Great Ideas Showcase: Courtney McAllister

1. “Why don’t faculty & staff
use what we have?”
Integrating Technical Services
Into Liaison Activities
Courtney McAllister
Electronic Resources Librarian
Daniel Library, The Citadel

2. Liaison Work
Designed to…
➔ Establish and build relationships
➔Foster communication
➔Ensure library resources and
services are in sync with the campus
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3. Identity Politics
➔Which areas on campus are assigned
a liaison?
➔Who serves as a liaison?
➔What library departments are
represented in liaison programs?
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4. @ Daniel Library
➔Which areas on campus were
assigned a liaison?
◆ Academic departments
➔Who served as a liaison?
◆ Reference and Instruction librarians
➔What library departments were
represented in liaison programs?
◆ Reference and Instruction
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5. 5
We had this
The Dilemma
Instead of this

6. Problems
➔We weren’t communicating evenly
or effectively across campus
◆ Completely unaware of needs and usage
beyond academic departments
◆ Campus personnel were paying for their
OWN subscriptions to resources they could
have accessed through the library
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7. Problems
➔The collections were an
afterthought for liaisons
◆ Liaisons did not have a firm grasp on the
collection as a whole
◆ More focus on events and social
relationships
◆ Missed opportunities to advocate for the
collection, bolster usage, and solicit
feedback
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8. Why does this matter to TS?
➔So much of our budget/energy goes
towards these resources
◆ If the campus doesn’t know we even offer
them, how can they utilize them?
◆ How do we maintain alignment between our
collections and campus needs without
healthy communication?
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9. Unchartered
Territories
Shaking up the liaison program
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10. Operational Liaison Program
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➔Inspired by Candice Dahl’s article
◆ “Library liaison with non-academic units: A new
application for a traditional model”
➔Liaison from Technical Services assigned to
non-academic departments
◆ Career Center, Academic Support Center, Registrar
➔Integrated TS into liaison planning and
development

11. TS Involvement Strategies
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➔Internal promotion of library resources
◆ Improving familiarity w/collections
➔Better feedback on resources and services
◆ Trials, purchase requests, etc.
➔Clarification on collections decision-making
◆ Recurring costs vs. one-time purchases
◆ Assessment matrix - available as Google Doc

12. General purpose/benefit
Quality of metadata
Compatible with
discovery?
Authentication options
Supports which depts or
programs?
Replaces existing sub?
Requested by faculty?
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Assessment Matrix
Details on metrics
Platform design (A to F)
Contract required?
Licensing quirks
MARC record/metadata
schedule/process
Current customers
Consortial discount?
Other comments

13. TS Involvement Strategies
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➔Gathering syllabi
◆ Useful for instruction and collection development
➔Regularly sharing usage data and other TS
statistics w/ liaisons
◆ Most frequent discovery search terms, top used
databases/journals
➔More targeted subscription promotions
◆ Partnering with IEEE chapter on campus

14. Unintended
Benefits
Addressing staff/faculty schism
Staff matter!! But they often get
overlooked in higher ed
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15. Looking Forward
Exciting opportunities for the
future.
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1. Improving
communication
between liaisons,
staff/faculty, and ALL
library departments
2. Targeting staff needs
3. Tracking impact on
our usage/service
statistics

16. Any questions?
You can find me at:
cmcallis@citadel.edu
@librarylemur
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Thank you!