“Cooperation Between College Libraries and Faculty:

Are Libraries Reaching Out to and Supporting

College Faculty Through Liaisons and Library Web Pages?”

ILS560- 70 College and University Libraries

Southern Connecticut State University

Final Project

Agnes Wnuk

April 20, 2008

ABSTRACT

The following is an analysis of Women’s Colleges library web pages to determine the

libraries’ level of engagement with  faculty. How well are these colleges doing in supporting

the faculty and providing them with important information regarding reserves, copyright,

ILL, and other necessary resources. College faculty require library support for their own

research and for their work teaching students. Do women’s college libraries support these

researcher educators to the best of its ability by using liaison librarians and faculty specific

web pages? Working on the framework provided by Gardner et al. in their 2008 study of

the top one hundred American university libraries this study concentrates on a sampling of

Women’s colleges.  

Introduction

Cooperation between the library and faculty is a crucial component of an academic mission

of educating students.  Library support of faculty is important to the educator’s duo role as

researcher and instructor. Faculty require library support for both research and teaching

where they need it, sometimes beyond library walls.

The problem is that often libraries do not effectively communicate with faculty. Frank M.

Turner, director of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library noted in an address

that when he had been a professor the library did not create a dialog with him: “…no one

from the Beinecke Library had ever contacted me about the relationship of the library and

its holdings to my teaching or research even though both were relevant to Beinecke

collections.”(Turner, 2008)

Another issue is that faculty often use electronic information sources rather than the

physical library.  Brady et al. note in their study of journal usage that faculty prefer using

the digital library. They report one professor as saying that “…the whole process of going to

the library, retrieving the items wanted, and buying a copy card was too burdensome to fit

into his busy schedule”(Brady, 2008 p.359)

Yet, libraries can communicate with faculty through personal or electronic contact: That is

through either or both a librarian liaison or a library website.  In terms of library websites

the question is whether there exist links dedicated specifically to faculty needs. How well

are libraries providing these two faculty related services today? This review of women’s

college library websites will contribute to the overall question of library support of faculty. 

Literature Review

While there exists a wealth of research about communication between librarians and faculty,

about the librarian liaison and about library websites in general there is little work done with

faculty dedicated library websites.  Brophy discusses the need for libraries to communicate with

faculty and show how they support teaching and research or they will cease to be relevant:

“Unless steps are taken to demonstrate that value can be added to teaching and research by the

librarian’s contribution, there is an acute danger of professional marginalization.” (Brophy,

p.515) Cunnigham and Lanning discuss forging “faculty-librarian relationships” through library

liaison programs (Cunningham, p.345) Doskatsch discusses a “seamless culture that fosters

collaborative approaches to learning and teaching” (Doskatsch,p111) when speaking of librarian-

faculty relations. Moreover, Snoj and Petermanec also note that librarians “…are becoming

aware of the fact that their existence depends on their relationship with the users of their

services”(Snoj, p.315).

Glnn and Wu discuss liaisons specifically at Rutgers University. Rodwell and Fairbairn discuss

the history of liaison librarians. They agree that in today’s librarianship it is imperative “To

define a role for the present and future, one broad approach for university libraries is to engage 

more closely with the University’s core activities of research and teaching.”(Rodwell, p.116)

In terms of library web pages Still conducted research comparing university library web pages

between four English speaking countries. Still searched for common elements such as “OPAC,

databases, library news, search engines, etc.”(Still, 2001)  Gardner, Juricek and Xu conducted a

study of Academic Library Web Pages of the sixty-nine largest American university libraries.

They looked at content items provided on the pages, the location of faculty web pages in relation

to the library home page, the language used in these web pages and technology found on the

pages. Gardner looked at neither the presence of liaisons, nor noted it as an element of content on

the faculty pages other than library contacts.

Although general research is helpful a specific look at academic library practice is important as

well. This research shows how American women’s colleges are providing liaison librarians and

or faculty dedicated web pages in an effort to support and communicate with faculty.

Research Objectives

The objective is to gauge how well women’s college libraries are meeting the needs

of faculty through library liaisons and web pages dedicated to faculty support.

1.     Do women’s college libraries provide a liaison librarian to assist faculty in their research and teaching?

2.     Do women’s college libraries provide a web page designed with links especially for faculty concerns?

Methodology

The “Colleges for Women” page of the website  “College Scholarships, colleges and

Online degrees” was used to determine current women’s colleges in the United

States. The links provided were used to find each college webpage and subsequently

their library webpage. Fifty-one women’s colleges were found.  The research was

conducted during the month of  April in 2008.

