New library liaison services program starts end of spring semester

New library liaison services program starts end of spring semester

Wednesday

Disciplinary-focused cohorts provide expert service, more partnerships

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Female teacher addressing university students in a classroom

The University Libraries will soon have a new liaison services model to continue our commitment to meet the needs of all University of Arizona students, faculty, staff, and library users. 

The changes will take effect on May 15, 2025.

Disciplinary expertise, excellent service 

We’re excited to announce that we will be launching a new disciplinary, team-based liaison model to continue connecting library services, resources, and expertise to U of A scholars and our campus community. The Libraries have a long history of providing tailored, subject-specific expertise through our dedicated department and college liaison librarian program. 

What this means

  • You’ll have direct access to a team of experts across all disciplines.
  • Your questions and requests will get to the right library expert. 
  • We’ll be more flexible and better equipped to support the university as it grows.

In addition to allowing us to respond more quickly to discipline-specific questions, this sustainable model creates new opportunities to connect with undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, advisors, instructors, and partners for research and instructional support. 

We’ll also have greater capacity to support initiatives that align with the strategic priorities of the university and the Libraries.  

What the liaison cohort model looks like

The campus-wide disciplinary cohorts will bring together library experts around common themes, practices, pedagogies, and methodologies found within the broader STEM, Social Sciences, and Humanities & Fine Arts disciplines. 

Instead of a one-to-one relationship between a library liaison and a department or college, liaison cohorts will utilize their combined expertise and collective capacity to serve our growing institution. This team-based program aligns more closely with the broader U of A structure and growing emphasis on interdisciplinary research and teaching.  

Library liaisons will still be available to support and collaborate with instructors on instructional design, assignment development, tutorial creation, library-led instruction sessions, and more. Learn about our instructional services.  

You’ll also have the same great access to expert consultations

Experts from across the University Libraries are available for consultations and collaborations for disciplinary research, scholarly communication, data management and analysis, and more. 

Humanities and Fine Arts Cohort

Rachel Castro
Heather Froehlich
Michelle Halla
Ping Situ

Social Sciences Cohort

Mary Feeney
Yvonne Mery
Anthony Sanchez
Leslie Sult
Robin Vickery
Niamh Wallace

STEM Cohort

Elizabeth Kline
Jim Martin
Lara Miller
Jen Nichols
Jeanne Pfander

Our Health Sciences Library Research & Learning Librarians will continue as embedded librarians for the University of Arizona Health Sciences colleges.

Health Sciences Research & Learning Librarians

Jennifer Martin, R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy 
Jean McClelland, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health
Jeanne Pfander, College of Veterinary Medicine
Ahlam Saleh and Angela Murrell, College of Medicine - Tucson
Maribeth Slebodnick, College of Nursing


Next steps

We will update Find your librarian and other library web pages soon to reflect these changes. 

In the meantime, you can still access the same great research assistance and start planning your Fall 2025 library instruction collaborations!  

Questions?

If you have any questions about the program, contact:

Nicole Pagowsky, nfp@arizona.edu
Liaison Program Lead