Moving from collecting to connecting: Articulating, assessing, and communicating the work of liaison librarians

In the twenty-first century, academic libraries and librarians have recast the narrative by turning outward, engaging more deeply across the university. No longer solely focused on collecting, libraries now embrace connecting with their campus communities to foster consumption, production, curation, preservation, collaboration, and inquiry around cultural resources. This paper will discuss the ongoing efforts of the Rutgers University Libraries, New Brunswick to investigate the changing roles and responsibilities of library liaisons-roles and responsibilities that are changing from transactional to relational in many academic libraries. The article will provide a historic overview of the work of library liaisons that has led to the recent appointment of a Liaison Assessment Committee at Rutgers. The committee is charged to describe the work liaison librarians currently undertake, to map liaison responsibilities to the libraries’ mission and service priorities, to share that work with stakeholders, and to assess the relevance and impact of the librarians’ efforts.