Introduction

Since the mid-2000s, there has been a proliferation of new academic library positions devoted to outreach, engagement and student success. Libraries are recognising the imperative to position themselves as outward-facing organisations whose purpose is to contribute to the success of their faculty, students and staff. In order to stay competitive for resources, administrators realise that they must be able to demonstrate the library’s value to the larger college or university mission and strategic goals. The problem is that many of these new outreach and engagement librarian positions have been introduced in an ad hoc manner, without touching the library organisational structure or examining its mission, vision or values. By charging lone librarians to lead outreach and engagement initiatives, academic libraries have prioritised individual relationship building over program development.

In 2009, the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) created a position for an Assistant/Associate University Librarian (AUL) for Outreach & Academic Services (later Outreach & Academic Collaboration). By placing outreach at a senior management level, the library signalled a commitment to managing and improving both its external relationships and image. Hired into the position in 2012, I was given staff, budget and the authority to implement events, outreach, communications and partnership programs that advance the library’s visibility and impact.

In this chapter, I introduce some of the programmatic approaches implemented at the UCSB Library to build the division of Outreach & Academic Collaboration. I argue that a leadership role dedicated to outreach is essential in harnessing previously invisible relational work toward new and strategic engagement models. Administrators should commit to defining program goals and performance competencies for outreach and engagement work, and invest in them in order to develop and sustain the relationships that support the reputation of the library. Having recently been tasked with overseeing the UCSB Library’s subject liaison program, I then look ahead to imagine how an understanding of relational capital can shape public services more broadly in academic libraries.

Relational capital and invisible work

The business concept of intellectual capital – sometimes called intellectual or intangible assets – has only relatively recently been explored in the library literature (Kostagiolas & Asonitis 2009; Corrall & Sriborisutsakul 2010).