08: Research agendas with LibParlor

Listen to Episode 08: Research agendas with LibParlor

Release date: September 23, 2025. Length: 53:28 minutes.

In which we talk with Nimisha Bhat, Hailley Fargo, Chelsea Heinbach, and Amber Sewell of The Librarian Parlor about their journeys into LIS research and these things called research agendas. They offer reassuring perspective that the road to and through research can be winding, but you never have to travel it alone.

Listen to Episode 08 in the UMN Digital Conservancy.

Read the Episode 08 transcript.

Show Notes

Guest Bios

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Transcript

[intro music begins (instrumental, laid back rhythmic strings, drums, and piano)]

STEPHANIE: Hello, and welcome to Library Table Talk. I’m Stephanie Sparrow, one of your hosts.

HANNAH: And I’m Hannah Cabullo, your other host. In Library Table Talk, we’re two librarians exploring what academic librarianship looks like in the day-to-day, across different types of institutions and roles.

STEPHANIE: Nothing is off the table. We’re happy to have you here.

[music fades out]

HANNAH: Hello, and welcome to our first episode of Season 2! 

STEPHANIE: Season 2? Who'd have thought we'd be here? This is exciting, though!

HANNAH: So, to kick off our second season, as we get into fall semester here, we thought we'd pick a topic that kind of fits those beginning of school year vibes, maybe kind of aspirational about starting new projects, kind of academic, maybe even a little scary. We are talking research agendas.

STEPHANIE: So in planning for this episode, we thought that a great group of people to talk about this topic would be the folks at the Librarian Parlor. They joined us for a discussion, and we had a blast, and it was so helpful, so hopefully you enjoy it as much as we did. Let's turn it over to them.

HANNAH: So, let's start with quick introductions. We'll go around, and each of you can introduce yourself, and we'll have a moment for fuller introductions in a bit, so if you can just start with saying your name.

NIMISHA: Hi, I'm Nimisha Bhatt.

HALEY: Hi, I'm Haley Fargo.

CHELSEA: Hi, I'm Chelsea Heinbach.

AMBER: Hi, I'm Amber Sewell.

STEPHANIE: Can one or more of you introduce LibParlor?

CHELSEA: LibParlor really is a platform for LIS professionals who are interested in conducting research to connect with each other. There's blog posts that you can kind of see what other people's experiences have been like. They might be something really practical about how to do something in research, or it might be a little bit more reflective about what someone's experience was like. And then we also have things like classifieds, where you can seek out connections with other folks. We have the LibParlor Podcast, and we also have the LibParlor Online Learning platform. So it's really, a broad platform at this point, and I'd say that we are really excited about the opportunity of bringing new folks on, getting the team to be bigger, have some new fresh voices in LibParlor, and we have a lot of great ideas. We're excited.

HANNAH: So let's introduce each of you individually now a little bit more. So, can you talk a little bit about your role at LibParlor, where you work, and what your job title is, and also whether your job requires you to do research in some capacity? So, let's start with Amber this time.

AMBER: Hi, this is Amber. I am the creator, editor, producer of the LibParlor Podcast. I was interested in scholarly podcasting, and really loved the idea of open peer review and pitched it to LibParlor as kind of an extension of a way to build community and demystify scholarship. And they said yes, so they brought me on in that capacity, which is really exciting. I work at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. I'm a teaching and learning librarian, and yes, my job is tenure track, so I am required to do all of the scholarly activities.

CHELSEA: Hi, I'm Chelsea, and I am a teaching and learning librarian at UNLV Libraries. For LibParlor, I am one of the co-founders, and I'm on the editorial team. And research is required for my job at UNLV Libraries. I'm tenured faculty here. But when we started LibParlor, I was actually at an institution where research wasn't required, and that was part of what made us want to start LibParlor.

HANNAH: Thank you. Haley?

HALEY: So I'm also a co-founder and editorial team member of LibParlor. I currently work at Northern Kentucky University, and I'm the Associate Dean in the library. And I am also a tenured faculty member right now, so my job does require research, although it's a slightly different level being tenured. And very similar to Chelsea, that's actually how we connected back in 2017, was I was in a role at a previous institution where research wasn't required, and we had a lot of questions about how to get started, what supports are available, how do you embark on this research journey if some of those structures and guidelines and processes aren't in place. So, LibParlor’s been really influential as I think about my own research trajectory.

HANNAH: And Nimisha. 

