Subject liaison librarians are working at the crossroads of the practical and emerging needs of researchers, seeking to connect with them throughout the research life-cycle rather than at the beginning when literature reviews are conducted or at the end when a scholarly publication emerges. In STEM disciplines, where research is oftentimes conducted in secure lab facilities, engagement is particularly challenging. In 2016, librarians at North Carolina State University embarked on a project to overcome this difficulty by joining selected research groups and attending regular lab meetings. This paper's findings will suggest that lab-integrated services present the opportunity to support the research enterprise as well as the teaching mission of universities simultaneously, and will challenge the notion of research support for faculty and information literacy instruction for students as separate and distinct library services. The paper will close with a discussion of the lessons learned from this pilot project and a discussion of the long-term sustainability of this type of program.
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