ARLIS/NA 43rd Annual Conference

Speakers:

Can Only Librarians Do Library Instruction? Collaborating with Art History Graduate Students to Teach Information Literacy — Katie Morrison, Arts Education and Regional Services Director, Tippecanoe Arts Federation
Alexander Watkins, Art & Architecture Librarian, University Libraries, University of Colorado Boulder

Embedded Faculty: Flipping the Concept of Embedded Librarianship to Create New Collaborations — Skye Lacerte, Modern Graphic History Library Curator, Special Collections, Washington University

Co-moderators:
Yuki Hibben, Assistant Head of Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University
Heather Koopmans, Head of Reference, Jen Library, Savannah College of Art and Design
 
Librarians have long been at the forefront of initiating new ways to generate interest in collections and services. However, our communities are growing, scholarly practices are diversifying, and expectations of the library are expanding. In this time of rapid change, even the most dynamic librarians cannot ‘do it all’ on their own.

This session will illustrate two examples of how librarians have invited and engaged faculty and students to take leading roles in providing library services. More than collaboration, librarians can identify, develop, and empower key partners outside of the library to teach information literacy sessions, plan outreach events, build collections, and serve as spokespersons. By developing such partnerships, community awareness and engagement are strengthened, student and faculty partners enrich their personal research practice, and libraries gain fresh insights about their constituents — with relatively minimal expense of librarian time.

Katie Morrison and Alexander Watkins will examine a “train the trainers” model of information literacy education in a World Art Studies course at the University of Colorado, where graduate instructors ran their own information literacy classes following sessions with an art subject librarian. Katie and Alexander will also report on mutual benefits for librarians, graduate instructors, and undergraduate students recorded in the final analysis.
 
The Modern Graphic History Library reversed the traditional idea of an embedded librarian by appointing a faculty member with special interest and subject expertise to an embedded ʺFaculty Directorʺ position. Skye Lacerte will discuss this new approach to embedded librarianship at Washington University and how it proved to be a powerful tactic. With the Faculty Director working closely with library staff and advocating for the library’s collections and programs, this novel approach benefitted both the faculty of WU and the library.