Creating Partnerships Between Librarians And New Engineering Faculty Members

Unlike engineering, librarianship is a humanistic discipline. Therefore it may be somewhat counterintuitive to think that partnerships between librarians and new engineering faculty members would be an efficient way of achieving the goals of both participants. Faculty members are required to publish in their area of research while effectively teaching classes. New faculty members find it especially challenging to meet these demands. It is common for academic librarians to be assigned as a liaison between the library and faculty. Librarians have a vested interest in seeing these faculty members succeed as researchers and teachers. They have the responsibility to see that the information needs of the faculty and students in their assigned subject areas are met. Meeting the information needs of faculty members enables them to successfully perform their research. Meeting the information needs of students can enhance their learning experience, which in turn can help create a more effective teaching environment. This paper focuses on ways to build partnerships in both of these areas, meeting the information needs of faculty and students. Each partnership is different, but effective partnerships work toward helping both the faculty member and librarian achieve their goals. Identifying common ground is the starting point for building a synergistic relationship. Examples of effective partnerships will be presented from literature as well as the author’s personal experiences. The purpose of this paper is to encourage new engineering faculty and librarians to creatively seek out partnerships in order for each to become more effective.