how to build a sustainable embedded librarianship program
TRANSCRIPT
HOW TO BUILD A SUSTAINABLEEMBEDDED LIBRARIANSHIP PROGRAMMEREDITH FARKASPORTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGEFOR ALA TECHSOURCE
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HI! I’M MEREDITH
CURRENTLY: FACULTY LIBRARIAN AT PORTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE
2011-2014: HEAD OF INSTRUCTION AT PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY
2008-2011: HEAD OF INSTRUCTION AT NORWICH UNIVERSITY
2005-2008: DISTANCE LEARNING LIBRARIAN AT NORWICH UNIVERSITY
I ALSO DEVELOPED AND TEACH
LIBR 220 EMBEDDING THE LIBRARY INTO THE FABRIC OF HIGHER EDUCATION
FOR SAN JOSE STATE’S INFORMATION SCHOOL
COMMON COMPLAINTS ABOUT LIBRARY INSTRUCTION PROGRAMS
• There is no way we can reach the number of
students we need to given our staffing
• We feel like what we are currently doing is not
having enough impact on students’ information
literacy
• We feel like there’s no intentionality to our instruction
program
ALL OF THESE CAN BE ADDRESSED BY EMBEDDED LIBRARY INSTRUCTION
https://www.flickr.com/photos/liamngls/413522957/
PROBLEMS WITH THE ONE-SHOT
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pathphotos/5225170834
https://www.flickr.com/photos/imgeorge/4810034948/
Not our
students
https://www.flickr.com/photos/garryknight/6009398222/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/becosky/3304801086/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/5398114900/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/huntergather/7219699620/
IS A COLLECTION OF ONE-SHOTS REALLY AN INSTRUCTION PROGRAM AT ALL?
MATTHEW, VICTORIA, AND ANN SCHROEDER. "THE EMBEDDED LIBRARIAN PROGRAM." EDUCAUSE QUARTERLY 29.4 (2006): 61.
• Librarians embedded in the LMS
• Discussion board in the classroom
• Contributing instructional content
• Being available to our students in the classroom, at
their points of need
MY FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH EMBEDDEDNESS
• Created a librarian discussion boards in first classes in the Masters
of Military History and Masters of Diplomacy programs
• Offered timely instruction/tips
• Provided research assistance
• Expanded program after a semester
• Limitations of the technology made monitoring a nightmare
• Shunted majority of reference traffic to me
• Only a few classes had really active discussion boards
BEING THERE ISN’T ENOUGH…
BEING THERE…
AT THE RIGHT TIMES
AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE CURRICULUM
DEWEY, BARBARA I. "THE EMBEDDED LIBRARIAN: STRATEGIC CAMPUS COLLABORATIONS." RESOURCE SHARING & INFORMATION NETWORKS 17.1-2 (2005): 5-17.
• Embeddedness = deep collaboration
• Partnerships with faculty and staff in other units
across campus
• Librarians getting out of the library and being a more
integral part of campus life
CHARACTERISTICS OF EMBEDDED LIBRARIANSHIP
• Proactive instead of waiting to be asked
• Relationships with faculty; shared goals
• Librarians as partners
• Customized, high-value contributions to the curriculum
• Being where our patrons are
• Deep understanding of patron needs & curriculum
BEING EMBEDDED DOESN’T HAVE TO MEAN…
BEING PRESENT IN THE CLASS THROUGHOUT THE TERM
CO-TEACHING
BEING ALWAYS AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS IN THEIR CLASSROOM VIA DISCUSSION BOARD
IT IS ABOUT MEANINGFUL, WELL-DESIGNED LIBRARY PRESENCE AND/OR INSTRUCTION AT JUST THE RIGHT TIMES IN THE CURRICULUM.
WHERE CAN WE BE MOST VALUABLE IN THE CURRICULUM?
HOW CAN WE SCAFFOLD THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS THROUGHOUT THE CURRICULUM?
FIRST STEPS TOWARDS EMBEDDEDNESS
• Build relationships with faculty
• Get to know the curriculum
• Get to know students and their “pain points”
ARE WE PARTNERS?
ARE WE “AT THEIR SERVICE?”
