Liaison Librarian Roles and Responsibilities at UNCW Library

Each academic discipline and interdisciplinary program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington is assigned a liaison librarian from UNCW Library who collaborates with their programs, departments, schools, and colleges to ensure that all stakeholders are engaged with the library at a level that supports their academic and scholarly success. In alignment with the mission, vision, and values of the Academic & Research Engagement Division, liaison librarians conduct their work with transparency, collaboration, approachability, and inclusiveness to maximize the success of faculty, students, and staff.  

Liaison librarians at UNCW have four main functional roles: Outreach, Engagement, and Relationship-Building; Teaching and Learning; Research Services; and Collections and Resources. Liaison librarians approach these functional roles through the disciplinary and field-specific lenses of their assigned academic units, resulting in unique and personalized support and services. Liaisons collaborate closely with each other, with colleagues in UNCW Library, and with partners on campus to best engage the UNCW community as a whole. 

Outreach, Engagement, and Relationship-Building 

  1. Build and maintain positive and collegial relationships with faculty, staff, and students in liaison areas.
  2. Communicate with faculty and instructors in liaison areas using the best means for that department (e.g. an email list, communications for distribution via the chair) regarding important UNCW Library updates.
  3. Reach out to new faculty in liaison areas to learn about their scholarship and teaching and provide them with information about UNCW Library services.
  4. Work with department chairs to attend department meetings to provide updates and gather information about library-related needs.
  5. Identify potential connections between faculty in liaison areas and other UNCW Library functional areas (e.g. online learning/teaching, primary source research or teaching, digital scholarship, digital initiatives, etc.).
  6. Maintain knowledge of grants, awards, research, scholarship, and creative works produced in liaison areas to identify potential partnerships for events, exhibits, and programming.   

Teaching and Learning 

  1. Assess student learning of information literacy concepts (see UNCW Information Literacy Student Learning Outcomes).
  2. Determine the best delivery method(s) for information literacy instruction content based on course needs, student learning outcomes, and consultation with the instructor(s). Methods might include face-to-face session(s), flipped instruction, gamified instruction, embedding in the class, workshops, tutorials, course guides, Canvas modules, and/or more.
  3. Empower instructors to share the responsibility for information literacy education.
  4. Work with stakeholders to identify, integrate, and scaffold information literacy throughout the curriculum. 

Research Services 

  1. Assist UNCW students, faculty, staff, and community members with research needs via methods best suited to the user (e.g. face-to-face or Zoom consultations, telephone, email, chat, etc.).
  2. Understand the research workflows of faculty and graduate and undergraduate students in liaison areas and where in that workflow the liaison might be able to assist.
  3. Stay up to date on areas of current and expanding research and creative works in liaison areas, particularly those related to areas of faculty specialization.
  4. Stay up to date on research tools and databases relevant to liaison areas.
  5. Stay up to date on scholarly research services issues (e.g. research data management, author rights, scholarly impact) relevant to liaison areas.

Collections and Resources 

  1. Develop and manage the physical and electronic collections in assigned liaison areas to maintain a robust and up-to-date collection.
  2. Facilitate stakeholder awareness of collection, budget, and licensing issues as needed.
  3. Identify and add relevant and significant databases and journals to the collections wish list.
  4. Remain knowledgeable about specialized collections relevant to liaison areas (e.g. government information, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives & History, and Curriculum Materials Center).