Embedded Librarian: Information for Faculty

What is Embedded Librarianship?

• Library presence in a virtual learning space: The librarian can be added as a "Teacher," "TA," "Designer" or other role, directly in your Canvas shell!
• Micro to macro levels of involvement: The librarian can create a custom resource guide for your research assignment to embedded in Canvas, or be available to answer student questions in Canvas, or you can request detailed tutorials, videos, discussion board moderation, and more!
• Customized content: The librarian works with you to determine the best possible collections and resources to share with students, or creates brand new content based on your needs!
• Working relationships: This is a great way to learn more about the library and how we can help each other!

An Embedded Online librarian is recommended primarily for classes that:

• Are Online, Hybrid, or In-Person classes that heavily utilize Canvas
• Require at least one research paper or project
• Require sources for the paper/project beyond the textbook
• Emphasize writing, spoken debate, or information literacy skills
• 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

How it Works

1. Meet with the librarian (in person or online) to establish shared goals and learning outcomes. Confirm what level of involvement is requested, as well as the following:
   • Will the librarian be required, extra credit, or optional?
   • For which assignment(s) will the students use a librarian? (Sending an assignment description early is helpful!)
   • Any special requirements for students to get credit? Ex: Contact librarian 3 times, follow a rubric during the librarian interaction, come out of the interaction with a research topic/thesis statement, etc.
   • What additional librarian-created content (if any) is requested?
   • Is this course completely online, hybrid, or in-person but uses Canvas?
   • How many of this instructor’s sections will the librarian be embedded in?
   • What are the course numbers and section numbers?
   • When is the deadline for students to work with the librarian in order to get credit?
   • Who will contact the Office of eLearning so the librarian can be added to the course shell and in what role?
2. Review any library content created in advance (such as guides, tutorials, videos, and discussion boards) to ensure it works for your class.
3. Let your students know about the librarian (such as through announcements or Canvas messenger, or let the librarian know when you would like them to introduce themselves to students through announcements or Canvas messenger). It is important for students to know what the librarian can and can't do. For example: a librarian might help students learn how to find sources, but not fetch the sources for them. They might review citations for correct formatting, but won't be able to edit an entire paper for grammar/spelling/punctuation.
4. Remind students it's their responsibility to contact the librarian. The librarian does not contact each student individually to help them get credit. The librarian can, however, keep a list of the students who work with her or him and send that list to the instructor at the end of semester (or end of assignment deadline) so the instructor can award any credit to students who did the library work. Students can work with the librarian through Canvas messenger, email, online chat, or in-person and still receive credit. However, it is important to reach out to the librarian with as much notice as possible in order to receive a timely reply before assignment deadlines.
5. Meet with librarian (in person or online) after class ends to review what worked well and what didn’t, to discuss any changes you might make, and to confirm if you both want to do this again next semester.