Demonstrate understanding of quantitative and qualitative research methods, the ability to design a research project, and the ability to evaluate and synthesize research literature.
This competency focuses on how important it is for library professionals to understand research methods and to know how to evaluate and synthesize research literature. This ability to approach information using research skills highlights my role as a librarian who can demonstrate the value of a library’s services to increase funding or raise support for new projects that serve communities. My first sign of evidence to demonstrate competency is a research paper targeting teacher-librarians as an information community using qualitative research material to write a paper. The other evidence is a literature review that shows my ability to synthesize a variety of research sources to evaluate current trends and successful learning models within this partular information community.
Justification of the Evidence
Evidence #1: Research paper on Teacher-Librarians as Information Community
This research paper focuses on the currents needs andbehaviors of teacher-librarians in the United States. I examine case studies and a number of other qualitative research examples that reveal significant trends and changes in this group since the Web 2.0 movement. Through the research literature, I discover and reflect on the role of the teacher-librarian that has evolved and expanded into program administrators, instructional coaches, respected communicators, and technology advocates. In my Methodology section, I explain my process of researching about this target group of information professions. In this part of my research, I demonstrate my understanding of how to discern between quantitative and qualitative research methods(with greater emphasis on case studies, an example of a qualitative approach).
Evidence #2: Literature Review
In the literature review on teacher-librarianship, it is by demonstrating good research skills that I am able to collect important patterns and data points that make up the current profession. This opportunity to synthesize research material and explore emerging theoretical frameworks to help teacher-librarians collaborate in the context of their place in a school helps me learn current trends. As opposed to relying on popular information or anecdotal sources, a literature review forces me to critically analyze and determine how quantified studies spread a wider net of my understanding as I search various databases on a topic. This ability to take scholarly work and to synthesize various sources and to compare and contrast ideas in research highlights my role as an emerging information professional.
Conclusion
The chance to research and to analyze research informs my information professional identity. To be able to collect data, evaluate its reliability, and to synthesize all kinds of information found both on the web and in subscription databases are essential to the future of librarianship. I know that librarians are not just dispersers of information, but also cultivate a best practices that are mindful of how information is filtered and delivered. Regardless of what kind of librarianship context I find myself in the future, my goal is to sharpen my data analysis skills by taking courses in Statistics, for example. My strength is in qualitative research based on my educational trajectory, but I also plan to strengthen my research skills in quantitative analysis, in particular.