Library Research Project 101

Things to think about as you approach a research project

@Ann the Librarian

"I’ve been playing around with making a worksheet to use when I’m working with students who are just starting a research project. “Research” in this context refers to library research to find relevant articles, books, documents, etc, about a topic.
So here’s my first draft:

1. What discipline or disciplines am I working in?

2. What type of literature or information do I need?

3. How and where will I search for the information I need?

4. How will I access the information that I find?

5. What keywords or terms will I use to describe my topic?

6. After running a few searches: What results am I getting?

7. What refinements should I make to my search in light of those results?

8. How will I use the results that I’ve found?

9. What am I missing?

THE IMPORTANCE OF ERESOURCE STATISTICS

Sarah Houghton-Jan [San Mateo County (California, USA) Library] made a good point in this post on Librarian in Black.

in
eMusic says no to DRM -and- Sarah's lesson on the importance of eResource statistics

Hint to Libraries: “Please examine your online resource statistics. When you’re shelling out thousands a pop, it wouldn’t be too much of a burden to make sure those resources are actually being used. Right? You might be surprised that the resources your staff tell you they use all the time are actually the lowest-used in your collection...or what you think might be used, based on instinct, just isn’t. At that point, you have to ask yourself why, and make adjustments in PR, staff training, staff promotion of the resources to the public, and look at the barriers to access on your website or the vendor’s site. See if the numbers rise after making some changes, but give it at least 6 months; it will take time.”

URL: http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/2007/10/emusic-says-

info courtesy: Judith A. Siess @ OPL Plus (not just for OPLs anymore)

Enhanced Speed Reading

PS. Interesting application news @ Factiva's "Researcher", info courtesy: Daniela Barbosa and Daniela says: "As promised on Lou's original post, Greg writes about some of the tools that he has been experimenting with which provide capabilities that he is calling 'enhanced speed reading'. His thoughts are based on conversations with information professionals and researchers about how to effectively manage the ever increasing volume of information they need to read."

The following is from Greg's blog:

Concorder Pro: This tool is a bit buggy but I still use it to navigate mini text archives using concordance to browse by words alphabetically or by count. Once you get beyond stop words, it gets very interesting. This app was last updated in 2003 and for OS X mac only. Concordance provides the word counts for every word my mini archive.
Other tools that are also very interesting include:

DEVONagent
Concept Q
RefVis

When considering the professional researcher we not only talk about expert search strategies but how the results are really used. Who scans, reads, annotates the ever-increasing overload of relevant information.

ALA Tool Kit for the Expert Web Searcher

Developed and maintained by Pat Ensor

Tired of endless lists of Web search tools that give you no guidance as to which ones to use? Or that were last updated when Gophers were alive? I'm inviting you to look over my shoulder and use what I use every day for Web searching in an academic library. I keep up with this stuff so you don't have to! continue reading

Library Technicians - Who are they?

From: College Grad Careers
CollegeGrad.com - Career Videos, Library Technicians. Library Technicians occupy the top spot on the Librarian support staff. They free Librarians up for other tasks, while helping to acquire, prepare and organize materials.

A Job By Any Other Name - Finding Career Information

PS. Excellent taxonomy: Library, Information Professional, Knowledge Worker (see the image below):




Source: A Job By Any Other Name - Finding Career Information

See my recent posts:

Blog Taxonomy

Librarians and Knowledge Management

Leadership Basics for Librarians and Information Professionals

See my related posts:

The 'Librarian' Job Title - An Unending Marathon

How To Prepare For An Interview

Introvert and Looking for a Job - You are not alone

Job Pathfinder - Join the race

Show Your Business Plan

Top Ten Ways to Find a Law Library Job

A Cover Letter Pinpointing Their Needs and Your Skills

To a Librarian Who Wants to Write - Outside the Box

"If I were in a position to recommend anything as an addition to the education of librarians, it would be that they write a novel." Michael McGrorty @ Library Dust: A small gift to the library world from Michael McGrorty.

See my LIS quotations' blog for more on writing, librarians, novels and the world of bookmanship.

see also:

Writing for the Library Profession Presented by: Stephen Abram - Vice President of Innovation for SirsiDynix and Chief Strategist for the SirsiDynix Institute
Judith A. Siess - Expert in one-person librarianship and interpersonal networking

Copyrights and Copywrongs - Responsibility of Media and Academia

P.S. This is not a sequel of Copyrights and Copywrongs: Interview with Siva Vaidhyanathan.
Rather, this is about media (MSN, Yahoo, Google) and academia

Belgian newspapers go after Yahoo, By: Nancy Gohring
IDG News Service (Dublin Bureau) (22 Jan 2007)

Google argued that it doesn't violate copyright because it only summarizes articles and displays the source of the content and the name of the author before directing users to the Web page hosting the content. The judge is expected to rule on the case this month. full story

EMERGING NEWS:

Google has pledged to tighten its advertising controls after some of the biggest media companies in the US accused it of knowingly encouraging copyright theft. in US media: Google 'encourages copyright theft' By Laura Clout, Telegraph, 13/02/2007

PUNCHLINE for the academic world (just-in-case):
Oh my god not more copyright stuff @ Playing with Technology
See also:
Public Domain Chart
Fair Use Checklist

Related posts from my desktop

Citing Sources - Electronic, Print, etc.

