Library as Forum: Building Relationships and Identity through Faculty Speaker Events

The development of the liaison model in academic libraries has had important implications for the relationship between librarians and teaching faculty members. Modes of outreach to departments are conditioned by a variety of factors, and can have a profound effect on the library’s image on campus. This case study describes and analyzes programming implemented at an academic library to position the library as a forum for interdisciplinary exchange on campus and as a platform for faculty research. This programming, conceived primarily as a series of speaker events, was created with an emphasis on research in the humanities and lettered social sciences in an effort to raise the profile of these disciplines at the library on a campus with an extensive focus on STEM fields. By partnering with these departments in order to create speaker-centric, discussion-focused programming, the library built relationships and fulfilled its responsibility to promote academic engagement