Comfort Food for All: The Scalability of LMS-Embedded Librarianship

Embedded librarianship provides information literacy instruction right where students prefer to do course related research: online. The learning management system (LMS) provides an effective arena for librarians to collaborate with professors and reach students with library services alongside course content. How scalable, though, is this service so that it can meet the needs of all students? Presenters will share data from a 2011 international survey, material from the professional literature, and the experiences of LMS embedded librarians to help answer this question. Time will be spent discussing how to reorganize information literacy efforts and workflow within the library to address the scalability question head-on. Observant library administrators would do well to reallocate staff responsibilities to ensure LMS embedded librarianship becomes standard fare, as it reaches the many at their point of need. The presenters will address questions such as the following: Is it just too time-consuming to undertake? Is it meant for a select few classes? Which information literacy instruction methods can be incorporated to innovatively meet the needs of students? What time-saving tools can be employed to sustain the program long-term? Librarians must re-envision themselves as virtual information literacy instructors because that is where users prefer to slice and dice research assignments. Come learn tools, techniques, and staffing innovations to make LMS embedded librarianship sustainable on your campus

Embedding librarianship in learning management systems: a how-to-do-it manual for librarians

Information literacy instruction is best when it is integrated into actual research, and in higher education that means embedding librarianship into the learning management system (LMS). This new How-To-Do-It Manual is geared towards academic librarians already working with classes in an LMS as well as those considering how to begin a pilot. Tumbleson and Burke, who surveyed 280 librarians for information on related activities, also use their own first-hand experience implementing an embedded librarianship program at their university to offer guidance and encouragement