Each college home page was examined for links to the library web page. It was gauged

whether the library web page was present on the college homepage or not. Next the

library home page was examined to see whether there was a direct link for faculty

services. In terms of support the less the faculty member (or a student for that matter) has

to search for the library page and the faculty links the faster they can get to the information

they need.

Two lists were created, one with libraries that had no special faculty related service links

and one that had a dedicated link to faculty resources. Each web page from the second list

was reviewed to see how many different types of information or links were provided for

faculty. Four categories were created to describe the levels of assistance: limited of 1-5

links, moderate with 6-10 links, comprehensive with 11-15 links and exemplary with 16-20

or more links. Each faculty service link was also searched for a mention of librarian

liaisons and for the presence of general or technological links as well.

Data

Of the fifty-one women’s college’s surveyed twenty had no web pages dedicated to faculty 

concerns while thirty-one did. Of those thirty-one eighteen had a link to the library directly

from the school home page. Twenty-five of those had a link to faculty resource pages

directly from the library home page, while in the other six one needed to first click on the

“services” link to get to the faculty pages. Of the thirty-one pages that had faculty web pages

only fourteen mentioned library liaisons. 

For the colleges that had faculty web pages and liaison links data was collected and

organized according to Carnegie designations. Three schools fell under the university

designation, eleven fell under the baccalaureate, liberal arts designation and seventeen fell

under the comprehensive designation.  Data is provided in the following tables 1 through 3.

Data includes the number of students and faculty, library size, the number of library links

in faculty dedicated web pages plus technology or generic links (designated with a +), the

presence of liaison librarian links, whether there is a direct link from the school home page

(SHP) and whether there is a faculty page link from the library home page (LHP).

Six of the schools were in the range of providing 1-5 different information type links for 

faculty resources. Ten of the schools were in the range of 6-10 links. Nine were in the range 

of 11-15. Six were in the range of 16-20 or more.  Only seven libraries provide comprehensive 

access to their faculty, that is both a librarian liaison and links to the library home page from 

the school home page and links to the faculty resources from the library home page.  However, 

they are from each of the ranges from 3 to 23 in terms of information links.

Table 1.  Women’s University’s: Faculty Web Pages and Liaisons¹

FT=Full Time ; PT = Part Time ; G=Graduate ; SHP=School Page ; LHP=Library Page

¹Columns 1-6: (2008) Tabular Data. The College Blue Book, 35^th edition, v. 2. New Haven, CT :        Thomson/Gale.  P.299, p.540, p.649                                                                                                                                                   Columns 7-10: Individual School Websites (see References)

Although a majority of libraries surveyed call liaison librarians by that term others call

them by different names.  The College of St. Bernard calls these librarians “Library Contact”,

Meredith College calls them “Librarian Consultants”, Ursuline College calls it the “Liaison

Program” and the College of Saint Mary calls it the “Consultation Service”.  Regardless of

the terminology the links are provided through the faculty resource pages and are meant to

communicate with and support faculty needs.  Liaisons can be twofold, from the library and

the department. The library of Notre Dame of Maryland describes the position this way:

       “There are two types of liaison: a department member who is the primary contact point with the library, and a librarian who is the primary contact point with your department.”(Notre Dame library web page, 2008)      

There does not seem to be a correlation between size of school, size of faculty or size of

library collection determining the use of liaison librarians. Schools from 600 to 2,000

students and 70 to 150 faculty, and libraries from 77,000 to over a million items provide

liaison librarians.  There is no regional difference as school libraries from Massachusetts to

Minnesota offer the service. However, none of the university designated libraries offer it.

Table 2. Four and Two Year Colleges: Liaison and Faculty Pages²

FT=Full Time ; PT = Part Time ; G=Graduate ; SHP=School Page ; LHP=Library Page

²Columns 1-6: (2008) Tabular Data. The College Blue Book, 35^th edition, v. 2. New Haven, CT :        Thomson/Gale.     P.162, p218, p298,  p326, p374, p410, p440, p453, 471, p575, p351                                                                                                                                        Columns 7-10: Individual School Websites (see References)

Table 3. Women’s Comprehensive Colleges: Liaison and Faculty Pages³

Columns 1-5: (2008) Tabular Data. The College Blue Book, 35^th edition, v. 2. New Haven, CT :        Thomson/Gale.  P.70, p145, p149, p275, p286, p296, p300,  p393, p416, p468, p473, p513, p541, p592, p676, p.681, p707,                                                                                                                                                Columns 6-8: Individual School Websites (see References)

The faculty web pages come under different monikers : Faculty Information, Faculty

Resources, Faculty Guide to the Library, Resources for Faculty, Faculty Services, etc..

The basic services include information on reserves, copyright, plagiarism, ILL, information

literacy, library instruction or tours, and suggesting books and journals for the collection.

