The Many Faces of Embedded Librarianship: Interpretations of How We Integrate Ourselves into College

Courses and Departments

Mark Aaron Polger | First Year Experience Librarian | College of Staten Island, CUNY | MarkAaron.Polger@csi.cuny.edu

Being “embedded” might mean

InvolvedIntegratedConnectedPartneredImmersed

• Participate in teaching students overan entire semester

• Co-teach and/or assist on Blackboardor any learning management system

• Collaborate with a specific academic department over an extended period of time

Embedded librarians may….

My Inspiration ….Health libraries

• Some Clinical Medical Librarians (CMLs) and Informationists are completely “embedded”

• Many work outside the library

• Part of a clinical team of health care professionals

• Not “guests”, but permanent team members

There is no “one way” to be embedded

• In person• Online• Online & synchronous• Online & asynchronous• Hybrid• Outside the library• In academic department

Embedded Within a Department• Provided weekly office hours in academic

department• Was given office, telephone, laptop• Became more deeply involved with nearby

classroom faculty and graduate students.• Felt like a member of the academic department• My contact information was listed on academic

department web page• Participated in monthly department meetings

Multiple Library Instruction Visits (in-person)

• Through multiple meetings, the librarian is perceived as more than a “guest”

• They become part of the course and more involved student learning

• Contact information is listed on syllabus

Co-teaching on Blackboard (or any LMS)(synchronous or asynchronous)

• Librarian develops instructional content on Blackboard for students, to supplement course content

• Librarian may not be present in-class but has an important teaching role on Blackboard

• May grade quizzes and respond to discussion posts

• Partnered with academic department when piloting a curriculum change

• Discussed new opportunities for library instruction

• Piloted a revised lesson plan for a new library workshop

• Attended department meetings to communicate the new lesson plan

• Gathered assessment data from theclass

Collaboration with Academic Department

Outreach

Teaching

Collaboration

Time

Long term impact

Pros vs. Cons

Conclusion

• Embedded Librarianship is more effective than one-shot classes

• Requires buy-in from faculty and department

• Some might feel territorial about *sharing* class time and the way others teach

• Some collaborations take years to develop and mature