Beyond the Core: Supporting Information Needs of Users Outside the Business School at the University of Michigan

Abstract

The core mission of the Kresge Business Administration Library of the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business is to support the curriculum, information, and research needs of the business school. However, the Library serves many individuals from other units on campus as well as individuals not part of the university at all, and the opportunities to serve these clients have been on the increase. This has prompted the Library to re-evaluate its services, explore new ways of reaching out to these groups on campus, balance its services to external groups with its services to its core constituency, and find new opportunities to collaborate with other librarians on campus and in the local community to serve these groups.

This poster will:

1) Paint a picture of the unique environment in which the Library operates as part of an urban, research, and public university.

2) Describe some of the external groups on campus which the Library has been able to support and discuss what kinds of “business information” needs they have.

3) Describe how support of these external groups has been impacted by – or has impacted – the library’s support of its core constituency.

4) Discuss some of the partnerships the Library has explored and engaged in to meet the needs of these external groups.

5) Describe successes as well as opportunities for improvement in the way the Library serves these groups.