Departmental Liaisons: Program Information

Purpose
The liaison program has been initiated in order to

1. improve communications between the library and the academic departments and
2. provide better service to the faculty and students.

Structure
Each academic department has been assigned a liaison from the professional library staff. The designated liaison librarian should be the department’s first point of contact in making comments or asking questions about library services, resources, etc. The liaison does not take the place of direct contact with a known service provider, such as the AV Librarian who makes tapes or the Circulation Desk staff who place items on reserve. In return, the academic department is expected to designate a departmental liaison to the library to work closely with the library liaison in order to identify the department’s needs and communicate the library response.

Responsibilities of the Liaison Librarian
As the primary contact person between the library and the designated department, the liaison librarian is responsible for:

• informing the department of the library’s resources, services, and policies;
• clarifying any questions about the services or policies in effect;
• providing assistance in evaluating the library’s resources as new courses are proposed and communicating to collection development these new course needs;
• becoming familiar with the curriculum and programs offered by the academic department;
• learning the research interest of the faculty members within the department;
• assisting with collection development and collection management in the assigned departments;
• assessing the need for bibliographic instruction and coordinating the courses offered to each department;
• providing specialized reference services, such as compiling bibliographies or user guides;
• assisting faculty in designating non-problematic library assignments (if needed);
• notifying the faculty of materials or news of interest to them;
• providing a venue that encourages the report of problems or issues to the library administration;
• providing library orientation for all new full and part-time faculty;
• funneling all requests for increased funding from the department and acting as departmental advocate; and
• meeting with the departmental liaison regularly and attending at least one departmental meeting each academic year.

Responsibilities of the Faculty Liaison
As the department liaison to the library, the faculty liaison is responsible for:

• interpreting the department’s mission and curriculum to the library liaison;
• informing the liaison librarian of new courses being proposed and developed by the department;
• informing the liaison librarian of the research interests of the faculty members in that department;
• conveying the opinions, concerns, and questions of the academic department faculty regarding library services, resources, or policies;
• coordinating collection development or collection management issues for the department; and
• developing an understanding of the library’s resources, services, and policies as they relate to that department.