Building Virtually Free Subject Area Expertise through Social Media: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

. © 2016 Brian K. Kooy, Attribution-NonCommercial (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0 /) CC BY-NC.Central to the ongoing success of the liaison model is the need for liaison librarians to stay informed and up-to-date about recent developments in the subject areas of their assigned academic departments and programs. This article describes an exploratory study conducted to determine whether information obtained from the social media accounts of discipline-based scholarly associations can be used by liaison librarians as a no-cost expedient method of staying informed and up-to-date. The results of the study provide insights into the disciplines and associations that are using social media, the social media platforms that associations are using, the quantity and type of information that associations are posting, and the potential for liaisons to use the information as a way of staying current in their assigned subject areas. ormalized liaison programs, in which a group of librarians focus their work in a particular subject area and provide support for teaching, learning, and research to one or more academic departments, have been used by college and university libraries since at least the 1970s.1 The primary role of liaison librarians is to provide outreach between the library and the departments to which they are assigned by facilitating ongoing communication about the library, its services, and faculty and student resource needs. In addition, these librarians commonly deliver in-depth reference and research consultation services, provide course-integrated information literacy instruction, make purchasing decisions regarding print and electronic resources, and manage the collections of their assigned subject areas. 2Recent changes in teaching and research have prompted many libraries to reassess and, in some cases, restructure their liaison programs to address and accommodate new technologies, evolving research methods, advances in the way scholars communicate and disseminate their findings, greater collaboration between academic departments, and mandates from federal funding agencies.3 Some libraries, most notably the libraries at the University of Minnesota and Duke University, have created new guidelines for liaisons that position them to take a more proactive, engaged, and, in