Find Your Niche: Preparing for New Areas in Librarianship Special Libraries Association, 2016 Annual Conference, Philadelphia Tuesday June 14, :30am – 9:30am Presented by Hema Ramachandran, California State University-Long Beach Location, location, location! (or another word for “embeddedness”)

Engineering  Liaison to College of Engineering  Tenure-track position; got tenure in 2011  Main duties: Reference (includes consultations), Instruction, Collection Development  Shared Governance (serve on library and campus committees)  Scholarly and Professional activities  Some degree of autonomy serving constituencies

What prepared me for the job?  Previous positions: (Caltech, Northwestern) for subject knowledge; Pasadena City College (teaching)  Connections with former colleagues (helpful when you are the only librarian in your discipline)  National and regional associations (e.g. SLA, ASEE, CARL) to keep up with the field  Record of presenting papers and publishing (to seek tenure)  Interaction with international students (liaison to international students at CSULB)  Hitting the ground running with ideas and projects that worked on other campuses NEW  Working with library program committees

Biggest challenge  University Library is 20 minute walk from the College of Engineering  Challenges with parking  Meeting with students (especially graduate students) and faculty is problematic  Tipping point: Senior design students required to meet with librarian as part of their project completion.  Decided to ask for office space in engineering in 2014 T  The Library Dean decided to contact the Dean of Engineering Hema’s office near College of Engineering for 9 years (AKA “The Outpost” restaurant)

The project!  Started mid-April 2014 with my simple request  Dean of Engineering offered “Dudley Library” – occupied by student organizations  Logistical, fiscal, conceptual and philosophical challenges  Many parties involved: two facility managers, interior designers,  vendors. electricians and IT in addition to the two Deans.  Cost shared between by the two Deans.  Official launch January 2016  Reimagined Dudley Library with 6 computers and an  inner office for me to do office hours The Embedded Librarian!

Dudley Library Open House, January 28, 2016 Photo credits: Margo McCall, CSULB, College of Engineering

Adjusting to new work mode Blending ref. desk, office-hours and committee work New environment/feels like a new job Rejuvenated/new outlook/new workspace Saving files on virtual server makes it a snap to work from anywhere! Libguides – big help in showing current office hours Students and faculty adapted easily!

Literature review  Articles on being “embedded” in LMS and online courses  Articles on embedded librarians in community colleges (surprised)  Many articles on “Informationists” in health science (clinical teams/extreme embeddedness (not surprised)  Current buzzword!  Degrees of embeddedness

Is there a definition of embedded librarian(ship)?  I offer this one: ‘The Special Libraries Association (SLA) recently funded a study of embedded librarianship performed by David Shumaker and Mary Talley. Through interviews, they conclude embedded librarians can, but do not necessarily work, in the location of the faculties and users they serve. Librarians are often funded by those they serve. Embedded librarians actively engage in relationship-building activities, such as attending events and conferences from their users’ area of specialization, often ‘‘possess extensive knowledge of their customers’ work’’ (Shumaker & Talley, 2009, p. 34), and perform complex analysis as well as offer specific services on top of the common services expected from their nonembedded counterparts.” From: edded-librarian.pdf

What changed that perhaps gave rise to this phenomenon? My theory: With centralization, the personal day-to-day connection with our faculty and students in their place of work, has been lost Online/Remote access has made research easier but the personal face-to-face connections have been lost Connections/interactions, when they exist, are frequently via Embedded librarian concept may be an attempt to redress these trends? Isn’t being a corporate or branch librarian, by definition embedded?

How embedded am I? From day one: Included on COE faculty listserv Collaboration with faculty on designing library assignments Welcomed at faculty meetings, convocation, social gatherings etc. Included in LMS at various times (at the least Libguides are included) More recently: Initiated collaboration with office of sponsored programs (ORSP) to support faculty in grant opportunities Provided joint workshop with ORSP Attended NSF workshops Advising faculty on publishing, open access, etc. Missing piece was a physical presence in the College to facilitate ease of access!

Benefits and Future plans Benefits: Students and faculty drop in without appointment Increase in number of research questions (Quantifiable) Informal connections with faculty strengthened (Qualitative) Future: More promotion is needed to increase usage by students and faculty