1. New Roles for the Academic Librarian on Campus
Jody Bailey
December 11, 2008

2. $108 . . . and Some Cents
LJ opinion piece by William H. Wisner.
Reference questions dwindling day by day.
Calculated cost of each question at $108 and change.
Concluded, it is very lucky some of us have tenure.
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3. What to do?
Are libraries dying?
Is librarianship dying?
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4. Service and Communication.
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5. 1. Identify clients and their needs.
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Traditional clients: on-campus faculty, staff, students.
Traditional needs: books, journal articles, other printed materials.
6. 1. Identify clients and their needs (contd).
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Traditional clients, new needs:
Physical: meeting spaces, snack areas . . . even computer games.
Digital: user-friendly Websites, intuitive interfaces, online help
7. 1. Identify clients and their needs (contd).
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New: distance learners being taught by off-campus faculty.
New needs:
Burgeoning information formats, e.g., websites, wikis, blogs, etc.
Traditional formats in new guises, e.g., online journals.
Help with information overload.
8. 2. Devise Innovative Ways to Meet Those Needs: Three Examples.
Liaison Librarians: Set up blogs, wikis, iGoogle, or Pageflakes to encourage communication.
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9. 2. Devise Innovative Ways to Meet Those Needs (contd).
Reference/Instruction Librarians: Understand how digital natives learn and teach to that learning style (Culligan, 2003) while balancing needs of older students.
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10. 2. Devise Innovative Ways to Meet Those Needs (contd).
Technical Services Librarians: Make the librarys holdings, both traditional and new formats, ever easier to find.
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11. 3. Communicate With Clients.
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Communication = Marketing = Public Relations
Traditional formats:Mail, phone, email, face-to-face
New formats:Blogs, wikis, RSS feeds
12. 3. Communicate With Clients (contd).
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Marketing is imperative both within and outside the library.
Within: signs, brochures, personal contact
Outside: email, blogs, wikis, signs, brochures, personal contact
13. 3. Communicate With Clients (contd).
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Brochure cover sample.
Made in MS Word using a trifold brochure template.
All images royalty free.
Took about 30 minutes.
Color copies = minimum cost; professional printing higher.
14. 3. Communicate With Clients (contd).
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Communication must be
Fast
Professional
Courteous
Service-oriented
15. 4. Follow Up!
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Evaluation is crucial.
Must know what works, what doesnt.
User feedback can help develop new services.
16. 4. Follow Up! (contd)
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Evaluation methods:
Formal surveys (mail, phone, web, email, in-person)
Informal methods (face-to-face chat, email, phone)
Retail model (secret/mystery shopper)
Useful? Reliable?
17. Keys to Librarians Success in the New Academic Environment
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Professional service.
Identification of clients needs.
Meeting needs.
High-quality communication.
Reliable Evaluation.
18. References
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Culligan, M. (2003). Digital natives in the classroom. In B. Hoffman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. Retrieved December 5, 2008, from http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/digitalnatives/start.htm
Stephens, M. (2008, November 18). LIS768 CSC group project. Message posted to http://tametheweb.com/2008/11/18/lis768-csc-group-projects/
Wisner, W. H. (2008). $108 . . . and some cents. Library Journal, 133(16), 41.