Librarians in transition: Scholarly communication support as a developing core competency

ABSTRACT

Modern digital scholarship requires faculty to navigate an increasingly complex research and publication world. Liaison librarians are uniquely suited to assist faculty with scholarly communication needs, yet faculty do not identify the library as a provider of these services. Proactive promotion of scholarly communication services by librarians is needed. In this article, scholarly communication training developed for librarians at a mid-sized public university is described. Two surveys—describing faculty digital scholarship needs and librarian attitudes toward scholarly communication services—are presented. Articulating scholarly communication support as a core competency affirms the importance of this developing role for librarians.

KEYWORDS:

• Core competencies
• liaison librarians
• libraries & scholars
• library services
• scholarly communication