Wednesday, June 19, 2013

#blogjune Post 20 - Embedded Librarianship in Public Libraries

This morning I read this post - Embedded Librarianship - Not as Painful as it Sounds by @GeocachingLibn.

While the post refers more to Embedded Librarianship in academic libraries - which seems to be discussed a lot - what about Embedded Librarianship in public libraries.

The Embedded Librarian recently posted about Embedded Librarianship across all sectors, including public libraries - The Embedded Model, the Future of Librarianship and What to Do at Work Tomorrow!

In their post, they explained how they see Embedded Librarianship as being part of a team with an Embedded Librarian being one whom:
  • develops strong working relationships with members of a team or community;
  • achieves mutual understanding with the team, which means that the librarian understands the team's goals and operations, and the team understands the librarian's role and value;
  • shares responsibility for achieving the team's goals;
  • and makes customised, highly-valued contributions to the team;
And, in short is a member of the team like any other, just with a unique set of skills - the information and knowledge expert on the team.

I believe a librarian working in a public library can be an Embedded Librarian.

Think for a minute about the Council you work for.  How can you become an Embedded Librarian within that Council?  What can you offer the Council team(s)?  How can you project your unique set of skills to the Council team(s)?

I think if more public librarians did this for their Council's then our profession would receive greater recognition rather than being the service to the community that has no economic value.  Just note that I know there is research that shows our economic value but not all Council staff/community members believe that, especially when that economic value isn't visable in the Council budget.

However, the Embedded Librarian also notes that there are differences between Embedded Librarianship and Traditional Librarianship:
  1. Embedded Librarianship focuses on relationships not transactions;
  2. The embedded model requires the librarian to specialise, not try to be all things to all people;
  3. The Embedded Librarian is out of the library and fully engaged with other employees and groups of the enterprise;
  4. Embedded Librarians aren't just service providers;
  5. Traditional Librarianship has become a commodity.  Embedded Librarianship finds new value in new roles.
So based on this brief overview, can Embedded Librarianship work in public libraries?

I think it can to a certain extent, depending on the size of the library and number of resources available.  I think public librarians have to focus on what they can offer to their Council team(s), but also focus on what they can offer to other community organisations and move out from the library.  I think this is more than outreach services.

What do you think?  I'm certainly going to ponder this a bit more and may even post about it again, once I gather more thoughts together.  But I'd love to hear other's thoughts on this topic.

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