Faculty Services: Embedded Librarian

Embedded librarians at CCBC

Embedded librarianship is a term used widely across higher education to indicate a sustained, multi-modal partnership between a classroom faculty member and a librarian to better integrate research and information literacy concepts and activities into an identified course section, as well as to work through a portion or entire semester with the same cohort of students. This is possible for all classes at CCBC and occurs at the discretion of the instructor or department coordinator.

Embedding often includes formal permission to work within a course section’s Brightspace and may extend to in-person instruction and consultation. A librarian will be assigned to the course by the Libraries’ Coordinator of Instruction and Online Learning/OER Librarian, based on department liaison responsibilities and/or availability, and the section instructor may coordinate with CCBC Instructional Design to formally allow the assigned librarian, often through a help desk ticket. The section instructor defines the terms of how extensively a librarian is embedded.

Recommended for courses that:

· Are online, hybrid, or in-person classes that actively use Brightspace

· Require at least one research paper or project

· Require sources for the paper/project beyond the textbook

· Emphasize writing, spoken, or signed communication or information literacy skills

· Are instructed by faculty who are comfortable letting a library faculty member into the course to send announcements, post videos, etc. (always with instructor consent)

· Require working with a librarian (for points or extra credit) or working with a librarian is encouraged and emphasized by the instructor

Bespoke Levels of Embeddedness

Level I: Select 3 activities from below

Level II: Select 4 (or request duplicate of activities, e.g. 2 discussion boards) from below

Level III: Select 5 (or request duplicates) from below

Examples of instructional activities that qualify as embedded when combined in conjunction with others when completed for a single section of a course:

· Post to Announcements (3 posts throughout semester, for example)

· Attend / contribute to synchronous class

· Present information literacy skills via video sessions (collaborate/recorded), discussions/activities, and online tutorials

· Participate in discussion board

· Respond to student emails as dedicated library contact

· Creating a research guide targeted to your course's research assignment

· Suggest and integrate library resources into Brightspace, including LibraryLearn modules

· Design pre- and post-tests to assess students' research skills

· Design grade-bearing assignment or assessment related to information literacy

· Collaborate on grade-bearing assignment or assessment related to information literacy

· Select readings or other content and post in Brightspace

· Provide detailed feedback for students on research-based assignment

· Provide grades for relevant portions of a research-based assignment

· Offer individual appointments (RAPs), including confirmation of attendance (potentially for points or extra credit)

· Alert students to the latest books or articles relevant to their research topics (via email or the Brightspace Announcements, for sustained semester-long topics only)