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The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast four academic liaison programs.

Areas addressed include liaison subject specialization, communication methods, duties, and program evaluation.

This paper found similarities in areas of orientation meetings, library guides, and information literacy classes. Unique concepts among the four libraries studied include physical classroom embedment, use of specialized class web pages, faculty literacy classes, and concentrated faculty information literacy assistance.

The results presented provide insight into current academic library liaison practices and the faculty‐liaison relationship.

The primary function of an academic library is to serve as an information resource centre for the entire academic community. In order to provide better service to academic patrons, liaison programmes have been established in some colleges and universities. Very little has been written on liaison activities or the role of subject specialists in academic libraries. Focusses on how to implement a successful liaison programme in order to facilitate library collection building and improve communication with the academic units. Defines the concept of liaison librarians and library representatives in academic units, and provides suggestions for setting up such a programme.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the liaison role of project controllers in new product development (NPD) projects.

This paper is based on a case study of an industrial new product development project. In total, 68 in‐depth interviews were conducted and 32 meetings were observed. Using an inductive approach, this paper scrutinizes the roles of three specific individuals – their formal role as project controllers and their informal role as liaisons.

The study found that project controllers play a crucial part in the everyday work of projects – both formally and informally. Project controllers undertake important liaison activities that are not a part of their formal roles in which they extend their responsibilities to include informal activities such as peacekeeping, probing, nailing, process implementation and streamlining.

This paper argues that managers must identify and acknowledge the importance of informal liaisons and liaison activities among project members because such activities are of crucial importance for the facilitation of communication and for work‐flow coordination. By viewing the project controller as someone who is “dressing the project in numbers”, the role can be understood as a support function aimed at close interaction and cross‐functional learning, rather than a function aimed at distant supervision and control.

This paper provides important insights into informal aspects of project roles and the everyday work of project controllers.

To report on the content management system designed to manage the 30 web‐based research guides developed by the subject liaison librarians at the Georgia State University Library.

The web development librarian, with assistance from the web programmer, designed a system using MySQL and ASP. A liaison team gave input on the system through rigorous testing and assisted with the design of the templates that control the layout of the content on the guides. A usability study and two surveys were also completed.

The new system met and exceeded the baseline expectations for content collection and management, offering a greater control over appearance and navigation while still offering customization features for liaisons. Improvements are planned for the templates in addition to better promotion of the guides on the library web site. Initial and ongoing training for the liaisons should have been more effectively addressed. Despite their observed and future potential advantages, the CMS model has not been universally adopted by academic libraries.

Regardless of the technology involved, libraries preparing for a CMS transition must give at least as much attention to user issues as they do to technical issues, from the organizational buy‐in and comprehensive training to internal/external usability.

This paper contributes to a small but growing collection of CMS case studies. It covers the technical, functional, and managerial developments of a CMS, while also addressing the practical user factors that sometimes get lost in the process.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which user liaison behavior and outcome control influence the process performance of information technology (IT) projects and how the IT experience, behavior observability, and outcome measurability of user liaisons affect behavior and outcome control.

A research model that integrates the IT experience, behavior observability, outcome measurability, behavior and outcome control, and performance from the perspective of user liaisons is developed. Quantitative data are obtained from 63 completed IT projects. Partial least squares technique is used to evaluate the measurement model. Hypotheses are tested through hierarchical regression analysis.

User liaisons with high IT experience exhibit decreased behavior control but increased outcome control. The outcome control of user liaisons is effective in the process performance of IT projects, whereas their behavior control insignificantly affects performance. However, the behavior observability and outcome measurability of user liaisons strengthen the effectiveness of behavior and outcome control. The behavior and outcome control of user liaisons also vary across different industries and project types.

The results of this study highlight the joint effects of the IT experience, abilities, and control decisions of user liaisons. Although the outcome control of user liaisons is an appropriate control mechanism in IT projects in consideration of the strengths of these liaisons in business knowledge and their control expenditures, the behavior control of user liaisons may also be effective in process performance if these liaisons possess high levels of behavior observability and outcome measurability.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges that are experienced by staff responsible for commissioning liaison psychiatry services and to establish if these are shared by other health professionals.

