In addition to traditional in-person instruction, over the past couple of semesters we have piloted embedding librarians into blackboard sections of courses. It has worked really well and we are now opening this opportunity up to all interested faculty. This is a particularly good idea for online courses who do not have the option to have an in-person session but can also work in a seated class either in addition to, or instead of an in-person instruction session. The graphic to the left shows some benefits of having a Blackboard Embedded Librarian.
There are different levels of “embeddedness,” but generally this would mean that a librarian is a member of an online course, so that they can see the materials the students are working with. Typically, the librarians can also add resources, links and learning objects, create discussion boards, and be directly contacted through the course platform. This allows students access to the library resources AND personal contact with a librarian, right through the single point of contact in their blackboard course. It is up to the instructor and the librarian to decide exactly what level of involvement the librarian would have. A librarian would never have any access to grades, and the professor remains in control of all instructional content and assignments, outside of the librarian area.
