Posted presented at The Innovative Library Classroom 2016 held at Radford University on May 11, 2016.

1. RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2015
www.PosterPresentations.com
Purpose: Using qualitative data collected
for a forthcoming article in The Journal of
Academic Librarianship, investigate the
interpersonal dynamics of liaison
relationships that include instruction
activities. Determine the contours of the
relationships around instruction and
determine what role balance plays in the
relationship between faculty and librarian
contributions.
INTRODUCTION
OBJECTIVES
• Social capital can be defined as “features
of a social organization such as networks,
norms, and social trust that facilitate
coordination and cooperation for mutual
benefit” (Putnam, 2000, Bowling Alone).
• Questions I asked relevant to recharging
social capital:
 Do you have any strong liaison-
faculty relationships?
 Is the Putnam dictum “them as has
[social capital], gets” operative in
your liaison relationships with
faculty?
 When can you ask something of a
faculty member?
 How would you characterize
balance in the relationship?
BACKGROUND
• Librarians feel they contribute to liaison-
faculty relationships:
 Expertise around IL
 Collegiality
• Librarians feel faculty contribute:
 Access to students
 A sense of professionalism and
purpose that the process confers on
librarians
• Balance in liaison-faculty relationships:
 Librarians may contribute more
but feel that is natural in a service-
intensive role
• Strong relationships are deeply
meaningful for librarians and represent a
new framework for engagement.
• “The program gives me another reason to
go and talk to them in their department
meetings, communicate with them
regularly, and it is really great for the
instruction program. It allows us to build
those relationships and pitch our
instruction program to more people.”
• “I think there’s already an expectation
that I’m going to be a good resource for
[new faculty] and hopefully one where
we can work together on classes. The
relationships are already established, they
[existing liaison-faculty connections]
make new ones happen or help to make
the new ones happen.”
RESULTS CONCLUSIONS
• Strong relationships provide a basis for
the generation and expenditure of social
capital and a focal point for librarians
who feel pulled in a variety of directions.
• Instruction is a dominant point of
exchange and provides library liaisons a
role that legitimates them as liaisons and
faculty when status is a relevant question.
• Implications for skills and capabilities for
21st century librarianship:
• Collegiality, trustworthiness,
flexibility, personable.
• Question: how do we address
relationships that lack social capital?
CONTACT
Tim Schlak
Robert Morris University
6001 University Boulevard
Moon Township, PA 15108
412-397-6868
schlak@rmu.edu
• Define social capital as operative in
liaison relationships.
• Determine what librarians feel they
contribute to the relationship.
• Determine what librarians feel that
faculty contribute to the relationship.
• Provide a qualitative assessment of what
constitutes strong vs. weak relationships
where instruction is involved.
Director, University Library, Robert Morris University
Tim Schlak, Ph.D.
Balancing Relationships - Librarians, Instruction, and Social Capital
• 7 interviews were conducted with liaison
librarians identified from a listserv of
directors and deans of small to medium-
sized libraries.
• Shared Commitment, Network
Positionality, and Interrelational
Dynamics posited as categories for data
sorting.
• Transcriptions and data processing upheld
categories with minor adjustments.
• Limitations: small sample size, only
views one half of relationship, possible
self-selection among “best” liaisons.
METHODS