Description
Liaison roles are generally commonplace in medical and health sciences libraries as librarians strive to develop and enhance relationships and collaborations with clinicians and faculty. While the liaison of the past acted primarily as the main contact between respective departments and the library providing a facilitative function (e.g. arranging for instruction sessions, inviting feedback on the collection, providing updates on new programs and services, etc.), today’s liaison activities are more proactive and robust.
The Engaged Health Sciences Library Liaison features ten program descriptions that illustrate how the reach and scope of librarians in the medical/healthcare arena has changed dramatically since the inception of liaison services. The program outcomes described:
- illustrate a direct impact on curriculum development,
- address new information types with new access and preservation technologies,
- expand stakeholder groups,
- create research and teaching collaborations, and
- enhance functional roles.
This authoritative book copublished by the Medical Library Association demonstrates that collaboration and communication, the basic tenets of a liaison program, breed innovative programs and services that are relevant, current, and valuable.
About the Editor
Lindsay Alcock is the Head of Public Services at Memorial University of Newfoundland’s (MUN) Health Sciences Library. She earned her MLIS from the University of British Columbia in 1998. Her collaborations have resulted in the development of the journal Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, the grass-roots MUN Libraries Strategic Plan, the MUN Libraries Leadership Development program, and, with colleagues from the Harvard Leadership Institute for Academic Libraries 2013, accredited workshops in leadership development. She lives near the ocean with her two boys and their dog in beautiful Newfoundland, Canada.
Kelly Thormodson is currently the Associate Dean and Director of the Harrell Health Sciences Library at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, PA. Kelly earned her MA in Library and Information Science from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA and her BA from North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND. She attended the Harvard Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians in 2013 and was a NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellow in 2014-2015.