With Malice Towards None; And Citations for All

Library 2.0 Theory

This is a running post: Updated March 10, 2007:

Michael Stephens on The Culture of Trust
"The best libraries of the future will be those that...will seek to make that personal, emotional connection with users. It might be online, it might be in person, it might even be at Panera Bread. Walk through your library today and look at the story your library is telling with its space, signage, and ambience. Share yourself. Be human. Feel good about the difference you can make in your role as a guide for your users through this crazy, information-inundated world."
Listen to this article ...

Library 2.0 : An Academic's Perspective
I am quite excited to see a fellow SUNY librarian and a nationally known librarian blogging about Library 2.0 from the perspective of an academic. I have known Laura Cohen for may years and have served with her in the SUNY Librarians Association. Her new blog, Library 2.0: An Academic's Perspective, will be worht the time to read it. Her introductory post provides a good introduction and overview of Library 2.0. She quotes this list, from LITA President Bonnie Postletwaite, of what Library 2.0 basic concepts cover:

Flexibility and nimbleness to enable rapid change
Commitment to continuous improvement based on assessment
Interactive and collaborative services driven by users needs
Taking the library to the users AND making the library a destination
Embracing radical trust
Use of new technological tools to accomplish the above
Laura then comes to the conclusion that "the last item is optional." I am in complete agreement.

Thanks to Bill Drew @ Baby Boomer Librarian for this reference

Interesting, thought provoking and synchronizing article by Maness. Thanks to Sukhdev for this info.

Library 2.0 Theory: Web 2.0 and Its Implications for Libraries, by Jack M. Maness, Webology, Volume 3, Number 2, June, 2006
Abstract
This article posits a definition and theory for "Library 2.0". It suggests that recent thinking describing the changing Web as "Web 2.0" will have substantial implications for libraries, and recognizes that while these implications keep very close to the history and mission of libraries, they still necessitate a new paradigm for librarianship. The paper applies the theory and definition to the practice of librarianship, specifically addressing how Web 2.0 technologies such as synchronous messaging and streaming media, blogs, wikis, social networks, tagging, RSS feeds, and mashups might intimate changes in how libraries provide access to their collections and user support for that access.

Michael Habib On Librarianship and the Information Sciences: Conceptual model for Academic Library 2.0

Library 2.0 Idea Generator citation posted by Dave Hook, August 02, 2006

I love this - if you are looking for Library 2.0 ideas for your library, be sure to check out the Library 2.0 Idea Generator. This site randomly generates such gems as:
"remix Ranganathan's Laws using del.icio.us"
"engage microformats using LibraryThing"
"re-evaluate Stephen Abram using the Netflix model"
"repurpose Inter Library Loans just to annoy Michael Gorman"

"A library service on the web that is a combination of LibraryThing, Netvibes, IM-reference and Aquabrowser adapable to the individual needs and of course it should not be library dependent, but could incorporate content and services from all kinds of library-enteties.... Library 2.0 = MyLibrary? by lib1point5, 12 Apr 2006
See Also:

Michael Stephens is collecting Library 2.0 definitions

Reference 2.0 (within the framwork of Stephen Abram's Library 2.0) in THE MYSTERY OF THE DISAPPEARING REFERENCE COLLECTION [ppt] K. Jane Burpee, University of Guelph. Barbara McDonald, McMaster University. Burpee/McDonald OLA Superconference 2006

Library2.0 following the meme

XML in Libraries, Dorai Thodla.

In an article, “Libraries urged to embrace Web2.0″, Mark Chillingworth makes the point that “that existing library catalogue standards, such as MARC and Z39.50, need to be replaced by XML technology “...

Here are some baby steps libraries can take.
1. Decide on what information a library wants to publish - catalogs, events, services, resources etc.
2. Design one or more Microformats for publishing the information
3. Integrate it into the current library web sites
continue reading

Web 2.0: Where will it take libraries by Dr. Wendy Schultz, On the way to the library experience of the future [incl: Library 1.0: Commodity; Library 2.0: Product; Library 3.0—Web 3D to Library 3D: Service; Library 4.0, the neo-library: Experience]

Technocrati Tags:
Web 2.0
Library2.0; and Library 2.0
Streaming media
Library Education

See also my previous post:

Blog As A Teaching Tool

Visualizing the Innernet or Visual Display of the Website's Infostructure

Isolatr Vis-a-Vis a Unified Theory of Web 2.0

Information Visualization Demystified - from a library and information science perspective