I am sitting at the first session entitle the Embedded Librarian - hoping to learn new and great things. The speaker is Brian Vetruba, Catalog librarian from Washington University in St. Louis. Right now technical difficulties with the presentation.
Presentation started - via webcast
Started in 2006 holding "office hours" - Official office hours at Main Library underutilized office located off-campus. Departmental lectures and social events became "office hours"
Becoming Embedded
-Regular office hours in convenient setting
-Problem was finding space and computer could use
-2 to 2.5 hours a week in the Dept.
Advertise and Be Visible
-Email, newsletter, signs
-Don't stay put in your office
-Strategically walk the halls
-Strike up conversations with faculty and students
Informal conversations can be productive
Results--Personal touch back into librarianship
***My thoughts is that this is a great idea when you are at a large university, you really need to have that interaction with the faculty and students to find their needs. I was hoping for more information on how to do this virtually which he has not discussed.***
Benefits
-Convenience
-being seen will prompt questions
-good pr for library
-market other services
-collegiality with faculty
Drawbacks/Challenges
-commitment of time
-no print resources available
-space at dept.'s whim
***I'm still thinking that there is a better way to do outreach to other dept.'s and students. In our world of the social web, it would be better to hold virtual office hours. I understand wanting to be "seen" but why not "go" where the students are...Facebook, MySpace, chat, etc. Just saying.***
Suggestions
-have relationship established with dept. beforehand
-walk the halls, meet people
***Presenter is good, but the presentation was not really what I expected. In other words there was good information, but really nothing pertained to what I would be doing in my job.***
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