network theory and an embedded librarian model that enabled librarians to collabo- rate with faculty in meeting instrumental (content-oriented) and relational teaching goals for both synchronous and asynchro- nous learners.5
Conceptual building blocks The term Network Society emerged in the 1990s. It signals that digital commu- nication networks provide both technical infrastructure and the structural design for economic, social, cultural and political systems, functions, processes and relation- ships in the 21st century. Manuel Castells’s trilogy on The Information Age charts developments in electronic communication, a global economy and interactive networks giving rise to informational capitalism, multinational enterprises, virtual commu- nities, protest movements, identity politics, digital divides and social exclusion6
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need with a focus on sustained commu- nication. Similarly, contact and collab- oration are routine aspects of academic liaison, but “embedded librarianship” assumes consistent contact and constant collaboration.
A Relationship Management Group for HE Libraries was formed in 2015 by UK information professionals with liaison and relationship management roles. Meanwhile US academic librar- ies have extended liaison relationships beyond academic units to other areas including careers, counselling, disability, international, multicultural, residen- tial and teaching services. We are now seeing a step-change in the application of relational thinking to library practice, which involves deeper relationships with broader constituencies. This also extends relational practice to all parts of the ser- vice, all staff in the library and members of the local community, with consequent recognition of relationship building and collaboration as core competencies and critical capabilities for academic libraries. Library visions and strategies confirm that this is more than a quick opera- tional fix for interactions with students and academics. It is a strategic cultural change that involves reinterpreting values such as open access, community engagement, environmental sustainability and social equity to improve library-in- stitutional alignment. The service model has flipped from collecting to connecting, from standalone to networked, from transactions to relationships, from hier- archy to partnership and from interper- sonal to intersubjective. Librarians now see reference inter- actions and research consultations as opportunities for making connections
October-November 2023
and building relationships with students. Libraries are removing the barriers rep- resented by reference desks and service counters, replacing hierarchical across- the-desk transactions with collaborative side-by-side facilitation and moving from authority-based to collegial relationships with learners and researchers. They are also rethinking their roles and relationships with their professional counterparts, in their local communities, in society at large and in a global context. Published case stud- ies show academic libraries worldwide have been incorporating these ideas into their service operations and library strategies, on and beyond their campus, before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Real-world case studies: l In Canada, the University of Saskatch- ewan Library put Relationships and Engagement at the centre of its vision for the future, as a core strategy that includes building and strengthening relationships and connections within the Library;2
l In Australia, the University of Melbourne Library replaced barrier-style lending counters and reference desks with a shared table functioning as a combined single service;3
l In the UK, University College London Library Services is opening access to educa- tion and research for a wider public in line with the Connected Curriculum, partnering with students, faculty, professional services, local communities and public libraries to advance open science and public engage- ment;4
l In the USA, the University of South Dakota Libraries redesigned a mandatory face-to-face information literacy course for an online-only environment using social
van Dijk advances a multilevel theory span- ning four levels of social units and relations: individual, group, community, organisa- tional, societal and global. He argues that the networked individual is now the basic social unit in the west, though the group (family, community or work team) may be more important in eastern societies7
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The key point is the growing influence of social relations rather than the social units they are linking, hence the turn towards a relational approach in social theory and professional practice, which acknowledges that individuals need to be understood in the contexts of their social, economic and cultural relationships.
Networks are the fastest growing form of co-operative arrangement in organisational life, with multi-partner boundary-span- ning collaborative relationships now commonplace in business, government, education and communities. Networking skills are accordingly a key factor for the success of individuals and organisations. The ability to build and engage with oper- ational, personal and strategic networks and to manage their interdependencies is required at all levels of organisations and vital for leaders8
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Relationship Marketing originated in the USA in the 1980s as a paradigm that puts customer relationships rather than sales transactions at the heart of market- ing activity. Relationship (or relational) marketing (RM) contrasts with transaction (database) marketing as a more holistic longer-term strategy using interactive communication to form closer ties with individual customers as equal partners in the service.
All marketing involves relationships, but RM features a one-to-one relationship between marketer and consumer; an inter- active process of co-production and co-con- sumption; and added value through mutual interdependence and collaboration between suppliers and customers. Such relationships blur identity boundaries between providers and users to form a virtually integrated net-
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