16 Association of Research Libraries Research Library Issues 294 — 2018 MIT Libraries Liaison Program: A Paradigm Shift Karrie Peterson, Head, Liaisons, Instruction & Reference Services, MIT Libraries Ellen Finnie, Head, Scholarly Communications & Collections Strategy, MIT Libraries The information ecosystem in which research, scholarship, teaching, and learning unfold has been fundamentally disrupted by digital technologies. At the same time, urgent global challenges propel innovations in research methods and spur progress toward universal, global education. In a knowledge economy, solving global problems, translating research results into practice, and achieving universal global education all take place within the disrupted, rapidly evolving information ecosystem. The MIT Libraries stand with other mission-driven social institutions at the center of this transition—aiming to guide future development of scholarly communications and the broader information ecosystem based on principles of openness, social justice, diversity, and inclusion. We are determined to help reshape the information ecosystem so that it fosters, rather than hinders, our planet’s urgent needs for expanded and inclusive education, research, access to information, and publishing—inclusiveness that accurately reflects and involves the many voices and perspectives on the human condition. To help shape the new information ecosystem, the MIT Libraries envisions “a world where enduring, abundant, equitable, and meaningful access to information serves to empower and inspire humanity.”1 Both the MIT Libraries’ strategic priorities and the recommendations in the Future of Libraries Task Force report2 identify future directions: The MIT liaison program is initiating a paradigm shift...