HOW I’VE BUILT RELATIONSHIPS
• Being present
• Being useful to faculty
• In ways not necessarily related to info lit
• Building momentum with low-hanging fruit
PERCEPTIONS TAKE TIME TO CHANGE
LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE CURRICULUM
• Talk to faculty and department chairs
• Collect syllabi and research assignments
• Serve on faculty committees
• Curriculum mapping
IT CAN’T JUST BE ABOUT YOU
SEEK OUT OPPORTUNITIES TO COLLABORATE ON COURSE/ASSIGNMENT/CURRICULUM DESIGN
• Program review
• Curriculum redesign
• Course redesign
• Frustration with student performance in x class
• Grant opportunities where we can pay instructors to
collaborate
ADVANCED DESIGN PROCESS
• Led by Center for Online Learning
instructional designers for individual departments
• Focused on backwards design
• Library gets four hours
• 2 hrs. integrating library resources in classes
• 2 hrs. research assignment design
AFTER THE ADVANCED DESIGN WORKSHOPS
• Positive feedback from participants
• Lots of subsequent collaboration with faculty who
participated in the workshops
• Quarterly library workshops on assignment design
for faculty
• Hampered by low attendance
GET TO KNOW YOUR STUDENTS
• Assessment of library instruction
• Assessment of student work in key courses
• Reference desk transactions
• Focus groups
REDESIGN OF HI 209 HISTORIOGRAPHY @ NORWICH
• Saw lots of students coming in with this Paris Peace Conference
project where they had to represent the interests of a particular
country at the talks
• Started conversations with faculty teaching it.
• They were moving it to the sophomore level and wanted to
redesign the curriculum
• Taught information literacy in partnership with the museum and the
archives over the course of four well-timed sessions with
embedded assignments that allowed them to practice what they
learned
IS EMBEDDED LIBRARIANSHIP ABOUT KILLING THE ONE-SHOT?
• Yes and no
• Putting instruction into the right
places in the curriculum
• Making sure that instruction is built
upon and reemphasized/repeated
IS EMBEDDED LIBRARIANSHIP ABOUT DOING A LOT MORE TEACHING?
• Maybe
• Many other options too
• Tutorials
• Building course content
• Train the trainer
IF THE GOAL IS TO EMBED INFORMATION LITERACY INTO THE CURRICULUM, OUR INVOLVEMENT MAY SOMETIMES BE INVISIBLE
TUTORIALS
• Videos
• Guide on the Side
• Interactive tutorials
• Online worksheets
• Can be used instead of or in addition to face-to-face
instruction
BUILDING COURSE CONTENT OR SUPPORTING ITS DEVELOPMENT
• Lectures (in online classes)
• Lesson plans
• Activities
• Assignments
• Train the trainer
AT THE SAME TIME…
HIGH-TOUCH EMBEDMENT
• Co-teaching
• Teaching many sessions to the same class
• Being present in every class session
VAN EPPS, AMY AND MEGAN SAPP NELSON. "ONE-SHOT OR EMBEDDED? ASSESSING DIFFERENT DELIVERY TIMING FOR INFORMATION RESOURCES RELEVANT TO ASSIGNMENTS."EVIDENCE-BASED LIBRARY AND INFORMATION PRACTICE 8.1 (2013): 438-449.
"Frequent, short library instruction sessions produce an
increased use of high-quality content. Similarly, the
sections with multiple library interactions show more
use of periodicals than websites."
BOWLER, MEAGAN AND KORI STREET. "INVESTIGATING THE EFFICACY OF EMBEDMENT: EXPERIMENTS IN INFORMATION LITERACY INTEGRATION."REFERENCE SERVICES REVIEW 36.4 (2008): 438-449.
"As the level of librarian embedment increased students'
performance on the research component of the rubric
increased as well."
"Although the improvement in IL among students in WMST
3305 was astounding in some ways, the resource cost is not
sustainable. Unless resourcing approaches are found to
permit that kind of sustained, immersed embedment, we
would recommend that type with caution."
REASONS TO DO HIGH-TOUCH EMBEDMENT
• Key course in the curriculum
• Political reasons
• To sell the idea of embedment, show what is
possible
• To train the faculty member to cover the same
content in the future
QUESTIONS?
GETTING IN THEIR FLOW
IF THIS IS THEIR CAMPUS...
IF THIS IS THEIR CAMPUS...