NIMISHA: I am a member of the editorial team at LibParlor. I am a subject librarian at University of Cincinnati Libraries. And similarly to Chelsea and Haley, when I started with LibParlor, I was in a job that did not require research, and being on the LibParlor team and growing with it has really allowed me to then learn a ton and grow just my research knowledge in general, while I, while we worked to, you know, share that knowledge with readers. And now I am in a tenure track position, so, it's worked out really well for my trajectory. 

HANNAH: I have just kind of a follow-up of, does working on the editorial board of LibParlor count for any of you towards promotion and tenure, and does it, like, fit in the research bucket, or the service bucket, or do you have a different bucket that it fits in?

NIMISHA: I can say that at my institution, our criteria is very choose-your-own-adventure, which is, I'm very grateful for. So, I have been able to use LibParlor, I've actually been able to double-dip and use it for both service and publication. I'm very lucky in that way, but I know that there are other institutions that are slightly more strict with the ways that they outline their criteria. 

HAILEY: I'll say that I've been in two different institutions on the tenure track, at Northern Kentucky University and at Penn State, and they were also flexible, similar to Nimisha, in sort of where it counts. But I definitely remember when I was at Penn State, I really had to negotiate with the RPT committee to identify, like, where the spot was, because I did get pushback. I think at that time, it had ended up in my service category, and they were like, oh, well, this is, you know, research and, you know, thinking about, like, what roles are we doing in this work, and how does that contribute? So, flexibility, but, some folks did sort of, you know, put it in one bucket or another.

CHELSEA: Yeah, and I'll say that I don't know for sure how my institution really counted it, because I did include it in my dossier as service at the national level, but I also had other service at the national level that I kind of did just in case as a safety precaution, in case they didn't want to count it. And then I did, we do have some publications that we've all done together, and so those counted towards my research.

AMBER: Yeah, and I'll just say, with the podcast, it's also been similarly a choose-your-own-adventure. It's kind of been my supervisor and I debating back and forth, like, is it scholarship, is the service? Like, the open peer review episodes that I do are very clearly part of scholarship, but when it's just kind of interviewing people in the field about the work they do, I think we've ended up putting it in scholarship anyway, just because of the heavy lift with editing and producing on top of just making that conversation available. And so far, nobody's told me they don't like that, so that's what I'm going with right now. 

STEPHANIE: That's really helpful to hear. Hannah and I are currently in the process for our year 3 dossier that's due in, like, 2 weeks. And so I've been having some of those same conversations of, like, oh, technically, would I classify this? Which, I hate making decisions on, like a good day, let alone one where I have to, like, turn in something and, like, oh god, please don't make me. But, let's see, the next question is, to what extent did your education, whether it was graduate or possibly even undergraduate, prepare you? Or, if we feel like digging into it, how did it not prepare you to do research in library spaces and the library information sphere? And let's start with Nimisha.

NIMISHA: Yeah, I actually started out thinking I was gonna go into museum librarianship. I worked in a lot of art museum libraries and history museum libraries, and so research wasn't even on my radar. So I, and that's the,  that's the frustrating thing about library school, right? You think that you, you know, choose one sort of specialty, and you really focus on, hone in on that, when in reality, I wish that I had had a much more well-rounded choice of classes to take, and skill learning, and things like that. And so I, research, teaching, academia in general was just not something that I thought that I was ever going to do. And so, I, I never pursued any of those classes. And now, [laughs], would it have helped me? I don't know, so… 

STEPHANIE: Yeah, totally. I feel that with also kind of feeling a little bit boxed in in graduate school programs, to be like, pick your track, go down this, and don't worry, things won't change in the future, you'll be set on this path. Hm, maybe not. How about, Haley?

