O'Quinn Law Library Faculty Liaison Program

The faculty liaison program provides a variety of research services to full-time, visiting, and adjunct faculty at the UH Law Center. This document will address only the services provided to full-time and visiting faculty; adjunct privileges are detailed in the Adjunct Professor Manual. In the liaison program, each faculty member is assigned to a reference contact. Faculty areas of interest are matched with the subject expertise or interests of the reference librarians.

Faculty are encouraged to consider their liaisons as their primary contacts in the library. The liaison acts as a link between the faculty and other library personnel, consulting as needed, for example, with the Electronic Services/Reference Librarian regarding documentation on a particular electronic resource. However, the program is not intended to limit faculty access to other library staff. As always, faculty may approach anyone in the library for assistance; if that individual cannot answer the question, s/he will refer it to someone who can.

Liaisons should meet at least once each semester with their assigned faculty, to determine current interests and research requirements.

A. Substantive research

In support of the law center's publishing, teaching, and outreach activities, liaisons conduct in-depth law center related research for faculty using law and non-law resources in any format. Depending on the research requested, the liaison may team with another librarian from any of the University of Houston libraries to facilitate research. Requests received in a timely manner will be thoroughly examined and processed. Rush requests may be accepted, at the discretion of the liaison and subject to his/her existing obligations to other law center constituents.

With any request, the liaison and the faculty are encouraged to discuss developing research and to negotiate terms (e.g. if the expected due date is not practical) of the project. Liaisons are available during their regular scheduled hours, but faculty with rush requests are encouraged to call the reference desk (3-2327) in their liaison's absence. During longer absences, the liaison will notify faculty of an alternative research contact.

Liaisons will also supervise the activities of the research assistant pool, offering added assistance to faculty while providing valuable research experience to law students.

B. Research instruction

Librarians are available to guest lecture in classes about research techniques or resources in any particular subject area. Faculty should approach librarians directly with such requests. The liaison may refer the faculty to another librarian who specializes in that subject area's research.

C. Notification of new resources and current awareness

Liaisons will inform faculty of new publications, conferences and resources in their areas of interest. Liaisons may also work with individual faculty to determine if any current awareness services are desired. Such services include WestCLIPs, Eclipses, Ingenta, and SmartCILPs. Faculty may work with the liaison to formulate appropriate searches, or may request that the liaison provide personalized training on the resource's use.

D. Training on electronic resources

As the library increases its number of electronic subscriptions and as electronic classroom tools become more heavily used, the liaison will act as a guide to these resources. S/he can provide or arrange training on new resources, supplement the training with documentation, hold instructional classes for your students, and notify you when a significant change in the resource is expected to occur. Classroom tools include TWEN, Blackboard, and CTweb; electronic subscriptions currently include the United Nations Treaty database, Legaltrac, Hein Online, the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, and all of Anderson Library's databases. Lexis and Westlaw refresher sessions are also included in this category of services.

E. Retrieval and looseleaf filing

While these activities are not performed by librarians, the liaisons will assign copying, printing and looseleaf filing duties to reference work study students. Those faculty requiring looseleaf filing should provide their liaisons with a list of titles and a desired timetable for filing (e.g. the first Friday of each month). Faculty and liaisons should also determine a method by which the work study student would obtain access to the faculty's office or the looseleaf volumes themselves.

Questions about the liaison program should be directed to Mon Yin Lung (3-2307 or mlung@central.uh.edu)