Evolving the Liaison Program Shared methods for success Tracy Gabridge MIT Libraries Associate...
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Evolving the Liaison Program Shared methods for success Tracy Gabridge MIT Libraries Associate Director, Research and Instructional Services [email protected]
Evolving the Liaison Program Shared methods for success Tracy
Gabridge MIT Libraries Associate Director, Research and
Instructional Services [email protected]
Slide 2
SBU Goals 1.Stony Brook University will implement innovative
strategies to enhance undergraduate and graduate education to
develop world-renowned academic programs that foster student
productivity and success. 2.We will renew our commitment to
excellence in research and scholarship throughout the academic
enterprise and find new and innovative ways to support and reward
faculty and students for research and creative activity. 3.We will
increase access to Stony Brook University, including the number of
undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented minority
groups, while enhancing student quality and implementing strategies
to improve retention and graduation rates. 4.Stony Brook University
will have a global impact through focused and well-resourced
engagements with select international partners in critical areas of
education and research, and by increasing the number of students
who engage in international programs. 5.Build and maintain a
state-of-the-art energy-efficient campus with outstanding
facilities, student support services, an IT infrastructure and an
advancement effort that meets the programmatic, physical, aesthetic
and cultural needs of our students, faculty and staff. 6.Make Stony
Brook University the regions undisputed leader in improving
economic growth, health and quality of life as it becomes one of
the top 20 public research universities in North America.
Slide 3
Guiding Principles Promote Academic Engagement We are committed
to participating in the entire life cycle of the research,
teaching, and learning process that emphasize critical thinking and
innovative forms of expression. We identify priorities that guide
strategic efforts to foster academic collaborations and cultivate
enduring partnerships to enable student, faculty, and research
success. Build, Preserve, and Provide Access to Rich and Diverse
Collections We equip students, faculty and researchers with the
means to reach their fullest potential by ensuring an equitable and
balanced collection development profile that (a) reflects and
anticipates the University's teaching, research and clinical
requirements; (b) deploys seamless and flexible technology in
discovery of relevant information in all formats; and (c)
implements sustainable policies and procedures to ensure the
availability and integrity of information resources now and into
the future. Develop Responsive Library Spaces for Diverse User
Communities We design library space to increase productivity and
develop communities of learning. We benefit curricular and research
initiatives with library facilities, technologies and services and
we design flexible/multi-purpose spaces in a high technology
environment Foster an Innovative Culture of Learning and Assessment
We encourage and enable all staff to contribute to the development
of the library as a learning organization that acquires knowledge
and responds appropriately to a rapidly changing environment.
Learning organizations (a) create a culture that encourages and
supports continuous employee learning, critical thinking,
assessment, and risk taking and innovation of new ideas, (b) allow
experimentation, and value employee contributions, (c) learn from
experience and experiment, and (d) disseminate the new knowledge
throughout the organization for incorporation into day-to-day
workflows.
Slide 4
How do we, the Stony Brook University Libraries, position
ourselves to deliver the expertise, services, and resources that
will be differentiators in SBUs academic work and success? How do
we shift the focus away from the work of librarians to that of
scholars and to develop engagement strategies based on the needs
and success indicators of our academic departments
https://www.flickr.com/photos/colinkinner/2200500024
Slide 5
A case study in two parts 2. Supporting each other on the
journey 1. Developing a focus on users University and Library
strategic changes
Slide 6
Part 1 1. Developing a focus on users
Slide 7
Slide 8
Slide 9
Photo diary study - 2006
Slide 10
Who did it? And how? About a dozen librarians involved in
design and interviews Study design came from here:
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What we learned
Slide 12
Raise awareness Reduce barriers to services Focus on customer
service Close the skills gaps for undergraduates Assist with
personal information management
Slide 13
What came next? Usability tests, e.g. OPAC Standards
collections survey and interview NIH publishing study Space
utilization studies Digital scholarship study Bioinformatics
program assessment Triennial survey
Slide 14
Services built after focusing on needs Personal Content
Management services Research Data Management services Copyright,
scholarly publishing services Renovation planning Additional group
study spaces Service improvements (loan times, delivery options,
etc.)
Slide 15
ProfDEHProfDEH pixabay.com Commute by bicycle = benefit
multiplier by 4
Slide 16
User studies = benefit multiplier x 5! Your focus is
automatically outside of the libraries You build relationships with
the community You increase their awareness of services and
expertise You learn about their needs so that you can tailor and/or
evolve the services you provide The studies and results are
research
https://www.flickr.com/photos/salforduniversity/4011208734
Slide 17
Activity interlude
Slide 18
How do you currently learn about how research and learning is
done in your assigned communities?
Slide 19
In pairs or threes - What assumptions do you have about how
your communities create and manage their information? Or: what
would you like to know about the research of your community?
