Background: Liaison and embedded librarianship are often defined vaguely largely due to the diverse nature, circumstances, and requirements of different patron and academic settings. Concrete examples of librarian/researcher collaborations can therefore be helpful for librarians looking to increase or adapt their outreach efforts in their own settings. This talk describes a collaboration between the Strauss Health Sciences Library and the Biostatistics Department of the Colorado School of Public Health in crafted a specialized information resource for the Metabolomics research community.
Description: The task (funded through a NIH consortium grant supplement) was to create a curated database of metabolomics software tools. The collaboration between domain experts and bioinformationists involved solving associated problems and iterating as well as embedding the librarian in the relevant research group. Many lessons were learned, as this project was a first for all involved.
Conclusion: The information resource is now in production and curation and documentation are ongoing. Future collaboration between the library and the research groups is now set up for both enhancement of the information resource as well as ongoing data management issues that the research group will face not directly related to the original project. Thus, this project-based collaboration resulted also in a continued liaison.