SPEC Kit 349: Evolution of Library Liaisons · 67
The most significant recent change is taking on collections responsibilities, which had been handled by bibliographers in
a separate department.
The project-based teams are a new structure.
There’s been a shift from a collections-centric to engagement-centric model. We are continuing the development of
liaison roles at the point of contact for connecting users with specialized staff and services related to digital scholarship,
data and visualization, scholarly communication, etc.
Using a customer relationship management system to document and manage user contacts.
We are currently seeking to hire a new director for liaison services at the main library. With new leadership the liaison
role will evolve and improve.
We are in the process of reviewing the model of liaison services.
We are planning to review our program for currency, and to promote more outward-facing engagement and less
direct work with collection development. Part of this effort will involve examining our support for new and emerging
academic areas on campus. Additionally, our library is undergoing administrative restructuring, and as a result we will
see differences in roles and reporting structures. One other change, which has been in place for about a year, is reduced
number of hours at the general reference desk for liaisons.
We are rolling our research data management services where liaisons, primarily subject experts, will liaise with
departments in new ways.
We are trying to grow in data management and scholarly communication support.
We are trying to increase the role liaisons play in scholarly communication issues.
We began doing much of our work in “working groups,” and liaisons participate in those groups with significant
contributions. Instruction and reference consultation are now expected of all liaisons, where before it was
considered optional.
We focus much more on scholarly communication issues and data management than we have in the past. This varies
across disciplines, with more data management in the sciences and social sciences. The turn to digital humanities
has created new opportunities for humanities librarians. All liaisons have become more involved in our institutional
repository by communicating with faculty and students about the repository and doing CV reviews to add more material
to the repository.
We have added specializations.
We have been moving towards a model of more externally focused engagement, less emphasis on collection building,
increased emphasis on research support.
We have incorporated not only “subject” based liaisons (for example, pharmacy, veterinary medicine), but also
“functional” liaisons, that cut across disciplines, such as consumer health, clinical and translational research,
bioinformatics (and the soon to be advertised health literacy).
We have lost access to a lot of our technology support so are trying to develop more technology skills in liaisons’
positions/new hires.
We have recently included scholarly communication and additional options for determining metrics/impacts, and are
working to expand knowledge of and incorporation of open access/open agenda, data management, etc.
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