Many provide forms to be filled out for library services and materials such as audiovisuals.

Others have information on hours, citation management, style manuals, photography and

scanning. Research assistants (College of St. Benedict) and tech mentors (Mount Holyoke)

are offered as is information on library Depositories( Smith). Bay Path College offers “web

page development and hosting” and “reference consultation”.  Several provide information

about loan periods and library collection development policies. A few provide Refworks,

“New Book List”, tutorials and subject guides and library news.

Special considerations are unique ways that some of these libraries try to improve service.

They include Mount Saint Mary which offers a contest for faculty who provide the library

with class syllabi so that the library can tailor information literacy classes that are course

specific. Several provide a link of services designed for “New Faculty”.  Notre Dame

provides a listing of faculty publications. Mount Holyoke provides “Tech mentors”, video

conferencing and “assignment toolkit”. Bay Path offers “request for resources”, customized

library instruction, library visits reference consultation, “cooperating libraries…”, distance

learning support and remote access. Several, like Alverno, provide a link to “evaluating web

pages”. College of St. Elizabeth provides a links to “Library Journal Book Reviews”,  and

online newspapers. Bryn Mawr provides journal article alerts.

Technology and general library links are offered on most library sites, as seen in the tables

where there is a “+” with a number, and their inclusion creates a place for faculty from

which they can do all their work. Meredith College Library, for instance, includes the

following links: “ASK, account, contact, site search, journal finder, catalog and databases”.

Other libraries provide access to RSS, Blackboard, WorldCat, “other library catalogs”.

Limitations

What cannot be determined is the extent to which these resources that are available are being

used by the faculty at each school nor how helpful they may actually find them. The resources

may not be as necessary as librarians think. Faculty may not even know that the pages dedicated

to them exist. It is not known how well these pages or the library liaisons have been advertised.

A survey of faculty members at these schools would need to be done to gauge the effectiveness

of these services.

Also, this is one study done in April 2008. There may be liaison librarians or faculty dedicated

web pages currently in the works at some of the institutions that are not yet visible. Also, as

Gardner et al mention in their study services may be available through internal means that are not

accessible through the internet.  Just as Gardner et al. recommended it would be interesting to

revisit all fifty-one institutions in five years and see whether there are new pages or new liaison

librarians at schools that did not offer them before or conversely whether schools that currently

offer the services may withdraw them in time due to their possible ineffectiveness or lack of use.

Conclusion/Recommendation

Where the Gardner study found fifty four out of sixty-nine university libraries having

faculty dedicated web pages the women’s colleges in this research faired less well with only

thirty-one out of fifty-one providing this service. Moreover, only fourteen provide liaison

librarians. While some women’s colleges need to do more to reach out to faculty several are

doing what looks like an excellent job of providing both liaisons and comprehensive faculty

web pages with all types of links to topics needed by faculty for teaching plus links for

regular research needs. These libraries provide one page from which faculty can do all their

work without needlessly moving from page to page.

More research is needed in terms of baccalaureate, comprehensive and specialty schools to

get the full picture of how well American academic libraries are providing support and

communicating with faculty through liaison librarians and websites.  By seeing what

colleagues are doing libraries can get ideas of how they might institute similar measures in

their own institution.: Include information for faculty research, information for classes,

about faculty studies, presentations, publications. Make the library website an information

commons with links to information beneficial to faculty.

In order to be a viable member of the academic community the library must recognize the

necessity to support faculty where and when they need it most. If that means in the

academic department then it must send a liaison librarian if it is through the internet then

it must create pages specifically designed for this important user. In the electronic age the

librarian must move beyond the confines of the library building and create new avenues of

information support. The liaison librarian and the library web page are two viable 

possibilities for the faculty library user.  Moreover, in order to effect support for its other

major user, the student, the library must communicate and cooperate with the faculty.

REFERENCES

Brady, E.E., McCord, S.K., and Galbraith, B. (2006) Print versus Electronic Journal Use in Three Sci/Tech Disciplines: The Cultural Shift in Process.  College and Research Libraries, July 2006.Retrieved February 19, 2008, from: :http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/resut_single_fulltext

Brophy, P. (2007) Communicating the library: librarians and faculty in dialogue, Library Management, 28(8/9) Retrieved April, 5, 2008, from: http://0-www.emeraldinsight.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu:80/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0150280806.pdf

Cunningham, T.H. and Lanning, S. (2002) New frontier trail guides: faculty-librarian collaboration on information literacy. Reference Services Review, 30(4), pp.343-348 http://0-www.emeraldinsight.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu:80/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/2400300412.pdf

Doskatsch, I. (2003) Perceptions and perplexities of the faculty-librarian partnership: an Australian perspective. Reference Services Review, 31(2), pp. 111-121. Retrieved April 5, 2008, from: http://0-www.emeraldinsight.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu:80/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/2400310202.pdf

