If you have spent some time on the Health Sciences Library (HSL) website, you have likely seen reference to “liaison librarians” or recommendations to contact your “college’s/school’s liaison librarian.” And, while that is great advice, it doesn’t address who your liaison librarian is and why that matters to you.

Who are they?

A liaison librarian is a librarian who is assigned to a specific subject, school or college — meaning that they have deeper knowledge about the subject area, curriculum and assignments within their area. They can connect you to resources in your discipline, help you address sticky research problems and share information about our open access agreements if you want to publish an article. A liaison librarian also serves as a link between a specific audience (such as the College of Medicine) and the larger library system; Ohio State University is a large, complex organization, and it can help to have a first point of contact when you have a question.

How can they help?

It depends a lot on what you need! Your liaison librarian can introduce you to article databases in the health sciences, provide consultations on research impact metrics, help you find an important article or connect you with myriad resources across the library and university. If you are starting a systematic or scoping review project, you can request a consultation to receive instruction and support.

Support in the classroom

As an instructor, you may want your students to have a stronger foundation for searching the biomedical literature or an introduction to evidence-based practice in your discipline. You may have noticed that your students are struggling with one aspect of the research process, and you want to develop a low-stakes assignment to help them practice the research skills they will need later in their academic careers. Your liaison librarian can be a collaborative partner to design instruction for your students aligned with your learning outcomes and assignments.

Starting a conversation

Some of the best collaborations occur because of a conversation. If you are not sure where to get started on a research project or how to solve an instructional problem, reach out to your liaison librarian.