Learning support professionals: The changing role of subject specialists in UK academic libraries

Abstract

This article discusses the changing role of librarians in a higher education sector that is having to adapt to a new social and educational agenda. Many converged library and computing services have been created and this has speeded the process of change for librarians, particularly those who are working as subject specialists. Such librarians, particularly those working in hybrid teams with information professionals from different skill backgrounds are having to acquire expertise and undertake tasks that only tenuously relate to the training they received at the start of their careers. Their work increasingly takes them away from those others in the same profession who undertake more traditional work. A brief list of organisations that can offer training and help for these new professionals is given along with the current UK initiatives for developing support for learning and teaching from the information community.