{"id":70327,"date":"2014-05-01T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2014-05-01T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=70327"},"modified":"2014-05-01T20:36:38","modified_gmt":"2014-05-02T01:36:38","slug":"a-job-for-you-as-an-embedded-librarian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=70327","title":{"rendered":"A Job for You as an Embedded Librarian"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Tracy Wasserman, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ Florida<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

A Job for You as an Embedded Librarian<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>The traditional librarian sits at a reference desk somewhere, waiting for someone to ask, text, or\u00a0email a question. Nowadays however, librarians are increasingly providing \u201cpoint-of-need\u201d services in\u00a0the form of embedded librarianship<\/strong>, being a part of the instant human connection that is there at the\u00a0time services are required without having to be asked first. For an excellent overview of embedded\u00a0librarianship<\/strong>, read INALJ Rachel Altman\u2019s article<\/a> on embedded librarianship<\/strong> and the power of human\u00a0connection.<\/p>\n

I recently had the opportunity to serve as an embedded librarian<\/strong> as part of my LIS graduate\u00a0studies. I and my fellow classmates in a Virtual Reference Services class were \u201cembedded\u201d<\/strong> into classes\u00a0at another academic institution, in a pilot embedded librarianship<\/strong> program. We were each assigned as\u00a0teaching assistants to distance education graduate business and education classes, and were given\u00a0administration access to the Blackboard Collaborate host site for our assigned classes, and access to the\u00a0global campus library website that included instructional resources, past questions answered and\u00a0recorded by the university\u2019s library and its sister institutions, and other systems, tools and apps used by\u00a0the university\u2019s librarians. As teaching assistants, we posted regularly to our class online discussion\u00a0boards, with helpful tips and tutorials. My class was a capstone project class in administration, so I hit\u00a0upon the strategy of direct emailing the students when they posted their project information, with\u00a0research that might be helpful, before they asked for help. Most were very appreciative and found my\u00a0research useful to their projects.<\/p>\n

The takeaway from this experience was that people are often reluctant to ask for research help,\u00a0thinking they can get by on their own, and then, Voila! up shows the librarian unannounced with some\u00a0helpful advice at the right moment, and you have just maybe made a convert to the library for the\u00a0future, and accomplished your mission as a librarian. This is the idea behind embedded librarianship<\/strong>, and many academic institutions in particular have implemented embedded librarian<\/strong> programs, where\u00a0<\/span>librarians are assigned directly to classes, especially research intensive classes. The program at the\u00a0Hartness Library<\/a>, which serves Vermont Tech and the Community Colleges of Vermont, allows\u00a0professors to sign up for a librarian to be embedded<\/strong> in their classes either as a semester-long librarian\u00a0or a guest librarian. Similar programs are popular at other institutions such as SUNY Orange<\/a> in New York\u00a0and at the Welch Medical Library<\/a> of Johns Hopkins University, where the librarians are embedded<\/strong> as\u00a0\u201cinformationists\u201d<\/a> in various departments.<\/p>\n

Many job ads seeking librarians incorporate the words \u201cembedded services<\/strong>\u201d or \u201conline help\/\u00a0instruction\u201d into their list of duties and\/or responsibilities. In Florida, a recent job posting from an\u00a0academic institution is looking for a librarian as an instructor in learning resources to assist in\u00a0. . . \u201dembedded<\/strong> services, instructional support, Virtual College and online services,\u201d while another school\u00a0is seeking an online librarian to . . . \u201cwork as an embedded<\/strong> librarian inside online courses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Embedded librarians<\/strong> can be found not only in academic libraries, but many special libraries<\/a> in\u00a0corporations<\/a>, government<\/a>, law firms<\/a> and medical institutions<\/a>. Public libraries<\/a>, too, are finding ways\u00a0their librarians can partner with community organizations as embedded librarians<\/strong>. My favorite is the\u00a0Ambulance Riding Librarian<\/a> of Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

There are many one-time embedded librarian <\/strong><\/a>success stories that report interest and\u00a0enthusiasm in the idea. Sometimes, however, continuing a program may present problems in scalability\u00a0and sustainability, where demand can outstrip supply, or budgeting. It takes vision and dedication to\u00a0implement and sustain an embedded librarianship<\/strong> program, and you may be just the person to succeed!\u00a0So get yourself out there; maybe you can find a need and create a niche as an embedded librarian<\/strong>\u00a0where you are currently employed, or seek out an opportunity at an existing successful program by\u00a0regularly searching INALJ\u2019s job postings<\/a> for the right fit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Tracy Wasserman, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ Florida A Job for You as an Embedded Librarian The traditional librarian sits at a reference desk somewhere, waiting for someone to ask, text, or\u00a0email a question. Nowadays however, librarians are increasingly providing \u201cpoint-of-need\u201d services in\u00a0the form of embedded librarianship, being a part of the instant human connection that is…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":57048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,3592,5650,6185,3652,6184,5893],"class_list":["post-70327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-embedded-librarianship","tag-embedded-services","tag-inalj-florida","tag-teaching-assistants","tag-tracy-wasserman"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Tracy-Wasserman.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-iij","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}