Success Factors

I got the April/May issue of Information Outlook which has a great article in it about success factors for embedded librarian programs. 

The piece talks about a larger and ongoing study called “Models of Embedded Librarianship” from Mary Talley & Dave Shumaker.  Talley admits that all library & information service programs have a hard time measuring success and believes that embedded programs have it somewhat worse because they are more complex.  I’d add that they are also more difficult because they are less overt.  Embedded librarians, by their nature, kind of blend in. 

Talley and Shumaker theorize there are five measures of success for a practice:

1. Growth in the number of info professionals providing the service…
2. Increasing demand for services…
3. Development and delivery of new services (over time)…
4. Longevity of the practice…
5. And self-reported success.

While I think the measures are all dead on, I question the practicality of measures 1 and 5 in the environment most embedded librarians find themselves in.  Even using the other success measures won’t necessarily allow staff to grow in a “do-more-with-less environment.”  And at least in my own organization, you can have as much self-reported success as you want, but it’s not going to influence the people with the purse strings unless it affects something they are interested in. 

Talley and Shumaker talk about the two aspects they found that made embedded librarians successful: relationship building and complexity of products.

While I knew that building and maintaining relationships was going to be a bigger part of this job, seeing it here was a good wake up call for me.  While I think I hide it well, I’m pretty introverted, so the relationship piece is hard for me.  I’m good at it, but it’s definitely the most psychologically draining aspect of the job.  Because of that I have to be mindful of not slacking on that aspect of the practice. 

The authors also state that a “complex, value added work product” is key to success.  The product has to be more than just providing ready reference and really moves more into analysis and information organization skills.  That started me thinking again about whether or not embedded librarians are just a glorified superpowered “analyst” or whether there is something special about us.  (See my post on Existential Crisis.)

While it’s a short article, it’s packed with info and you should really go take a look at it yourself.  You can find the article, entitled “Success and the Embedded Librarian” in the April/May (2011) issue of Information Outlook.  Or online here if you have an SLA membership.  And you can find slides from the presentation at SLA’s annual convention here.