Strategies for college and research libraries to turn outward by engaging in authentic, innovative, and meaningful conversations with their campus communities. These conversations unleash possibilities to occupy a more visible, valued role on campus, build partnerships, and engage authentically with faculty, students, and administrators. Rutgers librarians who have pioneered the use of Harwood Institute/ALA Libraries Transform Communities tools in academic libraries share their experiences applying these frameworks to shift their roles and redefine spaces they occupy on campus.

1. Rutgers University Libraries
nancy.kranich@rutgers.edu
Megan.lotts@rutgers.edu
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2. 2
 What is the future role for library liaisons at
Rutgers?

3. 3

4.  Formed a Liaison ActionTeam
 Developed an Action Agenda
 Created a Vision for the future of
liaison relationships
 Convened Liaison Assembly
meetings
 Defined new roles for liaisons
 Planned and convened
community conversations
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5.  Understand our campus communities better
 Become more deeply rooted in the life of our
communities
 Create a narrative around shared community
aspirations
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6.  Generate
constructive,
inclusive discourse
 Envision a greater
sense of possibility
 Increase relevance,
significance, impact
 Act with
intentionality based
on readiness
 Achieve shared goals
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7. Starting Point
1. ID problems
2. Visioning
3. Aspirations
What we Get
 Rooted in
Complaints
 Blame
 Wish lists
 Disconnected
from Reality
 Based on reality
 Focus on
community
What it Creates
 Problem lists
 No shared sense
of direction
 False hope
 Not rooted in
people’s reality
 Shared
aspirations that
roots work
 Possibility
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8.  Understand and identify people’s
shared aspirations
 Authentic engagement that
reflects people’s reality
 Convened New Brunswick
campus and library faculty,
students and administrators for
community conversations about
the Undergraduate, Graduate,
and International Experience
from 2012-2014
 Learned about shared
community aspirations
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9. Identify Aspirations
1.What kind of Rutgers undergraduate/graduate/international
community do you
want?__________________________________________________
2.Why is that important to you?
_______________________________________________________
3. How is that different from how you see things now?
_______________________________________________________
4.What are some of the things that need to happen to create that
kind of change?
_______________________________________________________
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10. 10

11.  Engaged a cross-section of the
Rutgers community:
 38 external in May 2012
 26 librarians in November,
February
 Focused on the Transformation
of Undergraduate Education
 Used tools from the Harwood
Institute for Public Innovation --
now in partnership with ALA
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12.  Build inclusive
communities on campus
that embrace diversity
and engage across
differences
 Engage through informal
relationships
 Teach critical
thinking/transliteracy
skills for success in and
out of school
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13.  Eager to engage but uncertain
how
 Focus more on specific
communities
 Work in teams and build
partnerships
 Get in the flow of users
 Build connections, not just
collections
 Provide students a comfort zone
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14.  Met with the Graduate School
before and after
 Engaged a cross-section of
Rutgers graduate students:
 44 total—4 conversations
 Shared the findings with a
group of 8 faculty and
administrators
 Liaison Assembly open space
discussion with 20 librarians
and library staff
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15. 1. Interdisciplinary collaboration and interaction in a
comfortable setting
2. Acceptance and inclusion
3. Access to information of interest to graduate
students
4. Creation of more of a graduate identity
5. Differing needs for different communities
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16.  What did you make of the
conversations?
 What are we learning?
 Why is this important?
 What are the implications for
our work?
 What possibilities are there for
moving ahead?
 What insights did this
conversation spark?
… A different conversation
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17.  Develop strategies that achieve results and
also build community
 Identify and act on specific pockets of
change that align to local context
 Focus on creating conditions
necessary for community change
 Determine “who to run with” as partners
 Develop networks for innovation/learning
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18. 18
Main
Concerns &
Special
Issues
Public
Capital
(Community
Conditions)
SWEET SPOT

19.  How broad and deep is the community’s leadership?
 How strong and constructive are the community norms?
 How broad and deep are the informal networks and
links?
 How strong is the collection of catalytic organizations?
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20. 20
Source:WorkingTogether Project, Community-Led LibrariesToolkit, p. 16,
http://www.librariesincommunities.ca/resources/Community-

21.  Engaged Events and Activities
 RU Voting, Constitutional Café
and Learning Communities
 Honors Program Partnership
 Career Readiness Curriculum
 Exhibits and Dialogues
 Revised Position Descriptions
 CreateTeams to build
Community
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22. 22
 Rutgers SAS Honors Summer
Reading Committee chooses
a book as their reader & theme
for the colloquium course.
• Honors program invites the
author to speak, engage with
students, and sign books.
 “I’m so excited to meet an
author, I hope to write a book
one day”

23. 23
 Visiting honors students in
their space
 Creating a libguide for
book & colloquium course
 Providing library
brochures, and contact
information

