Statement of Liaison Responsibilities
The primary role of the liaison is to communicate between the library and the college’s academic departments and programs. Liaisons work to develop a clear understanding of their constituencies’ research and teaching activities and needs, in order to determine how the library can most effectively support the work of our users and develop relevant areas of the physical and digital collection. Important factors for success as a liaison include visibility and accessibility, both in the library and around campus, and a willingness to take the initiative in contacting and working with departments and faculty members.
Specific activities:
- Establish and maintain regular and frequent contact with the department/program for which you are liaison. Work to ensure that faculty are aware of the range of our collections, services, capabilities, and resources in order to support research, teaching, and learning. Communicate regularly concerning acquisitions of new resources, new research or teaching tools, instructional support services, and other library initiatives. Consult concerning future academic directions, programmatic needs, and changes in course offerings that may impact how the library supports the department/program.
- Collaborate to build and sustain a collection appropriate for the department/program’s needs. Utilize a range of collection development tools and strategies to develop subject-area holdings. Consult with Collection Services on gift items and replacements. Evaluate portions of the collection that relate to subject areas of your department. Active faculty participation in collection development is essential for building a strong collection. Where appropriate, liaisons inform and collaborate with the department on special projects, such as large purchase decisions, subscription reviews, weeding projects, and accreditation reviews that require information about library resources.
- 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.
- As the subject-area librarian for assigned area, participate fully in instructional and research support activities. Support efforts to create college-wide awareness of the library’s education programs.
- Advise the director on signing Berry College Curriculum Amendment Forms. Curriculum Amendment Forms are required whenever an academic department wishes to add, delete, or change a course. Forms for added and substantively changed courses require the signature of Memorial Library’s director that the library’s resources are adequate to support the course. If the liaison concludes that collections are not adequate, the director will advise the department chair and collaborate with the liaison on a solution. The forms are typically presented for first reading at one monthly meeting of Academic Council and approved at the next monthly meeting. While departments prefer that all signatures are in place for first reading, liaisons may request additional time to review the collection when the form is presented less than one week before Academic Council meets.
August 2014
