Two beliefs form the foundation of this book.
The first is nothing new: Librarianship is changing, and must change. I don’t know anyone in the profession who doesn’t believe this. The way society handles recorded information is undergoing the greatest change in centuries (since Gutenberg, in Western society), and we’re likely to continue to experience accelerating change for the foreseeable future. The mutually reinforcing revolutions in our tools and our social structures have fundamental implications for the profession of librarianship that we are in the midst of working through.
The second is not so widely discussed nor accepted: Librarians in all sectors of the profession must change in fundamentally similar ways. In the course of studying embedded librarianship and doing research for this book, I’ve been struck that the profession of librarianship is very disconnected and stovepiped. We don’t talk to one another much, and we don’t seem to recognize that we stand on common ground—and need to travel, together, in the same direction. Many in the American Library Association talk as if library was synonymous with public library; they don’t seem to recognize that librarians work in other sectors, even outside traditional library structures and organizations, and especially in the private sector. Medical librarians have done amazing work, but it’s all written up in the medical library journals, and if you’re not a medical librarian reading those journals, you probably haven’t read about it. School media specialists are fighting a desperate battle to change the image of school librarianship and get educators to recognize its importance, but like the medical librarians, they’re isolated from other segments of the profession. Meanwhile, some members of the Special Libraries Association are so alienated from librarianship, which they perceive as being stuck in both the stereotypes and the habits of the past, that they’ve tried to take any reference to libraries or librarians out of the association’s name.
Certainly, there are important differences among the sectors. However, the premise of this book is that the natures of the changes that are taking place—and must take place—are similar. We librarians must master new technologies for managing and delivering information. We must engage with knowledge and recognize the difference between information and knowledge. We must develop new organizational structures and new management techniques. Above all, we must establish new relationships with information users—the people in our communities, universities, schools, corporations, agencies, and firms who need us. These imperatives are operating in every sector of the profession.
This book focuses on those new relationships. It surveys and analyzes the fundamental redefinition of the relationship between librarians and the communities in which they work. The name given to this change is embedded librarianship. Part 1 of this book presents the what and the why, while Part 2 addresses the how to.
Part 1 focuses on the nature and status of embedded librarianship. Chapter 1 defines it and provides some examples of the ways it is changing the role of the librarian in different settings. Chapter 2 relates the growth of embedded librarianship to larger social and economic trends and offers an explanation of its advantages. Chapters 3 through 6 survey its development in higher education, health sciences, specialized organizations such as corporations and government agencies, and schools and public libraries.
Part 2 shifts the focus to practices of successful embedded librarians—practices for preparing, initiating, sustaining, and evaluating embedded librarianship. Drawing on the available research findings, it presents a series of exercises from workshops that I have given on three continents (North America, Australia and Oceania, and Africa). The objective is to provide tools that any librarian can adapt and apply to local circumstances. Chapter 7 offers a self-assessment methodology that can help a librarian explore whether conditions are favorable for initiating or expanding embedded librarianship. Chapter 8 continues the process to the steps for introducing embedded librarianship. Chapter 9 discusses the challenges of sustaining it for the long term, and Chapter 10 specifically discusses methods for evaluating embedded librarianship, demonstrating its value (or making corrections as needed!) and communicating the results to the appropriate stakeholders.
The primary audience for the book is anyone who considers herself or himself a librarian. Regardless of the sector you work in, regardless of whether you are in school or have been in the profession for 30 years, I hope you’ll find something of value in these pages. You may already be an embedded librarian, or the concept may be brand new to you. Whether your title is reference librarian, library media specialist, information analyst, or any of the dozens of other job titles that librarians use—if librarianship is part of you and you want to develop your professional role—then I hope this book will give you a new idea, point the way forward, and help you develop your knowledge, sharpen your techniques, and advance your career.
And when you’ve finished the book, I invite you to join the conversation. If you’re persuaded that this is an important topic, if you have questions or comments, if you’d like to share your own experiences or just keep up with what others are doing and saying, then come visit my blog at www.embeddedlibrarian.com. I look forward to seeing you there!