subject librarian

Subject librarians, also known as specialist librarians or academic liaison librarians and sometimes bibliographers in US-English are librarians responsible for a section of a library in regards to a particular academic subject. They are mainly in academic libraries and specialist libraries (such as legal libraries or medical libraries), but are also found in large non-academic libraries such as national or state libraries. In academic libraries, they work together with the faculty of their specialist subject to ensure the quality of their collection and manage required recommended course readings. Subject librarianship as a specific role developed in the 1960s, when many academic institutions began to put more funding into their libraries.