The Embedded Librarians Café

I’ve just returned from the centennial conference of the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA), in Dunedin, New Zealand. It was a wonderful and stimulating experience, and I’ve been reflecting on all that I learned from my Kiwi colleagues.

I plan to post my keynote speech after some editing of the text. Meanwhile, I’ll also generate several blog entries in response to questions I received. These were good, tough questions – which are really helpful. They show that people are taking the idea of embedded librarianship seriously, and they help me think through gaps and flaws in the case for it and the methodology for initiating and sustaining it. The questions I’ll address include:

• Can introverts be embedded librarians?
• How do we know embedded librarianship has a positive ROI, and how do we place it in relation to other priorities for library services?
• When initiating embedded services pilots, how can a manager validate judgments about selection of customer groups and librarians to start with?

There may be more. Stay tuned… and if you’ve got more good, tough questions, add them too.

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