Changing Landscape of Liaison Librarianship During a Time of Evidence Based Processes in Collection Management

Contemporary library practice in collection building has focused on demand driven acquisitions (DDA) processes especially in academic library settings. Collection building has become data driven guided by specific acquisitions models defined by unique fiscal parameters and other bibliographic data points. In general, the DDA processes can be managed by electronic resources & acquisitions librarians with decreasing input from traditional subject librarian liaison methods. Have DDA practices affected contributions of subject librarians in collection management? This poster will present the preliminary findings of a survey of subject librarian practice at Association of Research Libraries members. The survey reveals a continued focus of subject specialization among academic libraries, but within new contexts defined by scholarly communication, research and student learning. Some of the trends include: becoming a partner in faculty scholarly communication, managing publications DDA processes do not include such as: grey-literature & data, and facilitating alternative models of scholarly communication in libraries, like open access and institutional repositories. The survey demonstrates that subject librarianship practices remain vibrant in academic libraries and are evolving to meet new patron's research and instructional needs. The information presented will provide guidance to subject librarians and collection managers on how to plan for facilitating patron driven acquisitions processes in academic libraries. The presentation will also benefit libraries with established patron driven acquisitions in suggesting new areas of information services that could be developed.