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Embedded Librarians at CPCCNCLA 2011
part of panel discussion: Embedded Librarians in NCJennifer Ballance
[email protected]|330|6929
Fall 2009Pilot ProjectGrown to 35 sections ~1400 students
Communication, English, Business, Culinary,
Fire Protection, Welding, Construction
Notes for previous slide• Our embedded librarian service started as a solution to a problem--– we were doing great offering library
instruction sessions to our in-person classes. ENG, COM etc…but we had a growing number of ENG and COM classes that were being offered online as a way to provide more classes to the growing numbers of students–
• The problem was that students in these classes were not getting the same services as our in-person students- the opportunity to have library instruction -
• So starting in the Fall of 2009- (CLICK) with one class ( an online sociology class) and one Librarian– me… • (CLICK) I started our embedded librarian service as a pilot project. • The instructor I worked with was a friend from way back in undergrad. She let her classes be an
experiment. And I felt very comfortable in working with her and because she was a friend--we could try things that may or may not work…
• Two years later-- It is now a standard service, (CLICK) we are currently in 35 online sections. Serving Approximately 1400 students
• It has been interesting to note that a lot of our requests for embedded librarian instruction are coming from classes we don’t normally see in the in-person library sessions.(CLICK) They Range from Communication, English, Business, to Culinary classes. (CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE)
Notes for previous slide• I am not sure why we get more varied classes for our online library
instruction than our in-person--- my best guess is that there is a little more variety of classes in general for the online offerings. For example, many fire protection classes are offered online. If you want to move up in the ranks in fire departments you need certain classes and certifications- so there is a fire management class offered entirely online- and they write a paper so they really did need librarian help --- with citations, and source gathering…
• I also think that it offers some instructors an alternative to in-person library sessions- some instructors don’t want to give up in-person class time for library sessions. So some of the classes we are embedded in– are what we call an “enhanced” classes. They meet in-person but use Bb to supply a lot of class content and discussion– so these classes have begun to have us be involved.
Best Practices and Lessons Learned
Online request form
Take it out or they will keep it
Treat it like its yours
Personalize
Communicate
Your Librarian
Notes for previous slide• How it works at CPCC is: We are added to a Bb course- or Moodle- as a course Builder- sometimes as a TA
if an instructor wants that- • Once we are added we create a button that says “your librarian” (CLICK) – it is important to have your own
real estate. In the online course…
• (CLICK) We Have an online request form for faculty to request an embedded Librarian –the requests all come to me and I can “assign” a librarian if necessary- though most of the time an instructor requests a specific librarian. This allows me to coordinate who is the librarian for what class- making sure not one librarian has too many classes… also great way to keep our stats.
• We now use Libguides exclusively to deliver the content for our online embedded librarian service- initially we created a button in Blackboard and put information on that page like links to databases and tutorials but now with Libguides, we still have the Your Librarian button- but this button now links students directly to the libguide we’ve created for the course.
• (CLICK) We take the Your Librarian button out at the end of each semester- otherwise faculty will reuse the content without actually having an embedded librarian----Now that we use libguides exclusively to deliver content- I unpublish everyone’s course specific libguides at the end of each semester: That way an instructor has to ask us to re-publish them- and it gives us an opportunity to make sure they are current and still fit the course
Cont’d• (CLICK) I ask that each librarian that is embedded in a course have an actual picture of themselves in their
libguide. Having a pic of the actual librarian so much nicer and personal– not everyone adheres to this but most do… We are going for a “your Librarian” kind of thing here.. When students can know who there person is they feel a little more connected. Which is super important for online classes.
• (CLICK) I ask that librarians treat it as a course they are taking, and mark assignment due dates down on their calendars this way you can plan for the email onslaught on a weekend… or can send timely announcement reminders.
• Sending announcements when an assignment is near is a very customized way we have delivered this embedded librarian service- I can see that an assignment is due in a week and a half– so I will send out an announcement saying something to the effect of hey, such and such assignment is due- make sure to take a look at the Your Librarian button and if you need any help – I am happy to assist”
• (CLICK) We try and Set up the communication expectations in our introductory information section of the Your Librarian button. When you will respond to emails- on weekends? 24-hour turnaround? Phone number? Can they call? We also direct students to the 24/7 chat reference.
