Category: Academic librarians

Tips from Aaron Tay

Q) What are your top tips to increase visibility & impact?

In terms of visibility to the profession, there are many ways to do so. One way is to contribute to the profession by producing useful content by blogging, tweeting etc. It’s not always easy to come up with fresh original content, but one possible strategy is to study non-librarian things in depth and think about how they can apply to libraries . For instance, I have recently become enchanted by machine learning and have been putting in lots of efforts to learn R via free ebooks, tutorials and MOOCS, and my mind is now swimming with ideas on how to apply them to libraries.

Alternatively try to read widely in different areas of librarianship and see if you can connect them together for fresh insight. While it’s tough to become the best library technologist in the world or the most knowledgable and capable Scholarly communication librarian in the world, it’s possibly easier to be a good library technologist with good working knowledge of discovery technologies AND be well versed in scholarly communication knowledge which may allow you to see ideas and concepts that specialist in either areas might miss due to lack of awareness beyond specific areas. Almost everything is connected, so be curious about different areas of librarianship, even though areas that are ostensibly “not your area”.

Aaron Tay

Aaron Tay is Library Analytics Manager , Singapore Management University. His Blog is full of useful and informative tips.

What is your favourite thing about being a librarian?

“My favourite thing about being a librarian is that the range of things you can be called upon to do can be very diverse. You could be in the front lines, teaching classes, helping a professor with research, or you could be working in the back end, troubleshooting broken links in discovery services or working on lean sigma projects improving the efficiency of document delivery. Where do you learn to do all that? Luckily you also happen to be working in the library with access to the best source of information, so you can learn practically anything you desire as long as you have the passion and time”.

Changing roles in changing times: the academic liaison librarian in flux

Guest Post by Alexander Kouker Dublin Business School Library

I ventured out to Maynooth University Library last week for a full-day seminar, which explored the changing role of the subject librarian. The day was structured around two keynotes – the first one by Stephen Pinfield, Professor of Information Services Management, University of Sheffield; the second one by Rosie Jones, Director of Library Services, Open University – and, very interestingly, several practice synopses by representatives of various Irish academic libraries, as well as that of the OU Library.

 

Participants’ overall consensus on the day was that there is no consensus, whether here in Ireland or indeed the UK, over what constitutes “best practice” in the realm of library organisational structure and, crucially, the status of subject/liaison librarianship.

 

Given the fast-moving changes in today’s information environment, libraries are expected to stay ahead through re-envisioning  organisational structures and cultures and, arguably, moving away from static management of print and digital collections towards providing user-focused services.

 

Hoodless and Pinfield investigated this idea by trying to find out about the actual state of library organisational structures and management practices. They did this by means of conducting eleven semi-structured interviews with senior library managers from a range of different UK based higher education institutions. Their maximum variation sampling approach aimed to cover as broad a spectrum of perspectives and practices as possible.

 

Before highlighting the results of Hoodless’s and Pinfield’s study, it makes sense to identify the typical responsibilities of the traditional academic liaison librarian. They include, among other things, development, management and delivery of information literacy training for their constituent library users. Linking up with appropriate staff and students to maintain awareness of new research and teaching in their subject areas, as well as developing and fulfilling potential information needs. Liaison librarians also tend to manage information resources budgets pertaining to their allocated subject fields.

 

Debbie Morrow contends that effective embeddedness is the key ingredient to successful liaison librarianship: “My responsibility became to explore and nurture relationships within my liaison departments, and per chance to become what Olivia Olivares has aptly described as “sufficiently embedded.”

 

An example of a classic, subject-based liaison support structure is UCC Library

http://booleweb.ucc.ie/index.php?pageID=184

 

On the other hand, an example of radical change to the above approach is the University of Manchester Library. Manchester switched over from a previously subject-based support structure (Arts, Social Sciences, Business & Management, Engineering & Physical Sciences, Medical, Human & Life Sciences) to a functional support structure (Research Services, Teaching & Learning, Academic Engagement). Academic Engagement is now faculty based: Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Medicine, Biology and Health).

 

Hoodless and Pinfield learnt through their inquiries that, increasingly, libraries are replacing subject-based teams for functional teams. However, views on this were divided along the lines of actual current or anticipated practice: libraries that will/have adopt(ed) the functional approach see this very much as the way forward; libraries that maintain, and intend to maintain into the future, the subject-based model were unconvinced of the efficacy of functional teams.

 

Essentially, the following opposing drivers for both, functional and subject-based, library structures were identified (see Hoodless and Pinfield, 2016, p.12):

 

Drivers for function-based structures Drivers for subject-based structures
Ensuring a consistent approach to services and support Tailoring services and support
Linking to the overall university strategy of teaching and research excellence Reflecting the university discipline-based structure
Instigating cultural change Retaining the effectiveness of traditional structures and the support of library staff

 
Building visible and distinct areas of expertise and ensuring focus Maintaining the integration of services supporting teaching and research
Creating partnership and links with other university teams Strengthening partnerships and links with academic departments

 

The day concluded with a lively discussion around different institutional organisational and cultural library practices.

 

Further reading on this subject:

Organizing the liaison role. A concept map / Judith E. Pasek

Transforming Liaison Roles in Research Libraries /  Janice M. Jaguszewski & Karen Williams (thanks to Jack Hyland for pointing out this report)