Moniz notes that, historically, personal librarian programs are the result of ever-evolving changes to the profession, including new emphasis on information literacy and methods for best providing those skills, increased presence of digital and electronic resources, and even the need to find ways to retain students in higher education. This preliminary study examines how personal librarian programs are implemented within medical and academic health sciences libraries. When this discussion is applied to methods for library outreach, this idea of relationship-building can be reflected by the concept of providing services through a personal librarian program. It would be better for students to work with one librarian throughout “the entire life of a research project or a course”, which would allow for a working relationship to form between the student and that one librarian. Using Gutek's concepts as a guide to define what an encounter-based service might look like in a library setting, Lillard offers the example of students constantly needing to redescribe their research projects to the reference librarian on duty each time they physically visit the library for assistance. In their discussion on the benefits of providing personalized library instruction and services to distance learners, Lillard notes that personalized approaches to providing library services can allow for the development of deeper relationships between academic librarians and students, particularly when compared to encounter-based interactions that are typical of most transactions in a library setting. Gutek finds that more traditional “encounter-based” transactions and services are typically fleeting and can involve multiple service providers and argues that “relationship-based” transactions build upon each other due to repeated contact with the same providers.

From a customer service perspective, libraries are in a unique position to build lasting relationships with their users due to the intimate nature of providing just the right information at just the right time.

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