ON THE FRONT LINESNew Opportunities for Embedded Librarianship

Jenny Dale & Lynda KellamThe University of North Carolina at Greensboro

ACRL Virtual Conference 2011

UNC Greensboro• Institutional Profile– 17,500 students

(14,500 undergraduates)

– Research University with High Research Activity

– Retention efforts– Student

Affairs/Academic Affairs merged under Office of the Provost

POLL: How would you describe your institution?

• Large public university• Large private university• Medium public university• Medium private university• Small public university/college• Small private university/college

The University Libraries• Librarians are tenure-track

faculty• 90 library staff members• Liaison programs– Departmental/program – Student Affairs

Connection

Learning Communities• Variety of

Special Interest Communities

• UNCG Tomorrow, Strategic Plan: “Goal 3.3: Implement first-year learning communities for all first-time UNCG undergraduate students to encourage integration of learning across courses.”

Embedded Librarians at UNCG• In academic courses• In academic departments• In learning communities (and other

non-traditional spaces)

POLL: Are librarians on your campus embedded? (choose all that apply)• Yes, in online classes.• Yes, in traditional face-to-face

classes.• Yes, in some other way.• Yes, in a combination of the above

ways.• I don’t know.• No.

Case Study: Warren Ashby• Oldest living-learning community in

North Carolina• In-House Librarian– Office hours– Curriculum development– Outreach events– Library instruction

• Library First-ResponderMore information on Warren Ashby Residential College

Case Study: First Year LLCs• First Year Experience– UNS Class– Office hours

• Grogan– Outreach events

image source

POLL: Does your campus have LLCs?

• Yes• No• I don’t know!

Future plans • Expansion areas–Warren Ashby Residential College

expansion– Honors College– New Living-Learning Communities and

others

• Challenges

Best Practices • Identify potential partners• Define your relationship with your

assigned unit• Balance outreach with other

responsibilities• Redefine the library’s role• Connect with institution’s strategic

goals

Brainstorming• With whom have you worked on your

campus?• What are you doing to reach out to

student affairs units on your campus?• What are you doing with Learning

Communities specifically? Or what could you do?

• What challenges have you faced/do you foresee?