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The Subject Librarian and Collection Management in the Hybrid Library

The Subject Librarian and Collection Management in the Hybrid Library. Stephen Pinfield. The future of the subject librarian?.

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The Subject Librarian and Collection Management in the Hybrid Library

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  1. The Subject Librarian and Collection Management in the Hybrid Library Stephen Pinfield

  2. The future of the subject librarian? “In the future, I think that the delivery of end-user services will be much more systematized …it will involve the convergence of learning support services…What I think will emerge is an organizational structure…which will be based on functionally-based collaborating teams. I think the generic model of subject librarianship will disappear. So we shall have service convergence round broad functional responsibilities.” Richard Heseltine quoted in J.V. Martin ‘Subject specialization in British university libraries’ JLIS 28, 3, September 1996, p. 167.

  3. Subject staff and collection management • “Subject specialists tend to have highly developed territorial instincts expressed as ‘my faculty’ or ‘my subject’ and a much less developed view of the library collections as a whole.” • “CD-ROM networking or HTML authoring skills may seem more relevant professional skills than subject knowledge.” Derek Law ‘The organization of collection management in academic libraries’ in Clare Jenkins and Mary Morley (ed.) Collection management in academic libraries. 2nd ed. 1999. p.17

  4. ‘Collection management’ • Selection • Acquisition • Format questions • Cataloguing • Location • Monitoring use • Conservation • Relegation and disposal

  5. From Collection Management to Access Development

  6. The Subject Librarian • Liaison with users • Enquiries • Selection and budgets • Classification (and cataloguing?) • Managing collections • User education • Guides and publicity • Personnel management (?) • Wider responsibilities

  7. Benefits • User-oriented service • Expertise in the resources • Recruiting high-quality staff

  8. The old job plus...! More liaison New roles Enquires - the new way Technical liaison Selection/evaluation of e-resources More training Organising the information landscape Educational technology, MLEs Team player Project work The changing role

  9. The old job plus...! Role of subject librarian should be kept under review: • by senior management • by subject librarians themselves

  10. Emphasis on liaison • Getting out there! Being ‘proactive’ • ‘Faculty Team Librarian’, ‘Liaison Librarian’, ‘Learning Advisor’ • Informal liaison • Formal liaison • Curriculum committees, School boards etc. • Service Level Agreements

  11. New roles Examples: • QAA support • Accreditation support • RAE support

  12. Enquiries - the new way • Not on the enquiry desk, but... • Email enquiries • Video conferencing • FAQs • Technical enquiries ‘Disembodied librarian’

  13. Liaison with technical staff • Consultation in selecting resources • Co-operation in providing services • Liaison in answering enquiries • Partnership in developing new services

  14. Selecting e-materials • Finding out about stuff • Liaising with suppliers • Organising demos • Setting up trials • Organising evaluation • Organising purchase • Nottingham PEP (Protocol for Electronic Purchasing)

  15. Content Functionality Interface Access Licensing Authentication Format Technical requirements Integration with existing services Cost Training and support implications Archiving and preservation Hidden costs etc. Selection criteria

  16. Information skills training • Relationship with IT and other training? • Relationship with academic teaching?

  17. Librarians and the Internet • “...the general perception was that the library and the Internet were two separate and unrelated entities.” • “…participants were not inclined to ask a librarian for help with finding information on the Internet…” Joann E. D’Esposito and Rachel M. Gardner ‘University students’ perceptions of the Internet’. JAL 25, 6, 1999, p. 458 & 459

  18. Training or what? "Lubans…asked respondents what the library could do to facilitate students' use of the Web. By far the most common suggestions were develop finding aids (best Web site listings by subject); provide live links to Web sites from the library catalog; rate search engines; and provide a service that regularly notifies users, via email, of the best new sites in a subject area. Only one third of the Duke respondents wanted one-to-one sessions or classes…” D’Esposito and Gardner p. 457

  19. Nottingham Web site design principles • Not just describing the service but part of the service • Improved navigation • ‘where-you-are’ navigation, quicklinks, flattening hierarchies • Subject organisation • Database driven • Devolved editing • Dream Weaver, Web forms

  20. The old job plus...! More liaison New roles Enquires - the new way Technical liaison Selection/evaluation of e-resources More training Organising the information landscape Educational technology, MLEs Team player Project work The changing role

  21. Range of skills • Subject skills • People skills • Communication skills • Team-working and team-building skills • Presentation and teaching skills • Project management skills • Technical / IT skills • Analytical and evaluative skills • Flexibility • Ability to learn quickly • Vision

  22. http:www.nottingham.ac.uk/library

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