Embedded librarianship in distance learning courses taught within virtual environments such as Second Life is an emerging, leading-edge practice. This paper describes the experiences of librarians embedded in undergraduate English composition courses taught entirely in Second Life and presents the results of an empirical research study to assess the effectiveness of Second Life library instruction. Information literacy competencies and confidence levels of students did not improve significantly with the introduction of course-embedded librarian instruction and support. The authors discuss the unique challenges of "virtual embedding" and consider possible ways to improve librarian effectiveness in Second Life. (Contains 3 tables.)