Outreach Through the College Librarian Programat Virginia Tech

Abstract

Along with the capability of distributed computers, the University Libraries at Virginia Tech have invested in a program to distribute College Librarians into college buildings across the campus. Overcoming the disadvantages of a central library, the ten librarians allocated to six colleges perform outreach from offices among their constituents. This has allowed closer ties to faculty, resulting in more library instruction, more reference requests, and more placement of librarians on college committees and grants. Two evaluation surveys Jane E.

Repenser la relation bibliothécaires-professeurs : l’intégration physique d’un bibliothécaire dans un département universitaire

“…Ces différentes initiatives avaient toutes pour but d'offrir quelques heures de présence dans un département. C'est à Virginia Tech que l'on associe l'une des premières délocalisations à temps plein de bibliothécaires dans un milieu universitaire (Stemmer and Tombarge 1997 ;Schillie et al 2000 ;Seamans and Metz 2002). Depuis, ces initiatives foisonnent au Canada et aux États-Unis.…”

Initiating engineering outreach reference services: background and practice

“…Norlin (2001) discusses the implementation of a student‐run program of lab monitors trained in basic reference skills. Schillie et al (2000) discussed an initiative that placed librarians within academic department offices for designated office hours. Wagner (2004) discussed factors determining strategic places to choose for locating outreach reference initiatives, including “distance from the physical library, the department culture, historical relationships to the library, and the physical space characteristics of the department”.…”

Instructional Outreach Across the Curriculum: Enhancing the Liaison Role at a Research University

“…Over the past decade, there has been a steady rise in interest among academic librarians in the idea of outreach. While there are many potential explanations for this new attention to a familiar subject, some of the most common include the increasing diversity of the student body (Westbrook and Waldman 1993), the rising importance of information technology and electronic information sources in higher education (Arant and Mosely 1999, Jacobson and Cohen 2000, Schillie et al 2000, and the desire to provide specialized library services to target user groups, e.g., faculty, administrators, distance learners, international students, athletes, and transfer students (Cruickshank and Nowak 2001, Neely et al 1999, Peyton 2000, Stebelman et al 1999. Outreach from the academic library can take many forms, but it is often built around a commitment to instruction.…”