The Embedded Librarians Café

Yesterday I participated in a panel on embedded librarianship at the SLA Conference. It was sponsored by the Pharma Division and moderated by Josh Duberman of NIH. We had an overflow audience in a room set up to hold 150 — so probably close to 200 in the audience. Susan Whitmore of NIH gave an outstanding presentation, based on a recently published paper that describes NIH’s Informationist program. Sorry, I don’ t have the paper or the citation with me. I’ll add it later.

My presentation and a selected reference list of recently published articles are available.

The Q&A at the end of the session was lively and I met several more librarians who are operating in interesting, successful embedded roles in their organizations. It was a great day!

Here’s another interesting source, especially for those interested in embedded librarianship in the academic sector: the Off-Campus Library Services Conference, at:
http://ocls.cmich.edu/conference/index.html

A couple papers include the word “embedded” in their titles:

• “Embedded Librarians: MLS Students as Apprentice Librarians in Online Courses”
• “Taking Library Instruction into the Online Classroom: Best Practices for Embedded Librarians”

while others are also very relevant:

• “Building a Virtual Campus: Librarians as Collaborators in Online Course Development and Learning”
• “The Virtual Library Liaison: A Case Study at an Online University”

The text of some papers is available on the website.

It’s great — or maybe it’s only natural — to see the interest in embedded librarians in the higher education distance learning community.

(Thanks to Julie Rustad, Distance Education Librarian at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN — and a member of the OCLS program committee — for telling me about this resource!)

Here’s a special update for anyone going to the Special Libraries Association Conference in Seattle. There will be at least two programs discussing embedded librarianship.

The contributed papers session on Monday, June 16 from 1:30 to 3:00 will include 2 “embedded” papers:

Spanning the Straits of Business Information: Kresge Library’s Embedded Librarian Program for MAP (Multidisciplinary Action Projects), by Laura Berdish and Corey Seeman — The University of Michigan Kresge Business Administration Library

Building Bridges Early: Embedding Future Information Professionals in an MBA Student Consulting Organization, by Carissa M. Holler — University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Economics Library

Immediately afterward, there will be a panel discussion entitled “Embedded Librarianship: Background and Overview”. Here’s the description: “Embedded librarians are “breaking rules” by being outside the library, and at the same time “building bridges” to closer ties to clients, with higher visibility and better service. This panel will provide an overview and background, as well as specifics of several programs. Presentations will discuss context, subject expertise, implementation and elements for success, providing a ‘lessons learned’ perspective. I’ll be a member of this panel.

And if you’re not going to the SLA Conference, I believe presentations from both programs will be posted. I’ll add those links when I get them.