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Liaison Librarians Roundtable Discussion

Time: Tuesday, June 3 - 3:00 to 3:50 PM
Moderator: Tom Durkin, UW-Madison

Description: In an effort to improve, expand, and integrate library resources and services, libraries are increasingly organizing their staff around liaison responsibilities to specific departments and groups. This roundtable discussion is focused on elucidating the various liaison practices and administrative structures that exist in Wisconsin academic libraries. If you are interested in the issues surrounding library liaison work please come to join the discussion.

Structure of the Roundtable Discussion: For our roundtable discussion, we will begin by dividing up into 4 groups in order to have 4 seperate discussions on a number topics relevant to library liaison work. We can start from the list of sample questions to get the conversations started (see list at bottom), but the conversations can extend past the questions listed. In the last 20 minutes of our time each group will report about the most important points of their discussion.

Notes from the Discussion:

Link to PowerPoint slides

Topic 1: Liaison Programs

Most campuses have informal liaison programs.
UW Milwaukee has a program that organizes liaison contacts, and is focused on collection development.
It is common for new liaisons to take an extended period in order to adapt to the departments that they serve
Dorm librarian programs have had success in building connections with undergrads.
UW Parkside decided to profile their departments to understand them better and also to determine staffing coverage.
It is important to go to the departments and listen carefully to what faculty need.
Important Challenge: Staffing – there are not enough liaisons to cover every department, program, or center.
Liaisons Need: There is a need for well defined goals, flexibility in attitude and administrative handling, and mentoring in order to be successful.

Topic 2: Training Library Liaisons

It is important for there to be clear expectations for liaisons by administration, and these expectations should be related to the library mission. This includes expectations for both collections work and services work performed as a liaison.
Training materials are important, such as tool kits and checklists of established practices.
There need to be training materials made available on the methods for getting to know a subject-area collection, such as which publications are important in that subject area.
Important Challenge: It is important for administration to take into account the social nature of liaison work, that it takes time to interact with faculty, and that time needs to be allotted for this work.
Liaisons Need: There should be a discussion held about the channels of communication that do/don’t work with faculty. How is effective communication with faculty best accomplished?

Topic 3: Subject Knowledge

It is not uncommon for liaisons to be expected to be familiar with several different subject areas, all with potentially important differences in terms of the way the faculty approach information services.
It is more important to have good librarians working as liaisons than to employ PhDs in the precise subject area. This is because the faculty are already experts in their field. The liaison needs to be an expert librarian for the faculty, because the faculty need help with library products.
Liaisons should be familiarized with interviewing techniques in order to be best prepared when interacting with faculty
Building relationships with faculty is improved when the liaison understands the nature of publishing within the discipline, and the trends and changes that are taking place also.
Important Challenge: The important area for a liaison to focus on is in building a fundamental understanding of the nature of teaching and research.
Liaisons Need: Time designated to learn and to interact with the faculty.

Topic 4: Building Liaison Relationships

Depending on the department and institutional culture, the methods for building liaison relationships will vary.
It is very important to be proactive and engaged with the departments that you assist.
It is important for liaisons and administrators to remember to take departmental retirements and turnover into consideration when assisting a department, because this changes the nature of the department.
Reviewing class syllabi and attending departmental meetings can help with building and maintaining liaison relationships
Important Challenge: Channels of communication with faculty need to be kept open constantly in order to be an effective liaison.
Liaisons Need: Having time to build the relationships is critical. Liaison activities are rewarding to the libraries in terms of public relations but they can be time consuming. Liaisons also need buy-in from library administration if it is considered an important duty.

Concluding Remarks (Tom)

Our discussion was a very enjoyable and interesting overview of some of the most important public services issues libraries are dealing with: staying in contact and staying relevant.
The message that I take away from the discussion is that having excellent and well trained librarians is key to library liaisonship.
I want to draw attention to the importance of mentoring relationships. Mentoring, in my opinion, is critical to passing on intuitional knowledge.
The UW Madison libraries do not have a unified liaison program, but we have started a “Liaison Forum Series” designed to foster discussion and information sharing. The roundtable discussion we had today is essentially the same kind of discussion we have in the Liaison Forums.
Liaison Forum page: http://staff.library.wisc.edu/MyLibrarian/forum/index.html
Be sure to check out the ARL SPEC Kit #301 on Liaison Services:
- http://www.arl.org/news/pr/spec301-10dec07.shtml
Thank you for coming to the discussion!

Sample Discussion Questions:

Introductions:
- How many and which departments/programs are you a library liaison to?
Liaison Programs:
- Is there a formal liaison program in your library?
  - If so, how is it structured?
  - If not, how are liaison activities organized and given direction at your library?
- How are regular liaison activities scheduled and tracked?
- How are liaison activities assessed or reported?
Training Library Liaisons:
- Is there a liaison training program at your library?
  - If so, how is it structured and organized?
- When you are working as a library liaison, do you provide assistance with many areas of library work or one or two areas of library work?
- Does your library encourage liaisons to develop their knowledge of areas of library work outside the areas they have worked in previously? How?
- Have you required or do you want technology training for your liaison work?
- Are there any sources of information that you have found useful for better understanding library liaison work?
  - ARL SPEC Kit 301: "Liaison Services" (2007).
Subject Knowledge:
- What methods have you used to develop your subject understanding for the departments/programs are you a library liaison to?
- Are there special challenges you have faced or advice you can give for staying current with an area of study?
- How has your pursuit of subject expertise changed the way you interact with faculty and students?
- How do you manage the interdisciplinarity of modern research?
Building Liaison Relationships:
- How have you attempted to build and maintain liaison relationships with faculty and students?
  - Is there any advice you would like to share, or perhaps anything we should avoid?
- What is the primary way that you communicate and/or interact with faculty?
  - Which ways work well, and which work poorly? Why?
- What are the most common reasons that you have to interact with faculty or students as a liaison?
- Are there any special events that you or your institution have organized for meeting with faculty/students to further the goals of the library?
- Is there anything that faculty and students want that you are not able to provide?
- How much time do you spend per week on liaison activities?
- Are there services that it is very critical or not approptiate for the liaison to offer?
Conclusions:
- What is the most important issue that libraries are facing with regards to providing "library liaisons" as a service?
- What is the most important thing librarians with liaison duties need from their libraries?
- Is there anything else significant or of note that you would like to discuss?
- Thank you for coming!