Art Libraries Society of North America 31^st Annual Conference
Wyndham Baltimore Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland - March 20-26, 2003

Session 23

Out in Left Field: The Benefits of Field Librarianship for Studio Arts Programs

Moderator:

Speaker: Annette Haines

Recorder: Annette Haines

Annette Haines began her paper by discussing her own situation as the Art & Design Field Librarian at the University of Michigan. Her office is located in the School of Art and Design in the Art and Architecture Building on North Campus of the University of Michigan. Art and design library materials are located across the street in the Media Union Library. This is a centralized library that serves architecture, engineering, and urban planning, as well as art and design. Many other campus libraries also house materials of interest to the students in the School of Art and Design. Haines illustrated her discussion by providing a brief description of a typical day in her life as a field librarian.

Following this introduction, she talked about the definition of field librarianship. She stated that field librarians work most hours outside of the library, in the department or school they serve. Field librarians are associated with a centralized library, but work with no, or minimal, physical collection on site. Field librarians may have joint appointments with the library and the department served. In addition, they may work some hours (typically reference desk hours) in the library. She provided some examples of field librarians in various universities in the United States.

Haines then proceeded to discuss the many benefits of field librarianship to studio art programs. She felt that field librarians were particularly well suited to meeting the needs of studio art students including their interdisciplinary needs, fear of libraries, and unique information seeking patterns. She provided examples from her own experience as a field librarian.

Another benefit of field librarianship she identified was cost savings, making a comparison with departmental libraries in particular. Field librarianship can reduce costs through sharing of resources, equipment, office space and even travel funds. Also, field librarians experience greater job satisfaction because they feel more connected to the people they serve, can more easily view the fruits of their work, and can benefit from being situated nearer to opportunities for enrichment within the art and design department.

One of the major advantages of field librarianship that she discussed was the benefit of enhanced communication. She gave examples of why field librarianship helped improve communication in her role as liaison, in providing reference services, in collection development, and also in one-on-one encounters with faculty and students.

Despite the many benefits of field librarianship for studio arts programs, she also pointed out that there were some drawbacks. These included disconnect from library colleagues and the physical library collection, a temptation to take sides (either with the library or the school), the excessive time commitment of being closely associated with two departments, computing and technology maintenance issues, and a general misunderstanding of the field librarian's role.

Haines then talked about the requirements needed for a successful field librarian program. She stressed the need for commitment from the university administration, both from the library and the department. She felt that the skills needed to be a successful field librarian are broad library experience, good communication skills, and an ability to understand and be diplomatic in university and library politics.

She believes there will be a broader acceptance of field librarianship in the future. As people see the benefits, there will be a growth in both the numbers of field librarians and also the variety of positions.

Handouts of the PowerPoint slides and a reference list were provided to attendees and are also available upon request by contacting Annette Haines at ahaines@umich.edu.