HALEY: Yeah, similar to Nimisha, actually, I also went into graduate school thinking I was going to be a public librarian, and so, I was doing work in the community, doing digital literacy. I did an independent study during graduate school with the community I was working with. But those were, you know, K through 8th graders. We did focus groups. It was, like, a very chaotic focus group situation. Everyone's, like, talking over each other. I'm, like, transcribing in my apartment, like, oh, I don't know, is this, is this this kid or this other kid that's talking? And it was really interesting. It was, you know, work that I was really interested in doing. We were teaching digital literacy, and so I was trying to think about, you know, identity and the student's relationship to technology. And so I really enjoyed that research, but I wasn't sure if that was research that I would pursue in a public library setting, and then I ended up in academic libraries. But I ended up in a non-tenure track role originally, so, for me, I really thought about research as I got started in my job of, like, oh, what am I interested in learning more about in my job? Like, what about my job is interesting to me? And I want to know, like, is my experience unique, or are there other people who are doing similar things? So that's sort of where I got started. But yeah, in my graduate coursework, there wasn't, I didn't take, like, a research class where I was, like, digging into that process. And so a lot of it in grad school was just, like, I was trying stuff out, I was working with a mentor, we were figuring it out as we went. And as an undergrad, I did, I did some research, but, you know, I was an English major, so it was reviewing, like, a sonnet sequence, and some of that doesn't quite translate to, like, an academic library. So that's sort of how I ended up where I am at, but, you know, things like LibParlor helped kind of dig more into that process, and also demystify it in a way. Because I think when I came into a job where I had to do research, I was like, wow, do I even know what to do? How could I even approach it? But I had a lot of skills, they just weren't, you know, I had to translate that and work through that. 

STEPHANIE: That's so helpful to hear, yeah, that, like, feeling of also having past education or experiences where, like, technically, I have done research. But is this research that applies to the kind of research I'm either being asked to do or I'm interested in doing? And it can kind of feel like they're completely different skills that don't map. But I know I definitely use LibParlor resources a lot, especially as I'm starting this job, to be like, hey, like, help me out. I did, like, some poli-sci research back in the day, but, like, it's not relevant. How about Amber?

AMBER: Yeah, I definitely fall into the not-prepared camp. I was an accidental librarian, so when I started my program, I didn't know what librarians did, let alone what I wanted to do in them. So I definitely did not know that research was part of an academic librarian's job duties until I was lucky enough to get a graduate teaching assistantship my last semester of my MLIS degree. I carried that over into another master's immediately after, so I kept the same position. But that was like, oh, now I'm in a library and seeing what librarians are doing. And research is a thing! I similarly took one research methods class as an undergraduate, where you were just supposed to propose a study. I got in trouble for, like, actually doing some of the research to demonstrate my methods. So yeah, totally not prepared. I remember the first research project I did with Charissa Powell, also founder of LibParlor. It took me a while afterwards to realize, like, oh, that's what research in this job looks like. I thought we were just, like, reading post-it notes and putting them into cool groups and seeing what students were excited to learn about, and that's research. Who knew? So yeah, definitely wasn't prepared, but lucky enough to get into the profession early to see, like, oh, this is what this job actually looks like. 

STEPHANIE: And Chelsea.

CHELSEA: Yeah, I think I'm somewhere in the middle. I did take a research methods course in my MLIS program, which was not required, but it was optional. And I took it my second year because I started to realize, like, oh, this is going to be a part of my job if I end up in academic libraries, which I also did not know I wanted to do when I started library school. So I did take a research methods class, but similar to Amber, it was really setting you up to propose a study, and it was, I found it challenging when I started in my first position to really take those skills and transfer them. I did have a good experience working with my mentor in my MLIS program, Dr. Krystyna Matusiak. She had a research project going on that used consensual qualitative research, which was a really incredible, like, rigorous qualitative research method, and she brought me onto that, and we really worked on that through the last few months of my MLIS program, and then the first year that I was a librarian in that role where no one else was really doing research. And so that gave me a really good appreciation for qualitative research and how to set up a study. She was really transparent about all of that, so that was incredibly helpful.

HANNAH: Thank you. So kind of taking the next step now from, like, education, and some of you have already started talking about research projects you've worked on, where did your own research journey begin once you were, like, actually a librarian? Was it with a specific job that inspired a particular topic, or was it, like, getting in touch with a collaborator who helped you kind of learn about what research was like? And how has it developed over time? And let's start with Haley this time.