Library
MANY LEVELS OF “EMBEDDING”
• Macro-Level Library Courseware Involvement*
• Micro-Level Library Courseware Involvement*
• Molecular-Level Library Courseware Involvement
• Embedment in the curriculum itself
• * From Shank, J. D. and N. H. Dewald. 2003. Establishing our presence in courseware: Adding library services to the virtual classroom. Information Technology and Libraries 22(1):38-43.
MACRO-LEVEL LIBRARY INVOLVEMENT
• One library presence for distance learners in the learning
management system
• An external web page
• A presence in the LMS
• A course shell in the LMS in which every student is enrolled
• A module/widget in every classroom
• Could be a link or embedded content.
• Could be in every course or on the LMS home page
MACRO-LEVEL LIBRARY COURSEWARE INVOLVEMENT
• Pros
• Easy to maintain
• No collaboration with faculty needed
• Good for universally-useful information, learning objects
and resources for online students
• Cons
• Generic, not tailored to specific courses or programs
MICRO-LEVEL LIBRARY INVOLVEMENT
• Library presence targeted to specific courses or
programs
• Program/subject-specific presence or guide
• Course-specific presence or guide
• Learning objects to support specific programs
MICRO-LEVEL LIBRARY INVOLVEMENT
• How does the content get into the classroom?
• One library presence that links to subject-specific content
embedded automatically into each classroom (through the
LOR)
• Subject/course-specific content embedded automatically into
each classroom
• Faculty member must link to subject/course-specific content
• Librarian is given course-designer access
MICRO-LEVEL LIBRARY INVOLVEMENT
• Pros
• More targeted to student research needs
• Can put more of a human face on the library (subject librarian)
• Cons
• Requires significantly more effort to build and maintain
• Depending on the approach, may require significant programming
and/or significant librarian involvement to embed the content into the
LMS
• Sometimes requires more collaboration with faculty
BEST PRACTICES FOR EMBEDDING IN THE LMS
• Don’t make faculty lift a finger
• Make it visible
• Develop close relationships with the staff who administer the
LMS & who support online teaching
• Depending too much on the LMS can cause issues when the
institution adopts a new one
• Try to put a human face on the library (personal connection)
LIBRARIAN DISCUSSION BOARDS IN THE LMS
• Two models
• Generic “Ask a Librarian” discussion board
• Librarian in the main class discussion board
• Strategies for decreasing time commitment
• Maybe not all term
• Save questions and answers for later use or FAQ
• Monitor via RSS or email alerts
• Faculty members must highlight or integrate the ask a librarian board
• In studies, even students who didn’t use the discussion board found it a
positive addition
OTHER PLACES TO PROVIDE REFERENCE/INSTRUCTION
• Department offices
• Student centers and other places students work on-
campus
• Tutoring centers, writing centers, computing centers,
etc.
• Residence halls
ISSUES WITH EMBEDMENT
• Takes a long time to achieve such a collaboration
• Time-consuming
• Doesn’t scale
• Choice of deep vs. broad
• Often leads to increased reference traffic (Bennett &
Simning, 2010)
These are not terrible problems to have, but they’re
still problems
HEARN, M. R. 2005. EMBEDDING THE LIBRARIAN IN THE CLASSROOM: AN INTENSIVE INFORMATION LITERACY MODEL. REFERENCE SERVICES REVIEW 33 (2): 219-27.
“It is essential for the librarian to be able to set aside
blocks of time so that proper attention can be given to
these course requirements. Reducing the number of hours
assigned to reference desk coverage or other scheduled
duties should be considered prior to starting an embedded
collaboration. While any change in schedule or duties will
have an impact on other members of the library staff, the
benefits of an intensive collaboration to the students, the
library, and the campus will need to be weighed against
these stresses.”
BARTNIK, LINDA, ET AL. "WE WILL BE ASSIMILATED: FIVE EXPERIENCES IN EMBEDDED LIBRARIANSHIP." PUBLIC SERVICES QUARTERLY 6.2/3 (2010): 150-164.
“Her full-time presence ceased in fall 2007 when she
was promoted to head of the Reference Department…
She believed initially that maintaining an office and
scheduled office hours in both buildings would be
possible. It was not. The loss of consistency, of reliable
office hours and presence, damaged the relationship
developed between librarian and both faculty and
students over the previous three years.”
CHESNUT, MARY TODD, THREASA L. WESLEY, AND ROBERT ZAI. "ADDING AN EXTRA HELPING OF SERVICE WHEN YOU ALREADY HAVE A FULL PLATE: BUILDING AN EMBEDDED LIBRARIAN PROGRAM." PUBLIC SERVICES QUARTERLY 6.2/3 (2010): 122-129.
