Faculty Library Liaison Council: Home

Faculty Library Liaisons

 

To communicate current and potential library services, the library is developing a liaison- feedback structure. We are identifying representatives from our user populations and creating two advisory groups: the Student Library Advisory Council and the Faculty Library Liaison Council. This document will describe the composition and responsibilities of the Faculty Library Liaison Council.

The council will be composed of the designated faculty representatives from each school or academic department, the subject librarians, and library and university staff members with relevant expertise. We may invite other members of the campus community according to agenda topics. The council will meet twice a year to discuss strategic and tactical issues.

In addition, faculty library liaisons will work regularly with their subject librarians to coordinate instruction, collection development, research support, faculty awareness, and other subject-specific interactions. The faculty liaisons and subject librarians will collaborate on creating a short annual summary to be submitted to the Library Director. The summary should address service satisfaction, desired additional services, and a description of recent interactions.

 

For clarity and planning, some of the tasks to be performed by faculty library liaisons and subject librarians are outlined below.

 

Faculty Library Liaisons

In addition to attending twice-yearly meetings, faculty library liaisons will work with their subject librarians on the following:

 

Teaching support

• Communicate, coordinate, and evaluate library contributions to departmental pedagogy and to individual and group learning.
• Provide reports and demonstrations to the department faculty about new library teaching-and-learning initiatives.
• Canvas faculty about the satisfaction of the current integration efforts and document desired enhancements to teaching support.

NOTE: Conversations should include a review of how the library can provide structured and integrated learning sessions to classes, develop course-specific subject guides, include librarian presences in Canvas courses and other departmental spaces, offer scheduled or walk-in research assistance  to groups and individuals, maintain a suite of online subject guides and self-help tutorials for remote users, and provide real-time online support for point-of-need assistance (for example, via phone, chat, and shared-screens). 

 

Research support

• Communicate, coordinate, and evaluate library collections related to departmental research.
• Provide reports and demonstrations to faculty about new library materials.
• Canvas faculty about the satisfaction of the current collection and document desired enhancements.
• Canvas faculty about the satisfaction of current research support and document desired enhancements.
• Collaborate with the associated subject librarians on creating the short annual summary of library-departmental interactions.

NOTE: Conversations should include a review of the suite of tools, techniques, and skills required to discover, capture, analyze, organize, repurpose, and share information across all types of media and formats. SXU researchers can gain a competitive advantage through the use of advanced options such as citation tracking, altmetrics, autoalerts, visualization assistance, data-set capture and manipulation, geospatial-information services (GIS), and other advanced research tools.

 

Subject Librarians

Each faculty liaison will be assigned a subject librarian to serve as the contact person for current and proposed library services. These designees will serve on the Faculty Library Liaison Council, which will meet twice a year to discuss strategic and tactical concerns. 

In addition to attending twice-yearly meetings, subject librarians will consider the efficiency and effectiveness of the following:

 

Collection Management

• In cooperation with teaching faculty, identify, provide access to, select for purchase or lease, transfer between locations, and withdraw paper-based materials.
• In cooperation with teaching faculty, identify, provide access to, select for purchase or lease, transfer between locations, and withdraw online materials.
• Explore ways to integrate faculty in selection decisions, including the use of patron-driven acquisition.
• Explore the use of approval-plan profiles for more targeted selection.          
• Explore the use of consortial access and seamless document delivery.            
• Relocate materials to compact shelving or our remote-shelving facility according to current emphases in research and teaching. If necessary, periodically review decisions according to changing emphases.             

How we do this:     

• Evidence (for example, usage data and anecdotal information such as pick-up and interlibrary-loan data).    
• Familiarity with research and teaching efforts (for example, subject-librarian reviews of syllabuses, Web pages, publications, and personal contact).      
• Best Practices and collaboration with other libraries (for example, trusted repositories for last copies, Hathi Trust, and better access to digital versions).

 

Research and Teaching Support

Teach information and knowledge fluency. Document scaffolded discipline-specific active-learning techniques and the effectiveness of course-integrated support (for example, using pre/post testing of competencies, specific-resource identification, critical-thinking skills, and team-teaching testimonials).   

• Embed learning objects and librarian presences in Canvas.
• Provide in-depth research support and consultation for faculty and advanced students (for example, RSS and autoalerts, citation tracking, and knowledge management).    
• Demonstrate the capturing and repurposing of born-digital material, and consider the impact of institutional-repository and open-access policies.  
• Collaborate with other campus units in developing new types of research and teaching support (for example, blended services with CIDAT and Student Services).    
• Provide administrative support to academic departments (for example, citation analysis, impact-factor data, and P&T assessment data).

 

Desired Services:    

• Librarian-in-the-lobby: real-time presence for student support and course integration.
• Publishing assistance (for example, NIH compliance and open-source editing).
• Meet-and-greet sessions
• Distribution lists for special-interest groups.
• Liaison for distributed services (for example, the Art Gallery, GIS data, and e-science).
• Grants Support. Records Management.