Liaison Librarianship:

Relationship Building, Community Engagement, and Service Development

Pam RyanDirector, Library ServicesEdmonton Public Library

29 October 2010

About me

Liaison Program (UofA)

Community Engagement (EPL)

I’m a believer

OutlineLiaison Program Development

Revisiting liaisonRole definition & expectationsGoal settingSupportSuccess examplesMarketing & promotion Lessons from Public Libraries

Discussion / Questions

Revisiting Liaison2003: Library Council on Effective Practices for Liaison

Work

2004: Liaison Advisory Team; effective practices survey of liaisons; recognition of liaison work survey

2005: Faculty / Librarian Partnership survey

2003: Library Council Effective Practices for Liaison Work

The role of the liaison librarian is to build and enhance service relationships with members of the university community.

The purpose of these relationships is to contribute actively to the University's reputation as an internationally recognized research-intensive institution and to the success of our students' academic experience.

2003: Library Council

Definitions: Communication Professional Expertise Collection Management Customized Services Institutional Support for Liaison Activities

2004: Liaison Advisory Team

The LAT acts to help liaison librarians identify and acquire skills that will assume the effective fulfillment of liaison responsibilities

To ensure the library is represented at campus events which provide information and orientation to broad groups (grad studies, new faculty and staff, etc.);

To organize the Liaison Discussion Forum and to plan Forum programming as needed;

2004: Liaison Advisory Team

To develop and maintain a vehicle for communication / information sharing that provides a current system-wide view of liaison practices;

To market and promote liaison services as well as library resources, services and events to the University community;

To identify and communicate to the Strategic Leadership Team (SLT) the institutional support requirements to sustain effective liaison services.

Effective Practices surveyEffective methods of communication

Faculty Graduate Students Undergraduate Students

Changes in liaison service demand

Formal department liaison structure

Recognition surveyNot enough evidence to determine appropriate

mechanisms for appropriate recognition of liaison work.

Liaison Advisory Team recommended a survey of liaison librarians be completed to provide an opportunity for individuals to give their feedback on what appropriate recognition for liaison work meant to them.

Recognition surveyIn your opinion, is there appropriate

recognition of the value of liaison librarian work at the University of Alberta Libraries?

If you agree, please provide specific examples of mechanisms, support, satisfaction or values that indicate to you that liaison librarian work is valued at the University of Alberta.

If you disagree, please provide specific examples of mechanisms, support, satisfaction or values that would be meaningful to you in indicating that liaison librarian work is valued at the University of Alberta.

Recognition surveyRecommendations:

Using the Collections Coordinator Accountability Statement as a model, that a LAT working group be charged by SAT with developing an accountability statement for liaison work.

The statement should set criteria, expectations, and common standards for performing liaison work well and serve to inform both liaisons and their supervisors.

2005: Faculty / Librarian Partnership surveyToward a New Venture: Building Partnerships with

Faculty. (Ducas / Michaud-Oystryk)

“Success and survival will depend on librarians being proactive – reaching out and participating actively in the academic community”

Public Service Librarian Responsibilities Statement In the liaison role the Public Service Librarian is the

principal contact for faculty, students and staff for information about library services, resources and policies. This is a vital role in research and teaching activities.

The librarian informs library staff by communicating faculty concerns, information about new faculty, curriculum changes and other news that affects the Library.

Liaison expectationsDevelops and maintains a collegial working relationship

with faculty.

Works collaboratively with faculty and staff by contributing expert knowledge of information resources and technical skills to promote effective integration of the Library’s services and resources into research and learning environments.

Promotes research consultation and information services to support the identified needs of faculty, students and staff

Liaison expectations Initiates and maintains a strong working relationship with

faculty, sessional instructors, and graduate students to support collection development and research archiving and publishing activities.

Alerts faculty, students and staff to changes in the library’s collection and services and the information environment.

Facilitates course-related library instruction through referral to appropriate library instructors.

Liaison expectationsServes as resource on scholarly communications issues

at the discipline/subject level, identifying and staying current with new models of scholarship and scholarly communication trends in liaison areas;

Promotes faculty awareness of and participation in the ERA and identifies individual research resources and/or collections of resources appropriate for deposit in ERA.

Core Expectation Description: Manage workflow and explore new ways of working

within system frameworks and guidelines, in order to meet the requirements of the position and assigned areas of responsibility, seeking opportunities to contribute, share expertise, and develop skills via participation in initiatives at both the unit level and across the library system and fulfilling duties in accordance with the Public Services Librarian Responsibilities Statement.

Assigned liaison areas of responsibility are: Civil and Environmental Engineering Electrical and Computer Engineering Mining and Petroleum Engineering, and Computing Science (Faculty of Science)

Scholarly Communication Develop skills and knowledge to be able to serve as a resource

for faculty, graduate students and colleagues on scholarly communications issues in assigned discipline/subject areas.

Identify and develop methods for staying current with new models of scholarship and scholarly communication trends in liaison areas.

Taking direction from the communications program to be established by the Digital Repository Services Librarian in 2010, become familiar with the institutional repository (IR) and related issues to best be able to promote faculty awareness of and participation in the IR and in seeking potential departmental collections for deposit and preservation in the IR.

Future-proofingThe academic liaison role has emerged from its origins

in subject librarianship

We need to be continually developing the role in new directions.

Example: e-Science at the University of Minnesota

Support

Liaison & Instruction TeamMandate: To coordinate system-wide activities and

promote sharing of knowledge and expertise to support the Liaison and Instruction roles performed by University of Alberta Librarians.

Activities will focus on creating and maintaining relationships with other campus Units, Committees, and Working Groups to inform Library Heads and liaison librarians about issues and opportunities for collaboration.

Yearly expectations regarding the specific activities of this committee will be set by the Unit Heads Committee with consultation from current members of the LIT.

Instruction LibrariansExplore a closer relationship with the EClass unit and

determine the possibilities for developing library content that can be easily inserted or come as a standard component of courses created in courseware

Develop processes to inform all liaison librarians about courses with content in Eclass courseware in their subject areas to initiate service development and library presence in these forums

Develop recommendations for developing a program of similar content development in support of basic library use/undergraduate orientation to the libraries on the UofA Libraries’ website.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiLq2axJPew

Service DevelopmentSuccess Examples

Integrated

Face of the Library

Course-Specific Guides

Embedded - Faculty

Embedded - Courseware

Research Partners

Digital Collections

Marketing & Promotion

Find Your Liaison Librarian

Find Your Liaison Librarian

Home Page

Liaison Librarians

Services

How Do I?

Contact Us

http://tinyurl.com/342xh6g

Lessons from Public Libraries

Community-Led Service Philosophy Model:

“…connecting, consulting, and working collaboratively with community members, including individuals and groups. The purpose is to understand the needs of the community in order to inform the direction of library work and policies.”

Annette DeFaveri

Community EngagementMeeting community members where they are most

comfortable to learn what their needs are

Relationship building

Introducing yourself: Door-to-door Community Events

One-on-one & Group discussions

Attend regular meetings & events

Mapping & Profiling

Who are your target audiences?

Who do you need to partner with? Learn from?

What is your plan to connect with them?

Who have you met? What did you learn?

Discussion / Questions?

Contact

pryan@epl.ca