Using a mixed-methods design, the findings from a mental health commissioner workshop (n = 12) were used to construct a survey that was distributed to health care professionals using an opportunistic framework (n = 98).

Four key themes emerged from the workshop, which was tested using the survey. The importance of secure funding; a better understanding of health care systems and pathways; partnership working and co-production and; access to mental health clinical information in general hospitals. There was broad convergence between commissioners, mental health clinicians and managers, except in relation to gathering and sharing of data. This suggests that poor communication between professionals is of concern.

There were a small number of survey respondents (n = 98). The sampling used an opportunistic framework that targeted commissioner and clinician forums. Using an opportunistic framework, the sample may not be representative. Additionally, multiple pairwise comparisons were conducted during the analysis of the survey responses, increasing the risk that significant results were found by chance.

A number of steps were identified that could be applied in practice. These mainly related to the importance of collecting and communicating data and co-production with commissioners in the design, development and monitoring of liaison psychiatry services.

This is the first study that has specifically considered the challenges associated with the commissioning of liaison psychiatry services.

This chapter relates to identifying the experience, skills and competencies of those responsible for operationalizing and developing transnational education (TNE) partnerships. Despite the growth of TNE internationally, little detailed attention has been paid to these individuals, often called academic liaison (or link) tutors. They are good examples of “boundary spanners” (Williams, 2013, p. 17) or “third space professionals” (Whitchurch, 2008, p. 378). Using concepts associated with “distributed leadership” (Gronn, 2002, p. 423) to explain leadership in collaborative provision as distributed practice, the research represented in the chapter made use of activity theory (Engeström, 1987) to identify the range of contextual factors that an academic liaison tutor needs to take into account in developing a TNE partnership. Findings indicate that an academic liaison tutor needs experience of working in complex environments, in-depth understanding of organizational procedures, the ability to manage power differentials, sophisticated communication and interpersonal skills, the ability to create and lead a cultural context for learning and development, change management and the ability to resolve difficulties. These factors provide the foundation for suggestions for staff recruitment, development and training.

The Glasgow acute addiction liaison nurse service provides a unique service to patients with alcohol and drug issues who are admitted to general hospitals in the Glasgow City area. It offers guidance on withdrawal management, educates patients and staff and provides a facility to refer to appropriate community services. Since its foundation in 2005, patient referrals have increased by more than 3,000. Additionally, it has taken on a greater educational role and is more involved in research and evaluation.

The purpose of this paper is to address the serious problems that people with intellectual disability face in getting their healthcare needs met in general hospitals by improving the training of general hospital staff.

Review of recent developments in models of service provision including the development of intellectual disability liaison nurses and the RAID model in liaison psychiatry.

There is much scope for intellectual disability liaison nurses and liaison psychiatry services to work together in staff training in general hospitals. There is a clear strategic role for both services in convincing the management of general hospitals to implement such training using economic and quality arguments.

The authors suggest a new model of working to improve the healthcare outcomes of people with intellectual disabilities through effective training of staff in general hospitals.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on past liaison library practice to make sense of student information-seeking behavior. Experiential data created from liaison consultations was used to gain student perspectives. Liaison consultations enhance student experiences and provide strategic benefits for academic libraries to counter perceived under-utilization of information services in general.

Grounded theory framed the study and thematic analysis was applied to liaison librarian consultation notes representing 25 years of past practice. Themes that characterize information-seeking behaviors were noted and used to help explain student behavior.

Despite significant changes in information formats, the pervasive use of internet technology, and student searching habits, the key finding is that students will continue to consult with librarians to the extent that they find the experience useful. Both parties contribute and define the reference consultation to help formulate productive information-seeking behaviors.

Analyzing evidence through the lens of reflection and the use of unobtrusive methods provided useful insights into the roles that librarians and students play in the consultation process. The findings suggest that information-searching behaviors can be influenced and shaped to produce successful searching outcomes. Several recommendations for strengthening library practice are provided.