The Relational Academic Library in Context, Theory, and Practice

The presentation will explore the (re-)emergence of relationship-based practice in academic libraries as a humanistic service philosophy for the multicultural network society of the 21st century and as a critical counterpoint to the digital transformation currently preoccupying the profession. The speaker will outline how technology trends, social shifts, economic exigencies, and political pressures have combined to radically alter communities, businesses, industries, organizations, and professions, with participation, collaboration, democratization and inclusion among notable key themes. She will describe how the relational library service model builds on familiar practices such as subject liaison, roving reference, one-shot instruction and resource-sharing consortia, but draws on concepts and theories from other disciplines and professions to develop stronger relationships and create quality services based on personal connections, cross-functional teams, durable networks, and social justice. A particular focus will be on how practitioners are successfully using concepts and theories to develop and improve their practice, especially when cooperating and collaborating across hierarchical and professional boundaries, and when working with diverse populations and marginalized groups. Participants will be invited to reflect on where their own library is located on the transactional–relational spectrum and what factors are helping or hurting their progress from service provider to scholarly partner.
The instructor will provide two handouts: one containing definitions and descriptions of concepts, theories, models, frameworks and tools referenced in the talk; the other offering suggestions for further reading on the practices and perspectives covered. She will supply both handouts in advance to facilitate access to supplementary learning resources during and after the session in addition to the optional pre-session readings (shown below).

Optional pre-course readings:
Corrall, S. (2023, March 10). Seven strategies to turn academic libraries into social organisations. THE Campus. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/seven-strategies-turn-academic-libraries-social-organisations [5 minute read]
Corrall, S. (2023). Making sense of the social turn in academic libraries. Information Professional, 48(October-November), 40-43.
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/45492/ [10 minute read]
Corrall, S. (2023). Alignment, collaboration and the social turn: Our agenda for the relational library. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 29(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/13614533.2023.2196277 [15 minute read]

Resource URL: https://fhsla.org/annual-meetings.html

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Identify and describe the foundational concepts of relational librarianship in order to recognize and distinguish transactional and relational practices in their library;
• Name and categorize professional practices representing established, evolving, and emerging examples of relational librarianship in order to assess and evaluate their services;
• Recall and outline theoretical frameworks used to inform and guide relational work in order to reflect on application to their own practice;
• Select and apply social capital perspectives and tools in order to analyze, interpret, and develop their personal, team, organizational and community relationships.

Agenda

The event will take the form of an interactive lecture with opportunities for reflection, questions, and discussion during the session. The instructor will provide two handouts (described above) that will be available for reference during the session.

The basic agenda is as follows:

• Introduction to the session: presentation outline and modus operandi
• Contexts of relational librarianship: societal trends and conceptual foundations
• Advances in relationship-based practices: liaison, collaboration, and learning facilitation
• Developments in professional thinking: practice models and theoretical frameworks
• Translating theory into practice: culture, structure, and professional competencies

Following the introduction and orientation, the course has four modules of approximately 10-15 minutes duration. The instructor will periodically pause her presentation and invite participants to reflect on the material covered in the lecture, compare the practices described with practices in their own library, and share their thoughts about any implications for organization development.

MLA CE Credits: 1