Liaison
Librarians by Department

Introduction
Liaison librarians provide library services to the campus
community, working with students, faculty, and staff in the University's colleges
and departments. Liaisons understand the information needs of the academic
units to which they are assigned and represent the needs of these units within
the library. Liaisons are also knowledgeable about library resources and
services and convey information about these to their academic units.

Liaison librarian activities are focused in three primary
areas-reference and research, instruction, and collection development.

Reference and Research
Liaisons are knowledgeable about the nature of the
research and scholarly communication within the academic units to which they
are assigned. Working collaboratively with the Information & Research
Services Division, liaison librarians provide expertise in meeting the
information needs of students, faculty, staff, and community users. These
responsibilities include the following:

• Provide general reference assistance at the
  Information Center.
• Provide referral support for the Information
  Center in areas of subject expertise.
• Notify faculty about library services that will
  assist in their research and instruction.
• Provide in-depth
  research and referred reference assistance for the subject areas to which
  they are assigned.
• Maintain office hours and virtual contact hours
  in support of library reference and research services as appropriate.

Instruction
Liaison librarians are knowledgeable about the nature of
the teaching and research conducted by the academic units to which they are
assigned and of changes in pedagogy within these disciplines and within
information literacy. Working collaboratively with the Information &
Research Services Division's Library Instruction Program, liaisons collaborate
with teaching faculty to ensure that relevant information access skills and
tools are incorporated into academic programs. These responsibilities include
the following:

• Promote instruction in the use of library
  resources to students and faculty.
• Deliver in-person instruction sessions within
  assigned units.
• Deliver in-person instruction sessions within
  the general campus community.
• Integrate information literacy standards into
  instruction sessions.
• Provide consultative services to teaching
  faculty to develop curriculum-integrated library research assignments.
• Serve as an embedded librarian within classes
  during sessions focused on research assignments.
• Work with faculty and department curriculum
  committees to integrate information literacy standards into the curriculum and
  learning outcomes of the academic unit.
• Create web-based subject resources for faculty,
  students, and staff.
• Incorporate appropriate technology into
  instruction.
• Provide individual and/or small group
  instruction.
• Assess teaching effectiveness and student
  learning in cooperation with the Library Instruction Program assessment
  initiatives.
• Provide subject-specific training for Information
  Center library staff.

Collection
Development
Liaison librarians are responsible for a range of
collection development activities associated with one or more subject areas.
They develop and manage collections and provide access to information resources
in support of the curricular and research missions of the colleges, schools,
and departments to which they are assigned. As members of the Collection
Development Group, they work collaboratively with the library's Bibliographic
Management Services Division and the Access & Collection Services Division
on collection development issues and projects. These responsibilities include
the following:

• Develop and maintain a comprehensive knowledge
  of information resources in subject areas within the scope of their assigned
  units.
• Provide oversight of purchase plan profiles and
  initiate orders for materials not included in the purchase plans.
• Review and select electronic and web resources.
• Evaluate collection strengths and weaknesses.
• Notify faculty and otherwise promote newly
  acquired resources of interest.
• Communicate with faculty about issues concerning
  scholarly communication.
• Monitor expenditures within their subject areas
  and within budget guidelines.
• Provide
  collection assessment for new program proposals and accreditation.
• Participate in the formulation of collection
  development policies.
• Participate in consortial projects for
  developing shared collections.
• In
  collaboration with the Dean of Libraries, pursue grants and funding
  opportunities to build collections.
• In collaboration with the Dean of Libraries, identify
  potential digital projects and members of the campus community interested in
  collaborating on such projects relative to departmental publications and/or
  scholarship.

last updated: March 2008