Faculty Services Guide

Faculty & Staff Consultations

Scope of Service:

Research Strategy & Resources for your Topic

• Developing your search strategy
• Identifying relevant databases and journals
• Finding and evaluating information resources
• Discovering alternative search terms for your topic
• Using advanced search techniques for specific databases
• Narrowing your search results
• Identifying experts & seminal authors on a topic

Scholarly Communication & Publishing

• Scholarly communication (open access, copyright, publishing, data management)
• Identify journals for publication, including reviewing “calls” & investigating funding options for open-access publishing fees
• Determine the credibility of a journal
• Metrics and impact analysis of your published work
• NU Institutional Repository

Research Tools & Support

• Citation management tools
• Specialized software/tools 

Research Collaboration & Co-Authored Projects

• Annotated bibliography of abstracts (generated by a database and gathered by a librarian)
• Annotated bibliography (co-authored with a librarian)
• Literature review (co-authored with a librarian)

Initial Meeting

The 30-minute initial consultation is a brief, focused meeting designed to establish a collaborative partnership with a faculty member. The librarian's primary goal is to listen and understand the faculty member's needs, whether they relate to research, teaching, or a specific course. This meeting is an opportunity to introduce the range of library services and resources available to support their academic work.

Key areas covered typically include:

• Understanding Needs: The librarian asks open-ended questions to identify the faculty member's specific goals. Are they seeking assistance with a new research project, integrating information literacy into a course, or locating resources for their course syllabus?
• Service Introduction: The librarian provides a high-level overview of relevant services, such as research support, interlibrary loan, specialized databases, and citation management tools.
• Action Planning: The final minutes are used to outline next steps. This might involve a follow-up email with specific resources, scheduling a longer meeting to delve deeper into a project, or connecting the faculty member with another library specialist.

Follow-Up Meeting(s)

The follow-up meeting builds on the initial 30-minute consultation, providing an opportunity to explore in greater depth the faculty member’s identified goals and needs. This session focuses on moving from general discussion to concrete planning and implementation. Depending on the outcomes of the first meeting, the librarian and faculty member may:

• Review and refine specific research or teaching objectives.
• Explore targeted library resources, tools, or services relevant to the faculty member’s projects or courses.
• Develop an action plan for collaboration—such as designing an information literacy session, integrating library materials into a syllabus, or setting up research support workflows.

The follow-up meeting emphasizes partnership and practical next steps, ensuring the faculty member receives tailored, ongoing library support aligned with their academic and professional goals.