Embedded librarianship at an institutional business school

Van Der Westhuizen, Matthew

Embedded librarianship at an institutional business school

Thesis / Dissertation

2026

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Library and Information Studies Centre (LISC)

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

Embedded librarianship is not a new concept but is something that has become more prominent over the past two decades at the turn of the century. The factors that contribute towards this are the increasing developments within technology and the need for library assistance. This is evident within academic institutions whereby students and staff are making use of newer technological developments with the requirement of the librarians to assist in enhancing the skills of the staff and students through instruction sessions based on library services and resources. Academic librarians providing assistance to staff and students has increased the awareness of the library services that contribute to the academic environment. The research done for this dissertation makes use of the case study qualitative research design and the theoretical framework of connectivism (Siemens, 2004) to determine the needs of the users within academic libraries as well as to establish the success of librarians in academic environments and the services that they have been able to offer their communities. The case study focuses on staff and students within academic programmes at the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business. The data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews with the staff, students and the manager of the library. The data analysis was performed by utilising the information received from the interviews with the incorporation of theoretical framework and research design. The findings of the data analysis determined that the staff and students had mostly satisfactory and positive experiences with their academic librarians and the library resources. There were, however, key areas of development specifically within the financial and technological areas where both staff and students expressed their interest in further understanding and development within these fields. This resulted in the librarians needing to increase their knowledge and understanding of these needs through attending training sessions, workshops and webinars in order for them to impart their knowledge and understanding to the staff and students. This was done through practice and instruction sessions offered by the librarians on the academic programmes at the Graduate School of Business.

Keywords

embedded librarianship

business school

Reference:

Collections

Masters

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