The history and case studies of embedded librarianship in academic and special libraries have been well-documented in journal articles and books in the last decade. Librarians are often formally embedded in clinical medical libraries, among professionals in a specific workplace, in an academic department, and, to varying degrees, in core academic courses in which they support content area standards as well as instructional literacy learning targets.⁶ In these environments, the technology used to embed librarians has primarily been virtual reference and course management systems (CMS) like Blackboard and Moodle. In these virtual learning environments, the librarian primarily provides instructional resources; answers questions via chat, discussion boards, or e-mail; and offers links and information on library resources. In many cases, librarians also use social bookmarking to provide links and give citation assistance. More recently, embedded librarians are becoming essential members of research teams in academic institutions.⁷

This report focuses on ways librarians are utilizing free or low-cost social media and cloud computing applications to not only provide services and resources to patrons but to also cultivate learning experiences that spark and sustain conversations that will prove transformative for both the librarians and their learning partners. The technologies mentioned in this report are merely media for the core of embedded librarianship: transactional learning experiences in context and the librarian becoming an essential node⁸ in the personal learning environments of nonlibrarians. The technologies used by librarians to embed themselves in a learning community are most effective when librarians can see how “SICTs (social, information, and communication technologies) . . . are effectively built on personal and experiential knowledge and best translated into thoughtful targets during instructional design. Understanding the competencies of your audience, the resources available in your environment, and your own comfort zones as an instructor allows you to more seamlessly integrate pedagogy and technology. Developing actionable knowledge of instructional affordances enables you to recognize the potential of a specific tool or approach to ‘fit’ a teaching moment.”⁹ In other words, pedagogy and learning targets drive the use and integration of technology to support those experiences.

In his blog post “Beyond Mindless Progressivism,” Gee describes learning ecosystems that embody “post-progressive pedagogy” and a particular thread of this pedagogy he calls “situated learning.” In the case studies in this report, readers will see glimpses of these particular characteristics of Gee’s vision of situated learning:

1. Multiple routes to full and central participation for all members of a group . . . organized around an interest and a passion to which the interest might lead.
2. Multiple routes to everyone learning to produce the knowledge, dispositions, skills, and tools necessary to sustain, extend, and transform the interest and the passion.
3. Interest kindles motivation and the desire to explore. The interest must then be channeled into a passion so that learners persist towards mastery via a great many hours of practice. Otherwise learners need to find another interest that will lead to a passion. . . .
4. Feedback is copious. . . . [Plentiful data through multiple media] across time is collected and used to [empower] learners, assess their growth and development over time, and assess, compare, and contrast (for both learners and stakeholders) different possible trajectories to mastery, including ones that lead to innovation and creativity. . . .
5. All learners must be able to pool their [area of expertise] with other people’s different specialties and integrate their [expertise] with other people’s specialties by seeing the “big picture” to solve problems that no one specialty can solve. [In other words, the crowdsourcing of knowledge and problem solving is vital.]
6. All learners are well mentored by “teachers” and peers at various levels, as well as by the presence of smart tools and well-designed problem solving environments (both real and virtual). All learners must learn to mentor.
7. “Teachers” are designers of learning environments that meet all the above conditions and they resource people’s learning in an adaptive and [authentically] responsive way [in the context of real information-seeking needs].
8. Direct instruction and texts are offered “just in time” (when learners can put them to use and see what they really mean) or “on demand” (when learners feel a need for large amounts of instruction or text in their [journey] of problem solving). . . .
9. Learners . . . [utilize] the relationships and connections among different types of skills and knowledge . . . [through multiple resources (human and nonhuman) and develop a better and more nuanced understanding of] the larger social, environmental, and cultural implications of any proposed solution to a problem.¹⁰

The model of embedded librarianship is a timely and relevant vehicle for librarians to embody and foster this kind of learning environment through their partnerships with other stakeholders in their learning communities. Embedded librarians are uniquely positioned to emphasize people and learning as the essential core of libraries through their work as partners for learning and through positioning passion as the spark for conversations for learning and establishing new communities of learners.

Through this report’s case studies, we’ll explore how librarians are using resources—both human and nonhuman—in nontraditional ways and delve into strategies for scaling out traditional best practices through cloud computing and social media. The diversity of the four embedded librarians in this report—a retired school librarian, an elementary school librarian, an academic librarian, and a high school librarian—reflects how flexible and adaptable these teaching technologies are for any learning situation or need. These case studies also demonstrate how embedded librarians can use these teaching technologies to connect with learners of any age, whether young children, teens, young adults, or parents.

These case studies will exemplify unusual and easy-to-replicate methods for positioning the librarian as a linchpin in a variety of contexts. As librarians seek ways to elevate their relevance in their communities in economically challenged times, embedded librarianship is full of possibilities for sharing our skills and knowledge with others in ways that are scalable to any library environment. We hope that this report will energize and inspire your work as practitioner and inform your vision of the possibilities of how learning communities can constructively create the text and narrative known as “library.”