The LLP has emphasized liaison development [
10], and, considering the importance that faculty place on subject background (mean score of 1.28), this emphasis seems well placed. The results of the current survey subset analysis suggest that clients value liaison subject background, and such results have implications for liaison training and marketing. In a similar survey, Yang [
11] reported that 82.1% of faculty representatives felt that it was “very important” or “important” for liaisons to have subject background.
At the HSCL, becoming involved in appropriate organizations has been one successful method for gaining subject background. For example, the HSCL liaisons are active in eleven different Medical Library Association (MLA) and Special Libraries Association subunits related to their liaison assignments. Some liaisons are active members in the professional societies of their clients or have exhibited at their conferences. Feedback gathered in the current survey indicates that liaisons find such mechanisms—including library association subunits, email lists, online journal clubs, programming, and continuing education opportunities—essential in developing subject expertise. Liaisons also use internal resources to develop their knowledgebases; to facilitate learning from the successes of other liaison librarians, the HSCL's LLP encourages open sharing of ideas in a quarterly liaison forum and has used written reports to keep track of activities and note patterns of similarity among unit and client information needs.
Some liaison programs, such as the HSCL's, have developed tiers for their liaisons or subject specialists in which liaisons in one service tier provide only basic assistance while liaisons in a higher tier provide more specialized services [
6]. The majority of HSCL liaisons are library-based, with salaries paid by the library. Two liaisons are unit-based, with salaries paid by their respective college (nursing) or institute (genetics). These unit-based liaisons spend the majority of their time serving their respective constituents and are able to provide virtually any service requested by their units. Such integration approximates the ISIC model.
However, the two unit-based liaisons have taken disparate educational paths to reach this end. The bioinformatics librarian, funded by the UF Genetics Institute, has found her doctoral degree in biology essential to understanding vocabulary and becoming proficient in the use of bioinformatics fact-based databases and analysis tools [
12]. The college of nursing liaison is not a nurse but has employed a variety of strategies to gain the needed expertise to provide such integrated service, including her previous experience as a hospital librarian working closely with nurse educators, appropriate continuing education courses from MLA and nursing organizations, extensive reading in the discipline, and discussions with faculty about their areas of specialization and research interests. Such strategies have been noted in the literature for their utility in developing a background in the area of nursing [
13].
Only two other HSCL liaisons have an academic background in their assigned areas, yet the survey results (especially open-ended responses) suggest that the faculty and students from all subject areas who have been in contact with their liaisons are satisfied with the liaison program. These results imply that a formal background in the field is not the only way for liaisons to gain sufficient subject proficiency to provide services at a level satisfactory to clients. It remains unclear whether such “on-the-job” training is likely to be adequate for those seeking to perform duties at the ISIC level.
The survey results reported above, in combination with the experiences of the HSCL's liaison librarians, suggest that subject knowledge sufficient to meet the expectations of clients may be acquired through on-the-job training, continuing education courses, and membership and participation in professional associations and their subunits. Although the client survey response rate is low, respondents find subject knowledge to be important. These data suggest the importance of developing subject knowledge to provide liaison services that meet client needs.