Leading from Below: Influencing Vendors and Collection Budget Decisions as a Subject Liaison

Subject liaisons are responsible to their facility and students for subject-specific research tools funded by the library, but most subject liaisons don’t make the final decisions on subscriptions and other big-ticket items. How can we make effective recommendations to the decision makers? And how can we influence vendors about product development, pricing, and licensing issues as subject specialists but not budget controllers? In this lively discussion, the authors facilitated discussions of these questions with a group of librarians and vendors. After presenting one common model of a budget decision making process involving liaisons, budget decision makers, and vendors, we discussed how liaisons can best pitch a new resource to decision makers regarding content, pricing, and licensing issues. Participants next considered how to influence vendors though building relationships, explaining liaisons’ roles in the budget process, and describing the financial situation and research needs on our campuses. Finally, we concluded with best practices on how to influence as a liaison.