Competency L

Understand the nature of research, research methods and research findings; retrieve, evaluate and synthesize scholarly and professional literature for informed decision-making by specific client groups

Research is an important part of library and information science work. Librarians are often called on to gather information for patrons, but beyond this, information professionals often need to perform research to help them decide, for example, what services or programs to offer, or how to design their Web pages. Librarians might perform the studies themselves to collect data, or they might analyze existing studies.

Primary research involves collecting data that did not previously exist. Patron surveys, circulation statistics, and door counts are all forms of primary research. More intensive research might involve observing patron behavior to determine the best place to put displays or signs, or analyzing usage statistics on the Web site to see if the navigation or layout needs to be improved.

Survey research is a way to collect data from a large group of people. Surveys are usually short lists of questions that can be answered quickly. If the form is too long, or the questions too time-consuming, fewer people will take the time to fill it out. Surveys can be used to get patron feedback on services and programs, and the library in general, and offer more insights than statistics alone. The main drawback to surveys is the time required. Librarians need to ask patrons to fill one out, and patrons need to take the time to do so. Survey results are limited to the people who completed them.

More active forms of research can involve focus groups and studies. This kind of research is often intensive and time-consuming. It is usually conducted by professionals who have experience setting up and monitoring studies, and who know how to analyze the raw data and turn it into information. An example of studies of this kind would be using specially designed software and controlled settings to analyze search behaviors, or observation and interviews to determine how computers or some other section of the library is being used.

Secondary research involves collecting and analyzing existing research. Often it is not necessary to to go through the work of conducting primary research because other people already have. For example, numerous studies have been done on search behavior. Since this is something that doesn't vary much from community to community, a library could use these studies to design their Web site instead of conducting studies of their own.

Historical research is the process of learning about the background and growth of the research subject. Understanding history can help researchers predict needs and patterns in the future. Libraries can use this to chart changes in their communities, and to anticipate how changes in such things as population or technology might affect the library.

Historical research can be done using either primary or secondary sources. Secondary sources are papers and resources that relate information that was found elsewhere. These are the results of research that has already been done. Primary sources are the original sources of information, such as census records, letters and journals, and other records. Primary sources are often preferred, as secondary sources are filtered through another person's analysis and interpretation, and may present only part of the information. Secondary sources can be useful to show possible ways to interpret the information. Once the information is gathered, it must be analyzed and interpreted to draw conclusions.

Using preexisting research requires finding and analyzing the research that's available. Not all information on a particular topic is going to be relevant to a person or organization's specific needs. Researchers need to be able to evaluate and organize their findings, and decide which pieces best address their needs. This starts with defining the specific information need and the kind of information desired. The information needed by a sixth grader, for example, would be quite different than the information needed by a graduate student researching the same topic. Once the information need is defined, the researcher can then choose the resources and the search strategy that would best fit the need.

Once the research materials are gathered, they need to be analyzed and synthesized to extract the relevant information. Raw data needs to be compared with other data to determine the significance. Circulation statistics, for example, are more useful when compared to information such as the length of time the item has been on the shelf, the circulation of similar items, and the size and activity level of the library. Survey results need to be compiled and analyzed against the whole, to determine relative values. Research data can be analyzed to find trends, which can then be examined to discover the impact on the library. Secondary research, likewise, needs to be analyzed to find similarities and determine the relevance to the present situation. The pertinent information from different studies needs to be summarized and compiled into something the researcher or client can use.

The first piece of evidence is the annotated bibliography from one of the group projects in my class on vocabulary design. The classification system we developed for antique furniture required a fair amount of research. We examined existing thesauri as well as online auction houses to get a sense of what aspects the controlled vocabulary lists should cover and how they would interact with the auction. We also reviewed some articles on thesauri and ontologies to give us a better sense of what we were building. In addition, we interviewed a collector of antique furniture to get a first-hand opinion of what aspects are important. To build our vocabularies we researched furniture listings, both online and in books such as Schroeder's Antique Price Guide. All group members participated equally in the research.

The second piece of evidence is the paper on graphic novels in the library I did for my class on information and society. For this paper I researched the history of comics and graphic novels themselves, as well as how they are often treated in libraries. As part of my research I looked at how my local library handles graphic novels, and spoke with the youth librarian there. I wasn't able to find much that was directly related to the topic; instead, I supplemented what I did find with articles on related topics, such a censorship.