Thinking Outside the Box to Square the Circle: Realigning Library Services with Stakeholder Needs

Objectives: In an age of electronic databases and Google, librarians must find ways to expand library services to meet the needs of patrons who no longer seek some traditional services. How do we identify needs in our organizations that are not being met, and market our abilities to fill those needs while maintaining our identity as librarians? Methods: With the full support of the library director, whose priority was to update academic and clinical services, newly hired librarians took time to observe the initiatives and goals already established across their respective residency and nursing departments. Despite increased liaison activity, decreasing demand for literature searches led us to investigate other ways we could serve the departments. We discovered needs that librarians could help with such as: assisting with surveys and pretests, measuring research impact, growing institutional knowledge through tutorials and archives, finding grant opportunities, and dealing with technology questions. A search of the literature and recent job postings provided additional ideas for value-added services, as well as best practices for identifying needs and building patron relationships. Results: Librarians focused on outreach, listened to their stakeholders’ pain points, and offered to take on different kinds of projects. This required additional training in some cases, flexibility and willingness to fail, and undertaking responsibilities that might be seen as outside a librarian’s normal duties. However, these new assignments resulted in increased collaboration and visibility for librarians. Conclusions: While there is still a need for librarians in healthcare organizations, they must work harder than ever to market themselves and offer more value-added services. By defining those services through outreach and research, librarians can better align their goals with those of their respective stakeholders