Liaison Responsibilities

Librarian liaisons support teaching and learning at Dartmouth through two highly valued aspects of Dartmouth culture: personal interaction and personal assistance.  The primary role of the liaison is to communicate between the Library and its constituencies: students, faculty, staff, and other affiliates of Dartmouth's academic departments, programs and research centers.

Through their outreach work, the liaisons gain a better understanding of research and teaching activities at Dartmouth, and determine how the Library can most effectively support the work of our user communities. They develop a clear understanding of their constituencies' interests, including research, teaching, and other foci. They remain alert to interdisciplinary needs and impacts, and connect clientele to other resources outside their immediate discipline. Important factors for success in this role include visibility and accessibility, both within the library and around campus, and a willingness to take the initiative in contacting and working with library constituencies.

Below are the key goals for librarians who serve as liaisons.

Liaisons. . .

• Ensure that clients are aware of the range of our collections, services, capabilities, and resources in order to support research, teaching and learning.

• Provide opportunities to discuss with clients any collection, research, curricular and other needs in order to meet these needs effectively and efficiently.

• Share information with library colleagues learned through the above activities in order to enhance collaborations, promote library- and college-wide awareness of activities, and inform colleagues of upcoming demands for their services and collections.

• Participate actively in Education & Outreach's initiatives as a member of the Library's teaching and learning community in order to promote academic success and professional growth.

• Assist faculty with accessing Library resources or other troubleshooting activities.

• Communicate with new faculty and departmental/program members early in their tenure.

• Arrange periodic personal meetings with all faculty for whom the librarian is responsible.

• Establish an effective working relationship with the Administrative Assistants or Academic Coordinators in their departments/programs.

• Maintain awareness of the academic life of the department in order to provide timely, relevant support to students and faculty.
  
  • Examples of such events include being aware of any changes within the department, new faculty or new courses, important academic calendar dates, and key events in the lives of our constituencies (e.g. the point at which undergraduates declare majors, departmental theses, faculty promotion and tenure review, and clinical education competencies).
• Keep constituencies up to date by email or other means in regard to new databases, resources, services, and other changes in the library that may affect their work.
  • These informational updates could include tips for searching key resources in their discipline, reminding them of ongoing services like Library News or Borrow Direct, Recent Acquisitions, etc.
    o    Promote campus-wide awareness of new library services and resources by alerting the library's Marketing Committee in a timely manner.
• Attend department meetings when appropriate to provide updates and to seek faculty input on library issues of particular interest or concern.

• Offer departmental orientations to new graduate students and research associates in their areas of interest. Provide personalized support to these groups, as well as workshops and other educational opportunities as appropriate.

• Develop and maintain an awareness of the scholarly communication culture and practices of the departments and disciplines. Discuss these issues with faculty and students, and provide information about current trends and events.

• Maintain a visible presence in the academic community by attending departmental seminars, visiting scholar lectures, colloquia, and other public functions.

• Develop instruction sessions and programs in collaboration with faculty, students and staff, and provide curricular support.

• Promote Library-sponsored learning opportunities to the populations served.

• Identify user needs and share these with the Education & Outreach Program and other appropriate departments for development. These departments might include Jones Media Center, Rauner Special Collections Library, Cataloging and Metadata Services, and others.

• Keep other library units up-to-date on changes in your constituency's needs through regular communication with bibliographers and library department heads.

• Maintain a reciprocal relationship with Education & Outreach:
  • Support the efforts of E&O to create college-wide awareness of the Library's education programs by communicating the liaisons' relevant activities back to E&O.

Approved by User Services Group (USG) October 2008