An Embedded Librarian at BCBSF

1. An Embedded Librarian at BCBSF Presentation at SLA 2007 Kathy Shearin Navigy, Inc. / Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc. June 4, 2007

2. Embedded Librarian: BCBSF • Introduction • My background • Business & Alliance Development / Navigy • Librarian role • Responsibilities • Library / Knowledge Management • Project teams • Relationship to corporate information center • Closure • Advantages • Disadvantages • Do it again?

3. Kathy Shearin • Master’s degree in Library and Information Studies from Florida State University • Cataloger / Reference librarian in a public library • Media Specialist in a junior high school and a senior high school • Electronic Resources / Reference librarian at Jacksonville University • “Embedded librarian” for Business & Alliance Development at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc.

4. BlueCross BlueShield of Florida • Independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association • Not-for-profit, mutual company • Health insurance and related products in Florida • Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida • Over 7,000 employees • Serving over 4 million members

5. Navigy, Inc. • In 2000, BCBSF established Navigy, Inc. as a wholly-owned subsidiary to pursue innovative health industry solutions • Reorganized in 2004 • The legal entity, Navigy, was retained to hold ownership in its subsidiaries and to provide legal structure for future endeavors • The working group became Business and Alliance Development, an enabling area for the Corporate Strategy Office.

6. Business and Alliance Development Key capabilities of Business & Alliance Development • Business Development • Business Venture Management • Strategic Consulting • Alliance Management and Relationship Development • Organization effectiveness

7. Organization Structure Business and Alliance Development is aligned within the Corporate Strategy Office. Executive Vice-President Strategy Vice-President Business & Alliance Development Executive Administrative Assistants (2) Business Development Consultants (7) Principals (5)

8. My Role • Facilitate Knowledge Management (KM) initiatives in Navigy • Research • Teach the Navigy team members “to fish” • As Navigy evolved into Business & Alliance Development, the role expanded to providing insights and thought leadership on business development initiatives

9. Responsibilities: Library & KM • Education of team members • Research and analysis • Acquisition and management of information resources • Apply expertise to improve information retrieval and use • Consult with corporation on KM practices • Vendor management

10. Responsibilities: Projects & Initiatives • Prepare compendium of research materials at beginning of projects • Provide guidelines for document tagging and storage • Ongoing research and analysis • Provide insights and thought leadership • Preparation and presentation of reports • Citation management • Project management

11. Responsibilities: Corporate • Collaborate with information professionals in the corporate business research and information center • Cost sharing of select resources • Consult with various departments as a subject matter expert on document management and retrieval • Participate on work groups for development of a corporate content management system

12. Advantages • Convenience • Rapid response • Increase in team productivity • In depth knowledge of needs and interests of the team as a whole and individually • Ongoing education of team • My ongoing education • Flexible environment

13. Disadvantages None really, but • It may be difficult for Human Resources to understand the position • Not a traditional library role • Would be difficult if you did not like the topic or industry • Requires a great deal of flexibility • Behavior change may be resisted

14. Would I do it again? • Yes, definitely

15. Thank You Kathy Shearin kathy.shearin@bcbsfl.com