A case study: the evolution of a “facilitator model” liaison program in an academic medical library

Jon E Crossno,Emily F Patridge,Mary Ann Huslig,Helen G Mayo,Claudia H Deshay

doi:10.3163/1536-5050.100.3.006

Abstract

What type of liaison program would best utilize both librarians and other library staff to effectively promote library services and resources to campus departments? The case is an academic medical center library serving a large, diverse campus. The library implemented a "facilitator model" program to provide personalized service to targeted clients that allowed for maximum staff participation with limited subject familiarity. To determine success, details of liaison-contact interactions and results of liaison and department surveys were reviewed. Liaisons successfully recorded 595 interactions during the program's first 10months of existence. A significant majority of departmental contact persons (82.5%) indicated they were aware of the liaison program, and 75% indicated they preferred email communication. The "facilitator model" provides a well-defined structure for assigning liaisons to departments or groups; however, training is essential to ensure that liaisons are able to communicate effectively with their clients.

Highlights

With more than 19,000 faculty, staff, students, and residents, the campus of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas (UT Southwestern) spans several city blocks and consists of a medical school, a health professions school, and a graduate school; 1 affiliated hospital; 2 semi-affiliated hospitals; and a research park
The program included a blend of professional librarians and other library staff serving as liaisons within a ‘‘facilitator model’’ structure
The following changes were recommended to address some of the problem areas identified in the surveys: & expanded use of the liaison program’s intranet page for communication and tracking of events & increased utilization of the Contact Database (CCDB) to record activities and time spent on liaison work & liaison training and certification exercises for presenting orientations & additional basic training in accessing heavily used electronic database resources

Summary

Introduction

With more than 19,000 faculty, staff, students, and residents, the campus of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas (UT Southwestern) spans several city blocks and consists of a medical school, a health professions school, and a graduate school; 1 affiliated hospital (in 2 physically separate buildings); 2 semi-affiliated hospitals; and a research park. In 2008, to address such complexity and provide better personalized services to members of the campus community, the UT Southwestern Library envisioned a liaison program that would: & establish a point of contact within assigned campus departments & identify the information needs of clients in those departments & save clients’ time by providing direct access to resources and services that would help them to perform more precisely and efficiently. The program included a blend of professional librarians and other library staff serving as liaisons within a ‘‘facilitator model’’ structure. This structure did not require liaisons to possess extensive subject familiarity or be expert teachers or searchers. Liaisons acted as ‘‘emissaries,’’ facilitating contact between library staff with skills in specific areas and their departmental contacts. This article has been approved for the Medical Library Association’s Independent Reading Program ,http://www.mlanet .org/education/irp/

Results

Discussion

Conclusion