Activities and Experiences of Academic Librarians Embedded in Online Courses
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The document outlines a study on the activities and experiences of academic librarians embedded in online courses, detailing common practices, promotion methods, and various institutional experiences. The findings highlight the prevalence of the term 'embedded librarian' and reveal best practices such as involving other librarians, creating library modules, and proactively communicating with faculty. The study calls for further research into the purpose, efficacy, and motivations behind the embedded librarian role in online education.
Activities and Experiences of Academic Librarians Embedded in Online Courses
- 1. ACTIVITIES & EXPERIENCES OF ACADEMIC LIBRARIANS EMBEDDED IN ONLINE COURSES Starr Hoffman, May 25 – 28, 2010 QQML 2010 Chania, Crete, Greece
- 2. Purpose Study academic librarians embedded in online courses. determine common practices activities promotion methods assess various experiences time management number of people involved common vs. un-common experiences
- 3. Definitions embedded librarian a librarian that participates in a particular online course by logging into the course management system (CMS) blended course a course that holds key portions online and face-to-face; sometimes called a “hybrid course” course with an online component a course that is held face-to-face, but where key resources or extra content is presented online (for instance, a course webpage linked to optional readings) CMS (or LMS) Course Management System (or Learning Management System): software application designed for delivering online courses; Blackboard is a common example
- 4. Methodology six participants (academic librarians) several different institutional types geographically dispersed gathered information in several ways: email discussions observation of participants’ library websites online survey phone interviews
- 5. Institution 1 public 22,516 FTE students Carnegie Class: Master’s Colleges & Universities Tennessee began in 2004 35 sections per semester (primary librarian; others have 2 or 3) email faculty 6 librarians; 1 is designated “Embedded Librarian” not time-consuming (except beginning of semester)
- 6. Institution 2 public 50,275 FTE students Carnegie Class: Doctorate-Granting Universities Florida began around 2006 5 or fewer sections per semester faculty hear by word-of-mouth 6 librarians at 4 campuses very time-consuming
- 7. Institution 3 public 8,768 FTE students Carnegie Class: Associate’s Colleges Arkansas began in Summer 2006 11 fully online; 7 blended sections / semester email faculty primarily 1 librarian not very time-consuming (only at certain times)
- 8. Institution 4 private 16,494 FTE students Carnegie Class: Master’s Colleges & Universities New York began in Spring 2008 module automatically open to every online class no longer promote to faculty 1 librarian, 1 library technologist not very time-consuming
- 9. Institution 5 public 3,812 FTE students Carnegie Class: Associate’s Colleges Arizona began in Spring 2007 27-37 sections per semester email faculty 2 librarians very busy
- 10. Institution 6 private, for-profit 22,316 FTE students Carnegie Class: Doctorate-Granting Universities Minnesota began in Fall 2007 tried three different models 8 sections per semester (quarterly semesters) automatically included as a module in each course 1 librarian not too busy (courses & assignments are staggered)
- 11. Email Activities of Embedded Librarians inside CMS inside CMS outside CMS outside CMS passive intro active passive intro active email message email email message email Inst. 1 X X X X Inst. 2 X X X X Inst. 3 X X X X Inst. 4 X X X X X X Inst. 5 X X X X Inst. 6
- 12. Use of Discussion Boards general assignment- library-specific discussion board related discussion discussion board board Inst. 1 X X X Inst. 2 X X X Inst. 3 X Inst. 4 X X Inst. 5 X X Inst. 6 X X
- 13. Other Activities phone library library posted link to link to link to link to link to reference instructio instructio FAQ library tutorials library subject other n n (F2F) catalog databases guides library (online) resources Inst. X X X X X X X X 1 Inst. X X X X X X X X 2 Inst. X X X X X X 3 Inst. X X X X X X X X X 4 Inst. X X X X X X 5 Inst. X X X X X X 6
- 14. Activities, by Frequency often occasionally institution 1 institution 2 never institution 3 institution 4 institution 5 institution 6 email activities discussion board posts
- 15. Subject Areas for Courses with Embedded Librarians institution 1 institution 2 institution 3 institution 4 institution 5 institution 6
- 16. Level of Students in Courses with Embedded Librarians institution 1 institution 2 institution 3 institution 4 institution 5 institution 6
- 17. Types of Questions Received from Online Students institution 1 institution 2 institution 3 institution 4 institution 5 institution 6
- 18. CMS Platforms institution 1 institution 2 institution 3 institution 4 institution 5 institution 6
- 19. Online Education Experiences of Embedded Librarians
- 20. Discussion: Findings General Findings: prevalence of term “embedded librarian” difficulty defining embedded librarian role Surprising Finds: prevalence of proactive email time wasn’t an issue for most
- 21. Discussion: Best Practices Best Practices: involve other librarians create library module (or “course”) email online faculty about service define embedded librarian’s role post in a single, library-specific discussion board monitor discussion board (RSS) save email/discussion board posts check courses at set times plot assignment deadlines proactively post information at point-of-need
- 22. Directions for Future Research purpose why were these services created? what are they designed to do best? efficacy do they perform that purpose effectively? is there a discernable difference for students? motivation why do librarians decide to offer this service? expectations vs. realities after the experience, did the purpose change? was the service continued or abandoned?
- 23. Any Questions? Starr Hoffman, MLS, MA Librarian for Digital Collections Government Documents Department UNT Libraries PhD student, Higher Education, UNT starr.hoffman@unt.edu find my presentations & CV here: http://geekyartistlibrarian.wordpress.com
Editor's Notes
- #2: This benchmarking project used both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore similarities and differences among embedded librarian activities at six different U.S. institutions. A series of interviews, document reviews, and surveys were used to gather information about librarian experiences working with online courses. This topic becomes increasingly relevant as more distance education programs develop. The study results reveal much about the development of online information literacy, collaborative relationships between librarians and faculty, and the changing role of the academic library in an online environment.
- #3: To assess common practices Activities: things that the librarians did in the context of the course, inside and outside the course software Methods of promotion: how were faculty made aware of this service? To assess various experiences was time a problem? were they too busy to fulfill other duties? Common vs. un-common experiences: …?
- #5: six participants (academic librarians) how I identified participants… read about service on MTSU website; also read article by the librarian read article by UCF librarian MTSU suggested RIT Pulaski, Central AZ, and Capella all answered a post to ILI-L requesting additional participants (list serv for instructional librarians) included many institutional types: research university, community college, for-profit institution, etc. geographically dispersed gathered information in several ways: email discussions observation of participants’ library websites online survey phone interviews
- #19: TIME MANAGEMENT VIEWS SUMMARIZE PURPOSES CMS PLATFORMS
- #23: Any common purposes: what were the reasons for becoming an embedded librarian? Were they institutional or personal? Expectations vs. realities: after the experience, did the purpose change? Did the service continue or become abandoned?