“We modified our traditional ‘just in case’ desk service
by reducing the hours librarians would be available by
20–25 hours a week. Each librarian had his/her service
schedule also reduced by three hours per week to
encourage more production of Bb [Blackboard]
Librarian resources and to increase interaction with
students within Bb.”
IF YOU’RE COMMITTED TO EMBEDMENT
WHAT WILL YOU STOP DOING?
BEST PRACTICES FOR EMBEDDED LIBRARIANSHIP
• Get administrator/supervisor buy-in
• Communicate with colleagues
• Focus on high-impact places in the curriculum
• Try out some services as a pilot first
• Still difficult to stop a pilot service
BEST PRACTICES FOR EMBEDDED LIBRARIANSHIP
• Clearly negotiate the librarian’s role with the
instructor
• Moderate expectations with instructor & students
• Plan ahead for busy times (ebbs and flows)
• Assess, assess, assess
Selective Bibliography
Baseema Banoo Krkoska, Camille Andrews, and Jim Morris-Knower. “A tale of three disciplines :
embedding librarians and outcomes-based information literacy competency in business, biology, and
communication.” In Kvenild, Cassandra, and Kaijsa Calkins, Ed. Embedded Librarians: Moving Beyond
One-Shot Instruction. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2011.
Bennett, E., and Jennie Simning. 2010. Embedded librarians and reference traffic: A quantitative
analysis. Journal of Library Administration 50: 443.
Booth, Char. “Project Curve Part 4: Mapping Concept to Curriculum.” Infomational.
http://infomational.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/project-curve-part-four-mapping-concept-to-curriculum/
Bowler, Meagan, and Kori Street. “Investigating the efficacy of embedment: Experiments in information
literacy integration.” Reference services review 36.4 (2008): 438-449.
Brasley, Stephanie Sterling. “Effective librarian and discipline faculty collaboration models for
integrating information literacy into the fabric of an academic institution.” New Directions for Teaching
and Learning 2008 114 (2008): 71-88.
Brower, Matthew. “Chapter 1: A Recent History of Embedded Librarianship: Collaboration and
Partnership Building with Academics in Learning and Research Environments.” in Kvenild, Cassandra,
and Kaijsa Calkins, Eds. Embedded Librarians: Moving Beyond One-Shot Instruction. Chicago:
Association of College and Research Libraries, 2011.
Del Bosque, Darcy, and Kimberly Chapman. “Your place or mine? Face-to-face reference services
across campus.” New Library World 108.5/6 (2007): 247-262.
Dempsey, Lorcan. “In the Flow.” Lorcan Dempsey’s Weblog. 2005.
http://orweblog.oclc.org/archives/000688.html
Dewey, Barbara I. “The embedded librarian: Strategic campus collaborations.” Resource Sharing
& Information Networks 17.1-2 (2005): 5-17.
Farkas, Meredith G. 2008. Embedded library, embedded librarian: Strategies for providing
reference services in online courseware. In The desk and beyond: Next generation reference
services., eds. Sarah K. Steiner, M. Leslie Madden, 53-64. Chicago: Association of College and
Research Libraries.
Fister, Barbara. “Fostering information literacy through faculty development.” Library Issues:
Briefings for Faculty and Administrators 29.4 (2009).
Hoffman, Star and Lilly Ramin. “Best practices for librarians embedded in online courses.” Public
Services Quarterly 6.2-3 (2010): 292-305.
Matava, Tobie, Dan Coffey, and Jeffrey Kushkowski. 2010. Beyond library walls: Embedding
librarians in academic departments. Public Services Quarterly 6: 165.
Moser, Mary, et al. “A More Perfect Union: Campus Collaborations for Curriculum Mapping
Information Literacy Outcomes.” ACRL Conference. 2011.
http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/national/2011/
papers/more_perfect_union.pdf
Shank, J. D., and N. H. Dewald. 2003. Establishing our presence in courseware: Adding library
services to the virtual classroom. ITAL: Information Technology and Libraries 22 (1): 38-43.
QUESTIONS?
GET IN TOUCH!
EMAIL:[email protected]
WEBSITE:MEREDITH.WOLFWATER.COM
TWITTER:LIBRARIANMER