTS and the reference librarian in Public Services). In
departments which reside in multiple schools, more than one liaison may be assigned from different
libraries. Thus, the number of faculty per liaison varies greatly.
Certain programs and centers also have liaisons (e.g. Fulbright, Institute for European Studies, Institute
for Social Sciences, Society for the Humanities Olin/Uris), Center for Real Estate Finance (Hotel School)
Moot Court (Law)).
The virtual libraries (Physical Sciences, Engineering) have pioneered the model of embedded librarians
who offer office hours in departments.
Some units also work closely with their School’s Administrations (Hotel, JGSM, Vet, Law).
II. Liaison Activities in the Area of Selection and Collection Development
In the area of selection and collection development, the liaisons who are also selectors, engage in
activities such as:
Building the collections responding to purchase requests, reviewing cancellations, Annex
transfers, etc. identifying gaps in the collections, securing resources and filling the gaps
Intelligence gathering engaging faculty and graduate students communicating developments
and activities
Provision of alerts on selected subject resources (Africana, Music, Mann, Olin/Uris) new book
lists (all) new e-­‐resources updates (PSL ILR)
Monthly updates on collections
Attendance at subject-­‐specific conferences (Math, Olin/Uris, Mann)
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