Subject specialization in a liaison librarian program.

Abstract

Liaison librarians focus their work in a particular subject area and provide services to clients in that discipline. The value of and need for formal subject background for such liaisons have been debated for decades [1]. Some believe a relevant background (either through a degree or work experience in the field) is beneficial but not a necessity [2, 3], while others find a formal academic background is vital to this type of work [4, 5]. These differences of opinion are often related to the degree of subject-specific services provided by the liaison program; multitiered programs often require formal education in a subject area for liaisons at the higher or more specialized level [6]. The information specialist in context (ISIC) or informationist, a new career path evolving in health sciences, integrates hybrid specialists with formal training in both information management and a particular subject discipline or other expert training into clinical or research teams [7, 8]. Tennant et al. [9] described the formal evaluation of the University of Florida Health Science Center Library's (HSCL's) Liaison Librarian Program (LLP) 5 years after its inception. Although the response rate for the client portion of the survey was low, results indicated that 95% of faculty and student respondents who had contact with their liaisons (n = 101) supported continuing the LLP; furthermore, responses to open-ended questions suggested that clients were satisfied with both the program and their particular liaisons' services. In discussion of such models, debate often arises regarding the amount of subject knowledge required for traditional liaisons to provide satisfactory subject-related services and strategies for obtaining such expertise. The current subset analysis of the survey by Tennant et al. [9] strives to address questions about clients' perception of subject background, effect of liaison background on client satisfaction, and potential educational strategies of these liaisons.