This document summarizes Amanda Pape's experience as an embedded librarian at Tarleton State University. It discusses how she began working with Blackboard in 2008 by teaching children's literature courses. In 2010, she fully embedded herself in Blackboard and found that adding library resources and conducting demonstrations were effective for getting faculty onboard. The document also outlines features of Blackboard that Pape likes, such as adding content and embedding multimedia, and features she dislikes such as unreliable statistics and reports. It concludes by noting that student feedback on embedded librarianship has been positive but that interactions through Blackboard have been infrequent.

1. My Embedded World …or…
How I Got Started
As a Librarian
In Blackboard
Amanda Pape
Tarleton State University
“Embedded Librarianship:
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”
Panel presentation at
Texas Library Association Conference
Fort Worth – April 27, 2013

2. Spring 2008 – Children’s Literature
Summer 2009 – teach the course

3. “Moving the Front Lines Online:
Embedding Reference Librarians in Online
Classes” – April Aultman Becker
August 2010:

4. My History in Blackboard

5. Getting Faculty On Board
Demonstrations Word of Mouth
References
Make It Easy

6. What I LIKE about Blackboard Learn 9.1 SP 10:
Easy to Add
Content Area
Embed
Eye-catching
Mashups

7. Put
Powerpoints
in Slideshare
www.slideshare.com

8. Slideshare
good for
step-by-step
instructions
Include the Powerpoint
as an attachment.

9. Upload
screencasts
to
YouTube

10. Sometimes
a YouTube
video
meets an
immediate
learning
need

11. Illustrate
your content
with Flickr
mashups

12. Use Flickr
photos to
highlight
library
events or
displays
that tie
into
curriculum

13. What I HATE about Blackboard Learn 9.1 SP 10
Statistics
are broken
Reports
not
reliable

14. Informal Student Survey
What statistics I could pull from Blackboard this term indicate -
of the students in this course accessed Library Resources content.88%

15. Not useful --------------------------------------Very useful
“I used it a lot this semester and
it saved me time, and helped when I was working on things when the library was closed. “

16. Informal Survey of Tarleton Librarians
Assuming those who did not respond do not have a Blackboard log-in.

17. For those embedded: they are in 3 to 6 sections of 1 to 5 courses.

18. Library-specific discussion forum (read/posted) 1 14%
Read other course discussion forums 1 14%
Posted in other discussion forums 0 0%
Sent Blackboard e-mails/messages 1 14%
Replied to Blackboard e-mails/messages 2 29%
Announcements (you posted some) 1 14%
Added to library-specific content area 2 29%
Other 0 0%
None of these 1 14%
Blackboard features used by other Tarleton embedded librarians

19. Comments:
“Great link to the online students who might
otherwise feel like they have no library
support.”
“appreciate the help and seem to benefit
from it.” but “they use the embedded
librarian feature very infrequently.”
Students in blended classes “are more
inclined to call, email, or come to library to
find me than they are to post their
questions to Blackboard. Perhaps, if I get
more proactive about posting relevant tips
and materials, the students will take
advantage of having access to librarian help
via Blackboard. Still, they may not want to
expose their questions to their classmates
and/or teacher and will continue to not
interact with me via Blackboard. Not sure at
this point. “
Time will tell.

20. The Big
Issue:

21. The
End

22. Image Credits
• Slide 1: Embedded world / Andrea / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/spettacolopuro/3951480940/ / http://www.flickr.com/photos/spettacolopuro/ / http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/
)
• Slide 5: Surfer named "Kody" balances on board, Morro
Rock, Morro Bay, CA / Mike Baird / CC BY 2.0(http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikebaird/4414594439/ / http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikebaird/ / http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 )
• Slide 13: broken promise / clang boom steam / CC BY-NC-
SA 2.0 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/clangboomsteam/3725102290/ )/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/clangboomsteam/ / (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/ )
• Slide 19: Hourglass / Jamie / CC BY 2.0 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamiesrabbits/5640739307/ /
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamiesrabbits/ / http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ )
• Slide 20: Time / Thomas Hawk / CC BY-NC 2.0(http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/4440874971/ / http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/ / http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/ )
• Slide 21: The Passage of Time / Toni Verdú Carbó / CC BY-
NC-ND 2.0 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonivc/2283676770/ / http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonivc/ /
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/ )

23. Amanda Pape
Coordinator for Archives and Special Services
Dick Smith Library
Tarleton State University
Box T-0450
Stephenville, TX 76402
254-968-9251
Twitter: @AmandaPapeMSLS
pape@tarleton.edu
http://bit.ly/SpecialServices