1. 1. This presentation was given at the Texas Library Association annual conference in
Houston on April 18, 2012.
The central theme is that not only is digital content freeing librarians for new roles, it
is demanding that we take on new roles and operate in new ways.
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2. 2. Libraries and Chains: when information was scarce and expensive, it made sense to
keep it in the library. People had to come to the library for it, so it made sense for the
librarian to stay in the library too.
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3. 3. Libraries and Chains – Printing Press. When information became a bit more
accessible, thanks to Gutenberg, we started letting it out of the libraries. But people
still came to the library to get it and bring it back. So the librarian stayed put.
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4. 4. With mobile digital information, information is ubiquitous. It is literally in your face,
all the time. (Google glasses.)
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5. 5. The Reference Desk. If information is everywhere, does it make sense for us to stay
at the reference desk? No, and many librarians are experimenting with new ways of
working.
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6. 6. There are different approaches to the new environment and different names for
them. I believe the most comprehensive and effective is the embedded librarian, so
I’d like to explore what embedded librarianship is all about.
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7. 7. At Johnson & Wales University, Mia Lamm and Nicole Covone began collaborating
with teaching faculty and offering embedded information literacy instruction in
kitchens to students in Culinary Arts.
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8. 8. American University. At American University, Nobue Matsuoka-Motley became an
embedded librarian in the Katzen Center for the Performing Arts. She is a performer
as well as a librarian.
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9. 9. Ziba Design. At Ziba Design, Reece Dano’s involvement in a project to design a new
transit station led to roles above and beyond the traditional idea of a librarian’s work.
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10. 10. First, 2 things that embedded librarianship is not. One, it’s not just for academic or
corporate librarians. It applies to librarians in every setting. Two, it’s not just about
physical co-location. Embedded librarians can be virtually embedded too.
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11. 11. Here’s a definition: Embedded librarianship is a model of librarianship in which the
librarian builds a relationship with members of a particular information user
community, focuses on understanding the activities of the community and
contributing to it, and becomes an integral member of it.
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12. 12. These Five Factors differentiate Embedded Librarianship from traditional
librarianship and other models.
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13. 13. We’ve already discussed the profound impact of ubiquitous digital information. It
is dramatically reducing demand for traditional reference services at the same time it
is freeing up librarians to get out of the library and become embedded – working from
anywhere. There are other factors driving this change as well.
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14. 14. We live in the knowledge society and the knowledge economy. Librarians are
badly needed for new roles – even if those who need us don’t always realize it!
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15. 15. The World is Flat, as Thomas Friedman pointed out. A good way to be important is
to be flexible and provide highly valued, highly context-sensitive contributions – not
standard, commoditized services.
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16. 16. In his book The Difference, Professor Scott Page makes the case that cognitively
diverse teams have superior performance. Librarians bring unique cognitive diversity
to teams because we see the information and knowledge dimensions of tasks and
problems.
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17. 17. Daniel Pink and others assert that we need the creative, qualitative, story-
oriented right brain as well as the rational, quantitative left brain skills to solve today’s
problems. Librarians bring story and cultural awareness as well as rationality to their
work.
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18. 18. Here are a few testimonials to the power of embedded librarianship. These are all
taken from my research, funded by the Special Libraries Association.
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19. 19. This quotation comes from a biology professor I interviewed. She credits the
practice of embedding a librarian in first-year courses with giving students
information literacy skills that they retain, enabling them to out-perform others in
subsequent academic work.
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20. 20. This engineering director relies on the embedded librarian’s domain and context
knowledge as well as the librarian’s unique perspective on new and important issues.
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21. 21. The Business Development Director at this international law firm made a simple
and powerful statement summing up several examples of the embedded librarian’s
impact.
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22. 22. Here are some basic ideas for managers or embedded librarians who want to
initiate or strengthen embedded librarianship programs.
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24. 24. Here’s a summary of the ideas I’ve presented.
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25. 25. I can’t think of a better comment to end this presentation. It comes from an
article by Nancy Davis Kho (Information Today, March 2011, p. 1) about plans to
implement embedded librarianship at the Johns Hopkins University School of
Medicine.
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26. 26. The choice to take the new opportunity of embedded librarianship belongs to
each of us. Thank you.
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