Embedded Librarians Rebound!

This presentation was given at the OCLC Research Forum meeting, “Libraries Rebound: Embracing Mission, Maximizing Impact”, in Philadelphia on June 5, 2012. (See http://www.oclc.org/research/events/2012-06-05.htm ) The central theme is that academic librarians should explore opportunities to become embedded in research and other activities in higher education, in addition to instruction.

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In 1992, 22-year-old Mark Andreessen helped ignite the greatest information revolution in the last 500 years by creating the first graphical web browser. Libraries are still working through the disruption to traditional library operations from that event. Now, 20 years later, Andreessen is a highly successful venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. In the May 2012 Wired magazine, he predicts further fundamental technological disruption, and education is first on his list of sectors to be disrupted.

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Maybe Andreessen has been reading “The Innovative University” by Christensen and Eyring.

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I imagine he’s well aware of these initiatives that could lead to profound disruption of traditional higher education. The point is, signs of fundamental change are all around us – as if academic librarians didn’t have enough on their plate already!

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So what should we do? Let’s start by reaffirming our fundamental principles. I think this mission statement articulated by David Lankes in his book, “Atlas of the New Librarianship”, is an excellent starting point.

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The question is, with our changing circumstances and the disruption of our old models, how can we best achieve our mission? I propose that embedded librarianship is a promising approach that is being widely adopted. Here’s a definition of embedded librarianship.

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When we look across all sectors of librarianship (as in the SLA-funded “Models of Embedded Librarianship” research), we see that embedded librarians perform a wide array of professional tasks. However, in higher education our research has found, and the literature confirms, that embedded librarians are focused on embedded information literacy instruction almost to the exclusion of other kinds of contributions to the academic enterprise. Why not branch out?

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The research mission of higher education is ripe for the engagement of librarians. These three trends are among the reasons why.

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This cycle portrays five critical activities that are needed to develop and sustain new embedded roles.

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When you are successful, you get clear indications of your value to the organization. Like this. (from the Models of Embedded Librarianship research)

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And this. (also from the Models of Embedded Librarianship research)

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And this. (Citation: Kho, N. Information Today, March 2011, p. 1.)

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So, I encourage you to consider how embedding into the research mission of your institution might be a part of the overall strategy for your academic library. Thank you.

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