74 Association of Research Libraries Research Library Issues 294 2018 Research Support and Digital Initiatives, and Scholarly Resources— are led by assistant directors, and these departments comprise the Academic Engagement division, led by the director of Academic Engagement. Each of the three departments, while hosting an Engagement Team of liaison librarians or individual liaisons who work collaboratively, as in Scholarly Resources, also include other groups of staff who are not liaisons but rather are assigned to specific initiatives. Teaching and Learning Services has a team of five focused on Information Literacy, First-Year Programs, and Learning and Assessment. In Research Support and Digital Initiatives, the five functional experts on the Digital Scholarship Team support aspects of the research life cycle, specifically scholarly communication, research data management, GIS and DH/DS project work. (See pages 4–15 pertaining to Academic Engagement in the UT Libraries organizational chart, accessed May 23, 2018, at https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/d7/sites/ default/files/ut-libraries-org-structure.pdf.) As mentioned, the Engagement Teams approach serves to align areas of affinity and encourage interdisciplinary collaboration. And it allows subject liaisons to focus on projects suited to their interests and strengths (digital learning object creation, text mining or digital exhibitions, or print and electronic collections work) while working with others across Engagement Teams to develop alliances for load- balancing by sharing teaching, digital-focused projects, and collection development responsibilities. This iterative evolution of roles and organizational relationships requires ongoing discussion, assessment, and adjustment. In the midst of these changes, we are also monitoring our budget and needs for ...the Engagement Teams approach serves to align areas of affinity and encourage interdisciplinary collaboration.
Previous Page Next Page