After reading a colleague’s post at Library Attack I’m convinced that others feel the same way too. In fact, I’m willing to bet that any librarian who dosen’t work in a traditional environment will likely suffer from some form of existential dread. This probably varies in scope, of course, but there are several reasons to believe we’re a Kierkegaardian bunch.

First, as specified in my post on solo librarianship we don’t have co-workers who share our expertise. We’re the only librarian in the library! Without a group to confide in it’s difficult to vent workplace frustrations, explain complex technical problems to others, or seek professional validation. All of these situations can elicit feelings of detachment.

Second, embedded librarians usually blur the lines between job roles to the point that it can become disorienting. One instance was mentioned in another of my posts that patrons assume “because you can find something on a subject and talk about… then it you’re an authority.” Not true! Plus, embedded librarians can always become more interested in the applied side of things too. If you don’t do library work it’s hard to conceive of yourself as a librarian.

Last, technology is bypassing and shaking up traditional duties. Just because someone takes classes to do one thing they won’t necessarily end out doing it. Refer to my point earlier. If you don’t do library work it’s hard to conceive of yourself as a librarian.

From when we grew up, we were taught that librarians are people who check out books. That they tell us to be quiet and ask us to not bring food or drink into the library. Unfortionately, this conception is blantantly at odds with a number of progressive manefestations within the profession. As a young librarian, I wonder what sort of cracks this might produce? Most imporntantly, if we don’t know “who we are” then how can they know what to do for our patrons?

As an embedded librarian, I can say without hesitation that the most difficult aspect of working directly with patrons is facilitating technical discussions. Working with patrons requires that you know something about the nature of their work. But, it doesn’t require you to know everything. Instead, you operate as a middleman. Interestingly, though, people seem to naturally assume that “if you know about it then you can solve it.”

Therein lies the challenge. Embedded Librarians work so closely with their patrons that a clear distinction between roles can disappear. This can happen on both sides too.