Commitment and Trust in Librarian–Faculty Relationships: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Objective — The goal of this study was to examine the methodologies used to study librarian–faculty relationships and to use the Key Mediating Variable model (KMV) of The Trust and Commitment Theory of Relationship Marketing to assess the quality of the librarian–faculty relationship as it has been portrayed in the literature. Relationship marketing emphasizes customer retention through the presence of positive relationships and is well suited to librarians and the academic community. A focus on communication, shared values and benefits of the relationship has fostered commitment and trust between faculty and librarians, however there is still much to be studied about the relationship.