Farber, E. (1999) Faculty-librarian cooperation: a personal retrospective. Reference Services Review, 27(3), pp. 229-234. Retrieved April 5, from:  http://0-www.emeraldinsight.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu:80/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/2400270304.pdf

Gardner, S.J., Juricek, J.E. and Xu, F.G. (2008) An Analysis of Academic Library Web Pages for Faculty. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 34(1), pp.16-24. Retrieved March 27, 2008, from:  http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/resut_single_fulltext

Glynn, T. and Wu, C. (2003) New roles and opportunities for academic library liaisons: a survey and recommendations. Reference Services Review. 31(2). pp. 122-128.  Retrieved April 5, 2008, from: http://0-www.emeraldinsight.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu:80/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/2400310203.pdf

Rodwell, J. and Fairbairn, L. (2008) Dangerous liaisons? Defining the faculty liaison librarian service model, its effectiveness and sustainability. Library Management, 29 (1/2). Retrieved April 5, 2008, from: http://0-www.emeraldinsight.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu:80/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0150290110.pdf

Snoj, B. and Petermanec, Z. (2001) Let users judge the quality of faculty library services. New Library World, 102(9)Retrieved April 5, 2008, from:http://0-www.emeraldinsight.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu:80/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0721020902.pdf

Still, J.M. (2001) A content analysis of university library Web sites in English speaking countries. Online Information Review. 25(3). Retrieved April 5, 2008, from: http://0-www.emeraldinsight.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu:80/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/2640250302.pdf

Turner, F.M. (2008) Meditations on the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Grolier Club and Rare Book School, January, 8, 2008. Retrieved April 18, 2008, from: http:/www.library.yale.edu/mtblog/ulibrarian/archive/2008/03

American Women’s Colleges and Universities

Universities:

Bryn Mawr College,  Bryn Mawr, PA, Library, http://www.brynmawr.edu/library/

Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA, Library http://my.simmons.edu/library/

Texas Women’s University, Denton, Dallas, Houston, TX http://www.twu.edu/library/

Four Year and Liberal Arts:

Spelman College, Robert W. Woodruff Library, http://www.auctr.edu/

St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN., Cushwa-Leighton Library, http://www.saintmarys.edu/TeachingResearch/Library/

Pine Manor College, Chestnut Hill, MA, Annenberg Library, http://www.pmc.edu/Library/index.html

College of Saint Mary, Omaha, NE, Library http://www.csm.edu/Academics__Majors/Library/

Barnard New York, NY Library http://www.barnard.edu/library/

Russell Sage College, Troy, NY, Library  http://library.sage.edu/

Wells College, Aurora, NY, Library http://www.wells.edu/library/li1.htm

Peace College, Raleigh, NC, Lucy Cooper Finch Library http://faculty.peace.edu/library/

Wilson College, Chambersburg, PA, John Stewart Memorial Library, http://www.wilson.edu/wilson/asp/library.asp

Cottey College, Nevada, MO. Blanche Skiff Ross Memorial Library, http://www.cottey.edu/home/departments/library.html

Comprehensive Colleges:

Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA, McCain Library, http://www.cottey.edu/home/departments/library.html

Brenau University, Decatur, GA http://www.brenau.edu/BTL/

College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, Loyola Notre Dame Library http://www.loyola.edu/library/

Bay Path College, Longmeadow, MA, Hatch Library, http://library.baypath.edu/

Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/7377.shtml

Smith College, Northampton, MA, Libaries, http://www.smith.edu/libraries/

College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, MN, ClemensLibrary, http://www.csbsju.edu/library/

College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ, Mahoney Library, http://www.cse.edu/index.php?id=2220

College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, NY, Mother Irene Gill Memorial Library, http://www.cnr.edu/library.htm

Meredith College, Raleigh, NC, Carlyle Campbell Library http://www.meredith.edu/library/

Salem College, Winston-Salem, NC, Gramley Library http://www.salem.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=856&Itemid=633

Ursuline College, Pepper Pike, OH. Ralph M. Besse Library, http://www.ursuline.edu/library/

Carlow University, Pittsburgh, PA, Grace Library, http://library.carlow.edu/

Columbia College, Columbia, SC, Drake Edens Library, http://www.colacoll.edu/edenslibrary/

Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, VA, Martha S. Grafton Library, http://www.mbc.edu/grafton/

Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, VA, Libraries http://www.cochran.sbc.edu/

Alverno College, Milwaukee, WI, Library http://depts.alverno.edu/library/

Mount Saint Mary College, Los Angeles, CA, libraries, http://www.msmc.la.edu/pages/277.asp