Kinesiology & the Health Sciences Library: Building a New Relationship

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to document the steps, stages, challenges, and opportunities of building a new relationship between the library, informationists, and faculty that are transferrable to other new relationships that the library would like to build. In 2016, the health science library at the University of Michigan began partnering with the School of Kinesiology, which had previously partnered with a different university library unit. This became a new area of focus for our library and our instructional and curriculum development, offering an opportunity to plan our learning and teaching strategy (what we teach, when we teach it, how we teach it, and how we measure learning.) We will describe our approaches to building this relationship, focusing on emerging pertinent issues, including the incorporation of specialized resources, knowledge, and needs that had not previously been part of health sciences; developing a program of immersion in a new academic area; and managing expectations on both sides for what engagement and partnership look like.