In 2019, the Information Services Office (aka the Research Library) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) pivoted its outreach program from a liaison librarian approach to an emphasis on learning and training for both library users and staff. While there are various reasons for this shift in delivering services, the effect was for the library to engage with researchers and other NIST staff in new and different ways. A learning program was implemented that integrated infrastructure, marketing, and learning/training elements to offer a set of new library services. Amid this transition, a pandemic broke out and all learning and training efforts moved from in-person training to a virtual environment. While this was a challenging time for all, it gave the NIST Research Library a unique opportunity to flex and create an online training program that far outperformed all previous training efforts, which, with a few exceptions, were sporadic at best. Over the course of a year, over 20 online training events were offered to NIST scientists and program staff. Training series tracks were established in two areas: 1) publishing at NIST and 2) library resources for searching the sci-tech literature. Training sessions were recorded and the video recordings and slide presentations were uploaded to the library's website for 24/7 access, which was recognized by the library as an important researcher need. All processes related to these training and learning efforts were documented to facilitate the ease of any library staff member in developing a training course from beginning to end. New training tracks for library users are currently under discussion, covering areas such as data visualization, librarian partnerships, impact assessment, leveraging the NIST archives, among others. As part of its larger outreach and learning efforts, the library is creating user communities that share similar experiences and needs, and center around researchers' interests such as 3D printing, publishing, and impact assessment. This presentation will document this year-long journey from liaison librarian to a new role in learning, training, and instruction.

From liaison librarian to library learning program coordinator: Changing roles in a research and pandemic environment

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.