Approaches to Liaison Librarianship: Innovations in Organization and Engagement

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ALA Member
$63.00
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$70.00
Item Number
978-0-8389-4851-4
Published
2021
Publisher
ACRL
Pages
328
Width
6"
Height
9"
Format
Softcover
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  • Description
  • Table of Contents
  • About the authors

Liaison librarianship is a well-established system for framing the work and organizational structures of an academic library to effectively meet the needs of faculty and students. But despite its rich history, the precise meaning of liaison librarianship remains somewhat fluid—the size and nature of an academic institution, the library’s financial and human resources, and the diversity and size of local programs are only some of the variables that librarians must take into consideration when evaluating a specific liaison model for their library, how to implement it, and how its success will be assessed. 

Approaches to Liaison Librarianship showcases a number of different implementations of the liaison model, across a range of institutions, and describes in detail many of the tailored programs and services that liaison librarians are so well-positioned to provide. In 20 chapters, this thorough book explores: 

  • the design and establishment of liaison librarian programs; 
  • refreshing programs periodically to reflect local campus changes and demands for new services and support from faculty and students;
  • the challenges of managing liaison programs through these types of changes; 
  • day-to-day experiences as liaison librarians, from collaborating with teaching faculty on crafting and delivering information literacy instruction to designing online research support tools;
  • librarians working to become fully embedded in their liaison departments to establish a closer connection to the workflows and culture of the departments they serve; 
  • participating in special projects in collaboration with research and teaching faculty that leverage the specialized knowledge and skills of today’s liaison librarians;
  • and more. 

Throughout, the authors describe the opportunities and challenges faced by liaison librarians and outline how these librarians leverage their specialized skills and knowledge of their users’ needs to satisfy a wide variety of demands. Approaches to Liaison Librarianship offers ideas for creating customized solutions for your local environment and ways to integrate new resources and services into your liaison models.

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Robin Canuel and Chad Crichton 

Chapter 1. The Establishment and Evolution of a Liaison Librarian Program
Angela D. Hamilton 

Chapter 2. Creating and Managing a New Liaison Organizational Model: Strategies for Success
Gary W. White and Yelena Luckert 

Chapter 3. Getting on the Change Train: Facilitating a Reframing of the Liaison Model
Jeannie Bail and Marc Bragdon

Chapter 4. Cultivating Liaison Leadership: Pathways to Management
Kerry M. Creelman, Andrea R. Malone, Lisa Martin, and Veronica Arellano Douglas

Chapter 5. A Delicate Balance: Fostering a Collaborative Work Environment in the Life of a Merged Library
Natalie Waters

Chapter 6. Building Bridges Beyond the Library: Outreach Activities for Liaison Librarians 
Lisa M. Woznicki

Chapter 7. Move Out and Move In: An Embedded Approach to Liaison Roles
Helen Power and Sharon Munro

Chapter 8. The Embedded Instruction Liaison Librarian: Creating a Workshop Series for Future Professionals
Lindsay McNiff

Chapter 9. Better Together: Collaboratively Designing and Teaching a Problem-Based Public Health Course 
Lana Mariko Wood

Chapter 10. Research in the Studio, Artists in the Stacks: Mapping Information Literacy and the Library in a Studio Arts Program
Larissa Garcia and Jessica Labatte

Chapter 11. Telling a Compelling Story: Using the Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy to Teach Students How to Critically Use Original Library Documents
Sandy Hervieux

Chapter 12. The More We Work Together: Supporting Student Research through Librarian-Faculty Collaboration in an Online Graduate Course 
Jenny Harris and Catherine Gatewood-Keim

Chapter 13. Extending Our Reach: Collaborating and Creating an E-Learning Resource for Social Science Graduate Students
Christena A. McKillop

Chapter 14. Best of Both Worlds: Transitioning Roles From a Liaison Librarian to an Embedded Librarian by Becoming an Adjunct Instructor
Melissa E. Johnson

Chapter 15. Working With Faculty Development Groups: Building Mutually Beneficial Relationships to Deepen Liaison Librarian-Faculty Collaborations
Theresa McDevitt, Stephanie Taylor-Davis, and Carrie Bishop

Chapter 16. Uncovering Indigenous Knowledge at the Cultural Interface: Liaison-led Initiatives to Decolonize Academic Library Collections
Michael Dudley and April Blackbird

Chapter 17. Speaking Across Silos: Understanding the Commonalities between Subject and Functional Roles 
Pamella R. Lach, Amanda Lanthorne, and Laurel Bliss

Chapter 18. Liaison and Scholarly Communication Librarians Collaborating to Support Faculty and Students 
Sarah A. Norris, Sandra Avila, and Buenaventura Basco

Chapter 19. Entrepreneurship Unbound: Liaison Librarians Supporting Entrepreneurship in the University Environment
Jordan M. Nielsen

Chapter 20. Beyond the Looking Glass: Applying a Futures Thinking Perspective for Managing Liaison Roles
Cinthya Ippoliti

About the Editors

Robin Canuel

Robin Canuel is the University Librarian at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Previously, he served as the head of Liaison Services at McGill University Library where he supervised a large team of liaison librarians, and earlier in his career he held a variety of liaison roles. Robin has co-authored several peer-reviewed articles on a variety of topics. His current research interests include service development and assessment in academic libraries as well as emerging trends in liaison librarianship.

Chad Crichton

Chad Crichton is a liaison librarian at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) and currently supports the campus’ programs in English literature, linguistics, and philosophy. Previously, he served as the coordinator of reference and instruction for UTSC. Chad has co-authored peer-reviewed articles on a number of topics, but his primary research focus has been on the use of mobile technology in academic libraries. His current research interests include emerging trends in liaison librarianship and the role of academic libraries in supporting digital scholarship.