The Strategic Value of the Liaison Librarian’s Personal Approach to Client Engagement

abstract:In today’s digital and distributed information environment, engaging with users is imperative for the success of liaison librarianship in the academy’s learning and research environment. Such associations require the liaison’s personal approach for connecting and building relationships with clients. This paper addresses the main factors for sustaining or improving ties with users as well as the prospects for individualized working relationships by liaison librarians. It examines the validity of and rationale for adopting a more personal type of engagement to improve and extend client connections in the long term. This article also looks at how such an approach by liaisons is reflected in best practices, guidelines, and articles in the library literature. In addition, it traces literature that helps establish grounds for personal or individualized engagement in the workplace. The paper concludes with some important practical considerations and calls for more in-depth research into the liaison librarian’s personal approach as an essential step for understanding and assessing the quality of liaison librarianship.