Distinctive Roles: Engagement, Innovation, and the Liaison Model

Bent on improving the teaching and learning experience, enhancing the productivity of researchers, and increasing the visibility of research outputs, libraries are redistributing staff, reallocating resources, and reorganizing internal structures, all to better partner campus-wide. Nowhere is the impact of this push for service innovation and user engagement greater than on the workload, direction, and even future of liaison librarian programs. This article provides brief historical context as it explores a cross section of libraries that recently redefined or restructured their liaison roles and begins a larger look at the corresponding impact of organizational climate and structure that may influence future success.