title: Rethinking library service to distance education students: analyzing the embedded librarian model.
abstract: Since fall 2009, reference librarians at The George Washington University's Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library have been embedded in online classes through Blackboard within the School of Nursing and School of Medicine and Health Sciences. The authors sought to determine the types of questions asked of the librarian, with the goal of informing future interactions with distance education classes to help develop a standard "protocol" for working with this population of students. Eighty-two questions were categorized and qualitatively analyzed. The findings have prompted librarians to explore tools such as Elluminate Live!, a tool that allows librarians to provide synchronous instruction within the Blackboard environment.
authors.affiliation: Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library, The George Washington University, 2300 Eye Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA. mlbejs@gwumc.edu
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sullo
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Harrod
authors.forename: Gisela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Butera
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gomes
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D004219:District of Columbia; D020375:Education, Distance; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D016245:Librarians; D007993:Libraries, Medical; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D012579:Schools, Nursing; D013338:Students, Nursing