Examples: I believe that of all my faculty who receive funding from
the NIH know how to achieve compliance and are compliant on all of
their grants meeting the open access requirements. My students
learn best about credible information sources when I teach them
directly in the classroom. Ive always wanted to know if the
undergraduates in my community know how to find and use primary
sources in their studies.
Slide 20
How can you challenge your assumptions about your communities?
Generate possible user study experiments Examples: Get a list of
faculty and NIH grants from the office that supports sponsored
programs, interview faculty and their supporting staff about how
they apply for funding and how they manage the requirements of the
funders. Query the NIH database about their past grants and see if
the requirements have been met.
Slide 21
Report out one potential study per group
https://www.flickr.com/photos/umich-msis/6172745365/
Slide 22
Part 2 2. Supporting each other on the journey
Slide 23
The old way at the MIT Libraries Engineering and Science
Libraries Rotch LibraryDewey LibraryHumanities and Music
Libraries
Developing a networked approach Find commonalities across all
disciplines Identify universal services and approaches Make those
things easy so that liaisons can concentrate on the special
Slide 27
Universal supports, 1 st year Characteristics of a successful
liaison program New faculty toolkit Selector toolkit Regular
meetings for all liaisons Common departmental goals, customized for
each liaison
Slide 28
More universal supports Sample instructional materials, e.g.
drop in slides and scripts for teaching about GIS 101 topics,
Mendeley, open access Easy links to see what your community is
asking via email and chat Open access paper recruitment toolkit
Lists of activities that fellow liaisons have done with their
communities Materials used in marketing Checklists for database
sponsors Distributed blog story writers, with template emails to
send to communities pointing to the story. Reducing time on service
desks, streamlined processes for central collections purchases,
investing in self-help documentation, knowledge bases, template
emails
Slide 29
Examples of engagement Co-authoring books Providing competitive
intelligence for a research program Teaching TAs to evaluate
student assignments for information skills Bringing together
documentary filmmakers across the university to collaborate Sitting
in on journal discussion groups with a goal of creating a new class
Helping a faculty member conceive of how to structure a database to
hold the data for their project
Slide 30
More Working with lab administrators to demonstrate the value
of co-locating researchers in a single building through publishing
patterns Doing original research and writing with faculty in areas
of overlapping interest Finding sources of large data sets to be
repurposed in research Doing a technical analysis of RSS feeds to
enable faculty to manipulate incoming publishing data for their
research Working with faculty to create meaningful conference
programs, identifying speakers of relevance, etc.
Slide 31
Slide 32
Slide 33
New faculty contact practices 100% of new faculty contacted 67%
result in a face-to-face meeting 61% of new faculty have contacted
their liaison librarian in their first year. 92% of new faculty are
aware of their liaison librarian, compared to 72% of faculty
overall.
Slide 34
How do CoPs spend their time?
Slide 35
Liaison quote The department meetings have been a valuable
space for sharing information within the department and across the
organization. It provides the broad perspective that a liaison
needs to represent the libraries to the DLCs. The Community of
Practice structure works well for more detailed discussions about
collections and outreach. The structured approaches to approaching
new faculty, Open Access paper recruitment and other efforts
supports outreach.
Slide 36
Activity interlude - 2 Creating a new faculty toolkit at SBU
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sbconnect/8720270495/in/album-
72157633450419442/
Slide 37
What kinds of things would you want to accomplish by contacting
new faculty?
Slide 38
What activities would help you accomplish those goals?
Slide 39
How could you take it up a notch what could you do that would
make your contact with new faculty truly outstanding or special?
E.g. What could increase the rate at which faculty would want to
have a face-to-face meeting with you?
Slide 40
What of these things could be systematized so that the concepts
could be reused?
Slide 41
Youve gotten a great start!
Slide 42
How do we, the Stony Brook University Libraries, position
ourselves to deliver the expertise, services, and resources that
will be differentiators in SBUs academic work and success? How do
we shift the focus away from the work of librarians to that of
scholars and to develop engagement strategies based on the needs
and success indicators of our academic departments
https://www.flickr.com/photos/colinkinner/2200500024
MITs new faculty toolkit List of new faculty provided each
summer Minimum expectations set (all new faculty contacted, aim for
a face-to-face meeting (try more than once), learn about them)
Email samples for initiating the contact Things to do to learn more
about the faculty member Look at CV, check for news articles, find
grants, learn about their library from their previous university,
dissertation title, etc. Questions for discussion during the
meeting including brief elevator pitches (e.g. responses for I
never go to the library anymore, open access, data management,
etc.) Information to take with you Data gathered afterwards
Contacted? Face-to-face? Any unmet needs identified?
Slide 45
About MIT The community 11K students, 60% graduate, 40%
undergraduate 1K faculty 9K staff/researchers ~70% of students in
science and engineering (problem-set focus) Highly decentralized
departments Strong, common value system Libraries: ~170 Staff ~14
FTE liaison librarians about 27 people with liaison roles.
Librarians are not on a tenure track ~$24M budget