Basic Liaison Activities for New Librarians
Here are some basic things you can do to act and feel like a liaison!
COMMUNICATE: Introduce yourself!
- Send an email letter to your Chair(s) or Department liaison(s):
Ask for a meeting, suggesting that you meet to discuss needs that may be met by the library. Send an email letter to new faculty before the Fall semester starts.
--If the liaison you are replacing is still a WSULS librarian, then ask them to send a letter to your department introducing you
--If the liaison you are replacing has left WSU, then ask the liaison coordinator to send the letter of introduction
TIP: Use the template provided by the Liaison Team. Tweak it as you see fit. The template letter explains to faculty that as a liaison you are available to assist them with library instruction and consultations for their students; support for research projects; library collection building for their discipline, etc.
- Send library information updates to faculty. Pass information along that will affect your faculty and students. Let them know about changes in library systems and services, etc.
INSTRUCTION
- Identify courses requiring research papers: Identify these in your disciplines, and faculty teaching them.
Suggest to faculty that you are available to assist students in the classroom or by appointment for one-on-one consultation.
- Create Lib Guides for instruction: Review the subject guides for the areas that you have been assigned. Tweak them to suit your department's needs. Then use them for instruction in the classroom!
RESEARCH SUPPORT
- Familiarize yourself with your departments' homepages:
Review the list of FACULTY and note how many there are in various disciplines and their RESEARCH INTERESTS (also helps inform Collection Development);
- Assist faculty with their research projects: Suggest to faculty that you are available to help i.e., citation tracking, etc.
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT
- Review the Course Bulletin: Review the list of courses, how often they are taught (there is a KEY) and their descriptions – what is taught in the discipline and what is not? What types of resources are needed? Review the PROGRAMS and DEGREES offered i.e., is a PhD offered
- Familiarize yourself with library resources in your disciplines: Do we have core resources i.e., databases, journals, reference materials?
- The budget for your liaison area is based on a number of factors, including the numbers of undergraduate majors, graduate students, and PhDs in disciplines, as well as the average cost of materials for that area.
- Do the best that you can to fulfill faculty requests, realizing that some times we will not be able to. Let faculty know you will not forget about their needs, and will try to fulfill them as soon as you can.
- Add requests to Wish Lists if you are unable to purchase items when they are first requested.
REFERENCE
- Become a knowledgeable resource for others:
The more you know about your subject/liaison area, the more you will be called upon to answer Reference questions related to it. Learn as much as you can, and you will become a valuable resource.
Template for Letter to Faculty
Please edit this letter to suit your faculty and departments.
- Liaison Letter Fall 2016Template letter for the annual fall letter to faculty
- Liaison Letter Fall 2016 (Expanded)An alternative template for the fall letter
Wayne State Campus Resources to Assist Liaisons
There are numerous resources at Wayne State with which Liaison Librarians should be familiar. Remember to consider them when developing your own Liaison Services Plan for your department(s).
There should be a list of faculty available on your department's website, but to get you started, here is the link to the general list of faculty.
Remember to check to see what degrees are offered by your department, so that you can offer relevant liaison services. Those programs which offer Bachelor degrees, especially in general education required areas, will need different assistance than those offering Doctoral degrees. Here is a link to the various programs so you can check for your department.
Check the Class Schedule periodically so that you can target your Liaison Services to your department at the point of need. If there is an introduction to research or other class offered that requires the use of library resources send the faculty member a letter offering your services to that class. Do it early, as they will create their syllabi before the semester starts! (that is frequently mentioned as a barrier to liaison services, there is no time on the schedule to offer library instruction, so you need to be proactive and plan to make your department contacts well in advance of each semester)
Check the Academic Calendar periodically to ensure that you are aware of when classes start and end each semester. This will ensure that you are contacting your department at regularly scheduled intervals.
The Wayne State University Bulletins also contain great information on what classes are offered and their descriptions.
Please do not forget that Wayne State has numerous off site campuses where your departments may hold a significant number of classes. You need to be aware of where they are, and consider periodically setting up orientation or other information sessions. That might be the only way to reach those faculty and students.
The Technology Resource Center is a valuable place to remember to refer members of your departmet to when they need assistance with Instructional Design issues.
We get a number of questions from our departments about Computer Related issues, keep the Computing website handy so that you can refer your faculty and students appropriately.
Library Conferences and Meetings Calendars
- D-Lib Magazine Meetings, Conferences, and WorkshopsConferences and activities related to digital libraries research and technologies
- Library Conference PlannerIncludes links to conference sites for libraries in the U.S. as well as internationally.
CHECKLIST for Liaison Activities Beyond the Basics
Take that, you lousy boulder!
Sometimes as a liaison you may feel like Sisyphus, rolling a large boulder
i.e., a great liaison idea, up a hill only to have it roll back down.
In other words, sometimes things just don't work out.
But fear not, what you may need to do is try a new idea!
Click on the CHECKLIST link below to see additional great liaison ideas...