Building strong relationships between libraries and librarians on one hand and departments on campus and teaching faculty on the other has been one of the most challenging priorities to many academic librarians in the United States. The goal in both cases is to build a strong partnership between the librarians and teaching faculty in order to advance the educational experience of students and research capabilities for faculty. However too often these goals do not develop properly and reach their desired potential. How does one begin building liaison relationships with faculty? What kind of educational and professional background can help a subject librarian in such a position? How does one develop further skills? And what are some of the results can one expect to achieve from such partnerships? These issues will be examined in relationship to collection development, instruction, and reference, based on the University of Maryland experience.