Embedded Librarians

Khue Duong, moderator

It is important to be on site if possible – e.g. seek out the IEEE student lounge.  But you need to be prepared to answer questions off the cuff (as opposed to in a classroom setting).

Membership can be a conduit for information sharing.  E.g. with ACM - student leaders are often more open (than faculty) and see the big picture.  Students (in general) can see the library and librarians in a new light.

In scientific research there can often be a disconnect between a researches needs and wants and what a librarian’s traditional role is and thus you can gain a lot by being part of the research cycle from the beginning of the process.

Face time

It important to get your face out there and be seen.  Department receptions are a great opportunity to meet / connect with new faculty and grab them at the beginning of their careers. 

“Build trust in person first.” said ?

CUSLB – some librarians hold office hours in their departments’ offices.

But also need to be online

Subscribe to a student organization’s listserv to stay current; ask the teacher if you can get on the listserv for their class.

Research groups often have sub-lists (e.g. geophysicists, material scientists).

When you have a idea who is coming to a workshop you can tailor your search terms and be more relevant.

Contacts

Make friends with office managers and administrative professionals of the department you are covering to get an inside scoop.

Pre-meds may not be open to library stuff because their vocabulary is limited from their courses?  In this case working with the TA’s might be the best approach.

Attend adjunct meetings and do a consultation on what’s available at / through the library.

Web 2.0

Post tutorials on your blog.

Consider posting specific information on individual students (e.g. Y just won X award) on your blog.

“A blog can help you structure things if do once a week.”

http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/ - an example of a popular science blog

Tweets – furlough days are an examples of a useful post because they can be irregular.

*Need to gauge what technologies your users utilize (and it may be several).

Publicity

Bookmarks  / post flyers.

Campus-wide announcements.

Ads on facebook didn’t appear to be worth their cost.

When universities are short funded they emphasize research and grant writers are prized (so this would be a good area to teach).

Graduate students can be overlooked (as a group).

Personality traits of librarians have some parallels to engineers.

Lisa defined a successfully embedded librarian as one where “they [the department] have to make a conscious decision to not consider you part of the department.”

Change peoples’ mindset, make them feel like you are their special librarian.