24.  Joined the SAS Honors
Reading Committee
comprised of students,
faculty & staff
 Heard more aspirations
and concerns of honors
students, faculty, and
staff
 Began teaching a section
of the SAS Honors
Colloquium
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25.  Engaged with students,
faculty, and staff of the SAS
Honors Colloquium
 Learned more about the
needs of facilitators and
their roles on campus
 Listened to students talk
more about the libraries,
how they use them, and
what they would like to see
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26.  Continued to create
libguides for book &
colloquium
 Brainstormed on how
the libraries can be
involved in
organizational changes
 Staged Amazing Race
event for all SAS honors
programs
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Amazing Race Library Exploration for RutgersTransfer Students

27. 27
Photo credits John Brennan
 Caricatures
 Open Mic Night
 Music & snacks in the Scarlet Latte

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 Snack Carts, Library giveaways, the SamTobias Quartet, Meet the Scarlet Knight,
Block Party, Polynomiography, and the popcorn machine
 Engaged with approximately 1127 students.
“the libraries are uplifting & fun as well as thoughtful & generous”
“I received confirmation that the libraries are great for trying to engage students”
“I liked meeting librarians and eating cookies”

29. 29
 Coordinated Geek
Week by UETeam
 Advertised on RUL
social media & Geek
Week schedule
 11 attendees

30. 30
 Partnered w/ RUPA,
Super Smash Club (SSC),
RU athletics, & RUL
 Convened panel of 1 prof,
grad students, and
freshman
 120 attendees
 Catalyst for future
collaborations w/ SSC &
Select Start
 Started a conversation

31.  Cultivate a can-do community narrative
 Build a shared capacity to strengthen our
community together
 Recalibrate our efforts
 Apply practice across our organization
 Align our organization outward facing
 Adopt outward facing performance measures
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32.  Shift our thinking to turn outward
 Recognize new opportunities and connections
 Uncover a sense of common purpose
 Set realistic goals
 Engage more deeply with students
 Act intentionally to reflect aspirations
 Align our strategies with others on campus
 Partner with the Rutgers community in
meaningful and significant ways
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33.  Develop new orientation, approaches and
capacities for libraries through this work
 Examples:
 turning outward toward communities
 stronger emphasis on authentic engagement
 increased capacity to engage with the community
 stronger set of relationships for moving ahead and acting
upon community priorities
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34.  Increase community
capacity to concert—to
work together to solve
problems
 Identify and train a pool
of conveners,
moderators, recorders,
and issue framers
 Develop connections
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35.  Brown, Karen and Kara Malefant. (2012). Connect, Collaborate, and
Communicate: A Report from theValue of Academic LibrariesSummit
(Chicago:Association of College and Research Libraries).
 Covert-Vail, Lucinda and Scott Collard, (2012). New Roles for NewTimes:
Research LibraryServices for Graduate Students (Washington, DC:
Association of Research Libraries.
 Dewey, Barbara. (2004). “The Embedded Librarian: Strategic Campus
Collaborations,” ResourceSharing & Information Networks 17 (2004): 5-17.
 The Harwood Institute. (2014). Public InnovatorsWorkbook. Chicago, IL:
ALA.
 The Harwood Institute andAmerican Library Association. Libraries
Transforming Communities. (2014).Tools for Community Engagement
and Innovation.
 Jaguszewski, Janice M. and KarenWilliams. (2013). New Roles for New
Times:Transforming Liaison Roles in Research Libraries. Washington, DC:
Association of Research Libraries.
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36.  Kenney, Anne. (2014). Leveraging the Liaison Model: From Designing 21st
Century Research Libraries to Implementing 21st Century. (NY: Ithaka S+R).
 Kranich, Nancy, Megan Lotts, and Gene Springs. (2014). “The Promise of
Academic LibrariesTransformingCampus Communities,” College and
Research Libraries News. 75 #4 (April): 182-186.
 Lougee,Wendy. (2002). Diffuse Libraries: Emergent Roles for the Research
Library in the Digital Age (Washington, DC:Council on Library and
Information Resources).
 Mack, DanielC. and GaryW.White, eds. (2015). Assessing Liaison
Librarians: Documenting Impact for PositiveChange. Chicago, IL:
Association of College and Research Libraries (PIL #67).
 Shumaker, David. (2012). The Embedded Librarian: Innovative Strategies
forTaking KnowledgeWhere It’s Needed (Medford, NJ: Information
Today).
 Williams, Karen. (2009). “A Framework for Articulating New Library
Roles” in Karla Hahn, Research Library Issues, Special Issue on Liaison
Librarian Roles, no. 265 (Washington, DC:Association of Research
Libraries).
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37. Thanks!
 Nancy Kranich, nancy.kranich@rutgers.edu
 Megan Lotts, megan.lotts@rutgers.edu
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