(via the ACRL University Libraries Section)
Registration is open for the free ACRL ULS (University Libraries Section) Professional Development Committee webinar “Creating the Relational Liaison: Preparing Librarians for Relationship Management and Stakeholder Engagement”. It will take place on Wednesday, June 11, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM CDT.
Successful academic libraries create relationships and foster networks of collaborations among institutional stakeholders. Academic libraries invest a significant portion of their staffing into liaison librarian positions, whose primary purpose is to cultivate and manage these relationships, developing relational capital for academic libraries on their campuses. The soft skills needed to manage relationships, such as communication, networking, negotiation, persuasion, and empathy, have become critical for librarians working in public services roles.
Although this relationship-centered staffing concept has been in place for decades, many liaisons still struggle to make these connections with campus stakeholders and may not even appreciate the centrality of relationships to a library’s mission. Moreover, library and information science degree programs, continuing education opportunities, and even liaison job descriptions tend to emphasize the hard skills of liaison work. As a result, many academic libraries find themselves hiring candidates with one set of skills and then expecting them to achieve strategic objectives that require a completely different skill set.
In this webinar, Alexander Carroll and Honora Eskridge, both of Vanderbilt University, will explore the importance of relationship management for academic libraries, and why liaison librarians must develop their soft skills to succeed in the work. The webinar will provide practical approaches liaisons can use to improve their outreach skills, and will outline steps that library managers can implement that connect individual liaisons’ efforts into a cohesive engagement strategy. The webinar will close with suggestions for how search committees can prioritize (and how search candidates can highlight) soft skills during the hiring process.
To register, please go here. If you can’t make this session but wish to view a recording later, please register so that you’ll receive an e-mail including a link to the video of the presentation. Please direct questions and concerns to Colleen Quinn (colleen.quinn@umgc.edu) and Jane Hammons (hammons.73@osu.edu) Co-Chairs of the ACRL ULS Professional Development Committee.