Subject librarian definition and duties: Connecting the library and the university

This article reports on a qualitative case study of subject librarians at Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library Subject librarians considered their main purpose to be connecting the people at the university with library resources. People skills are a key to being successful in their...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of academic librarianship 2024-05, Vol.50 (3), p.102867, Article 102867
Main Authors: Wilson, Duane E., Campbell, Kendall, Beals, Isabella
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic librarians
Academic librarianship
Academic libraries
Subject librarians
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article reports on a qualitative case study of subject librarians at Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library Subject librarians considered their main purpose to be connecting the people at the university with library resources. People skills are a key to being successful in their positions. Their duties of collection development, reference, instruction, liaison, citizenship, professional development, and scholarship are interrelated and work together in important ways. Subject librarians are satisfied with their jobs and corresponding autonomy. They are concerned about librarian stereotypes and want to overcome the ignorance about their positions. They agree that subject knowledge is important but do not agree on a formal degree standard. This study could be used to help develop and improve SL programs. It could inform hiring decisions and improve the practices of current subject librarians by focusing on the key skills of working with others and subject knowledge.
ISSN:0099-1333
1879-1999
DOI:10.1016/j.acalib.2024.102867