Embedded Librarian Challenge Three: Understanding the Context

As the course progressed, my role as an embedded librarian seemed to evolve into something unexpected. After the students and faculty came to me with some questions, I realized I had to spend time understanding the context, such as:

• what instructor expected students to accomplish 
• instructor's criteria to grade students' papers 
• how to write a scholarly paper 
• how to cite and reference in APA format
• what students were required to read
• what supplemental materials students had access to
• what resources students were expected to use for their papers

This is more than an one-time-shot lecture or presentation! More than just helping students searching for and retrieving information. To embrace these challenges, I spent time doing the homework: 

• went through course syllabus carefully
• read and understand instructor's grading rubric for course papers
• reviewed instructor's class presentation slides by modules
• requested an access code from the college to review supplemental online materials (e.g. quizes and assignments) associated with the course required textbook
• learned about chapters of the course required textbook
• contacted the instructor when I had questions
• got myself familiar with APA book 6th edition 

The homework really injected me with confidence providing assistance to students and the instructor. Now students' grades were distributed and my work was done, and as commented from the course instructor, done beautifully! 

Embedded Librarian Challenge One: A Workable Proposal

It took several months for me to start a new project: the Embedded Librarian Pilot Project: a pilot program between the library and the College of Nursing. I will be officially embedded in a nursing distance course this summer.  Being given this excellent opportunity was not happening overnight. Getting to this point met with lots of challenges. I will be using this blog to post my thoughts, hopefully, helpful for the-to-be embedded librarian.

Is there a perfect match?

The first challenge was to come up with a workable proposal for both parties involved in the project. When gaps appear between expectations and reality, passion and feasibility, needs and priority, the best way was to set back, rethink, and take a different approach or take another strategy. It will be more likely to be successful if the proposal comes directly from the customer group rather than the librarian himself/herself. The proposal has to state the librarian's primary role in the course focusing on utilizing their expertise such as enhancing student information literacy competencies, library researching skills, information searching, information retrieval, and information management. When you can get to this point, way to go!

Last Presentation of the Year

Yesterday I gave a presentation on literature searching to 75 DNP and PhD nursing students. The course director sent me a nice email afterwards:

"Thank you for the excellent presentation you gave to the DNP and PhD students this afternoon! The content of your presentation and the pdf file you have shared will be useful to the students and me as course director. The faculty who are assisting with the course and I can readily refer students to the pdf file to reinforce the information you shared today."

Looking back, I really had a good year with my liaison services to the College of Nursing. The more I actively engaged myself with them,  the more return requests I received. A good busy year! 

Snow=Good harvest

No More Library Workshops!

Does your library experience low attendance rate to your library workshops? As a librarian instructor, you have worked so hard to get people to attend your workshops, but still  not much improvement. Does that mean your patrons do not need the information? Does that mean library workshops have no value to your library community? Librarians all know that is not the case. Here is an innovative way to make some changes: No more workshops in the library! One-on-one and on demand instructional sessions instead.

I look at this as a patron driven change and another level of providing library instruction. I can certainly see some of the advantages of one-on-one or on demand sessions:

• Fit into the patron's schedule
• Deliver content based on individual's needs or at the point of need
• Provide a conformable environment to ask questions -- patrons
• Reduce the tense of speaking in public -- librarians

I believe it's time to make a change for better or worse depending on what you think and what content you want to deliver. It might be more effective to turn those workshops that have hands on components into one-on-one sessions.