• We have found that it is best to not use the discussion boards for library questions- this would require the librarian to monitor the discussion posts daily-
MacroMicro
Notes for previous slide
• I had to do some weighing of what we wanted in our embedded librarian service--- weigh the micro level with the macro level. (CLICK) Do we offer the uber personalized involvement? (CLICK) Or look toward creating something that is scalable? (CLICK) How can we be in all online courses and still give ‘customized’ service??(CLICK)
• I was very idealistic- at the beginning- and felt like we had to give the super personalized service to each class that we were in– but now am ‘greedy’ and want to just be in all. ;-)
• But honestly I think you can maintain some of the aspects of the more personalized embedded service and yet still be in many classes without running yourself ragged.
Notes for previous slide• One example of this that I am very excited about is something we started this
semester. This library tutorial is an online tutorial that I made using Articulate- it has no sound-- it is a click and read tutorial. The tutorial addresses specific learning outcomes that the COM faculty working with us identified as necessary for their students to know about the library and the research process.
• Link to the tutorial: http://people.cpcc.edu/~bjr9106e/comtutorial/player.html
• Briefly click through the tutorial.
• This tutorial is now in EVERY communication course- both online and in-person. That is 54 classes! And while individual librarians are not embedded in every Communication course at CPCC- every CPCC student enrolled in a COM class goes through this tutorial and takes a quiz (for a grade) (CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE)
While it sounds like all is sunshine and roses--- (CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE)
Notes for previous slide• there have been some bumps in the road…
• Black board is not required for all COM instructors to use--- so there has been some confusion for students on how to get the tutorial– though the COM co-chairs did add a link to the tutorial on the COM website.
• We were initially told that the COM library tutorial would be required- but when we went to the COM faculty meeting to announce the tutorial– it sounded a little more voluntary than we would have liked…
• Getting the tutorial and the quiz into every Bb section of Communications was done manually- by our eLearning department – this is not a library department but rather a college wide department that assists faculty with online learning issues. Thankfully they are awesome and we have a good relationship with them. – well we did until they had to copy this info 54 times … ;-)
• And speaking of relationships– our head of library instruction has been working for three semesters! to revise a library assignment that COM had been doing in some form for 17 years…. The tutorial you saw was part of our “negotiations” with them.
• It is a large FT and PT faculty and to get everyone on board is like herding cats to be sure- but thankfully the COM co-chairs and really the faculty themselves are library advocates and were willing to work to create a process that worked for everyone. (CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE)
What’s Next!Library tutorials for all English courses
A Your Librarian button in ALL courses
In-person and online
Notes for Previous slide• Next up is creation of a tutorial- for all of our ENG courses—(CLICK) we are planning to make it modular
and will use libguides to deliver the content. The libguides format with the tabs– works well to divide content into separate “chapters” – we will use the COM process as a guide for how we will put the tutorials into all of the ENG courses.
• We also have a group of 6 liaisons from the ENG department who meet periodically with me and the head of library instruction to advise us as well as pass information back to the ENG faculty. We will be looking to them to get all of the ENG faculty on board with the idea that this tutorial will be in all classes and required. A “requirement” coming from fellow faculty rather than Librarians carries a lot more weight…
• In the future we will have a Your Librarian button (CLICK) in every course that utilizes BlackBoard ---Our online services librarian and I will be working with eLearning to use an automated code (attached to that your librarian button) it will search the libguides and will point to the correct libguide for the class. Without us having to “embed a librarian” in the course -------- every libguide we have however is “assigned” to a librarian so they will be the librarian and research contact for the course- we will just not be offering the announcements etc– and librarians will not be able to see the assignments for the course- like we can now– unless of course they are enrolled in the class by instructor request. But that is one of those trade offs you have in the macro versus micro decisions.
• We are also now piloting offering an embedded librarian for in-person sections. Meaning we will be in the Bb course as course builder but also will meet often with the class in-person for short sessions
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