HALEY: Okay, so when I was thinking about this, I started in a non-tenure track role at Penn State as an evening reference and instruction librarian, so I worked Sunday through Thursday, 1 to 10 p.m. And I would say that the first research project that I was really interested in was about my own experiences being a non-traditional working hour librarian, and really understanding, do other people have jobs like this, where they're supporting students after hours? And, what are those experiences like? And so, I was collecting, like, very detailed reference interaction notes after every appointment, spur-of-the-moment conversation I had with students. And I had found an article, and I can't really remember where it was published, about someone in, like, a similar role, and so I ended up writing, you know, like, a case study piece that was published in, like, a Pennsylvania library research journal that was recommended to me by my supervisor as, like, a good starter journal. It was, like, a regional journal, you know, it had, like, lots of flexibility in, like, how the piece of info, you know, the article was put together. It was a peer review process. So that was kind of one entry into that sort of space. And then, kind of at the same time, or a little bit after, I was really interested in peer-to-peer reference services. So, you know, I was supporting students who were working at the desk, answering reference questions, and then our library was getting ready to move to a peer-to-peer model. And I was actually inspired by some colleagues at UNLV who were writing about peer-assisted learning, and had interacted with them at LOEX and talked to them about those different ideas, and so kind of putting some of that together, which again, evolved into a, a piece for In the Library with the Lead Pipe around the tensions that I think people in the field feel around, can undergraduate students answer reference questions, and what sort of support and, help do they need to do that, and is that deprofessionalizing our job and our roles, and how do we think about that spectrum of experiences? So, I think those two projects really kind of catapulted me into thinking about different research ideas and thinking about the ways in which my day-to-day work impacts types of research that I wanted to do. And now, if I think about, you know, where I am in a current administrative role as an associate dean, some of those ideas are actually coming back through. So, like, supporting reference services, I'm now overseeing a student supervisor work group, so we're thinking about student employment. So, it is kind of funny to me, upon reflection around, like, where I started when I first started in an academic library job, and then kind of where my research is maybe turning towards again, which is actually sort of where I started originally. So that's just a small piece of sort of how I got started.

HANNAH: Thank you. Nimisha?

NIMISHA: It wasn't until I started a job at an art and design school that I started to be interested in research. And it wasn't required in that job, but I was really interested in the informational seeking behaviors and needs of art students in particular. I was doing a lot of research support in very non-traditional ways, of, like, how you help a student who is creating infrastructure by growing mushrooms, like mycelium as bricks to replace stonework in streets. Like, if a student came to me to ask about, like, you know, what sort of resources that they might be able to use through the library, how do I think broadly about contextual information that isn't a traditional scholarly article, you know, but other types of inspiration for these artists. And so that was really what kind of sparked my interest in starting to research that kind of thing. And that's around the same time that I found LibParlor. So, I, I joined on as a contributing editor and interviewed a lot of researchers for LibParlor to talk through their process, and I learned a lot that way. And then after joining the editorial team, I felt a lot of imposter syndrome, for sure, being like, uhhh, I'm leading this research blog without having ever done research, like, traditional research myself or publishing. And so it really felt like I was, you know, building, building the airplane as I flew it? Is that the metaphor? And so, that was really what sparked my initial interest and pursuit in research, and because of my time after being with LibParlor, I've really kind of collaged together a lot of learning that I probably could have gotten from a traditional research methods class. But this has been kind of like a DIY gorilla, you know, figuring it out as I go, and now that I'm in a very traditional academic library job where research is a thing, I wouldn't say that I feel like I totally get it now, but I at least definitely feel a lot more prepared, and I think my kind of non-traditional journey to get to this place was, was an interesting way to get there. 

HANNAH: Thank you. Amber? 

AMBER: Yeah, so my entrance into research, I think, was kind of twofold. On the one hand, I had that study I had mentioned earlier, where Charissa was my supervisor in that GTA position. And we taught English composition for first-year students, and so one of the things we did is, as students were coming into the classroom, we asked them to write questions they had about the library research on a post-it note and stick it on a whiteboard. And we used that as we taught to kind of make sure we were addressing the concerns the students actually had. And so Charissa was very thoughtful and beautiful, and helped lead me on a, like, formally analyzing those post-its, and submitting that for a regional conference to present at. So that was really lovely, and in the moment, I probably, there's no way I realized that, like, she was cultivating this experience for me to, like, really introduce me to scholarship and academia. But looking back, I can appreciate it and be like, oh, that's exactly what she was doing. On the other hand, one of the projects I was working on as a teaching assistant was designing an augmented reality learning experience. And so I was doing a lot of reading and research to see what others were doing. And I have cold emailed people from the beginning of my job as a librarian, so I would read an article and email the authors and be like, this sounds really cool, is there any advice that you would have. And I started getting really frustrated that the authors were leaving out all their mistakes. So it's like, oh, I've already done, like, five of these things you're warning me about. I would have known not to do them if you'd put them in your article. And so, I think that would have been another natural way into scholarship, where I was like, somebody needs to be saying, hey, don't use this platform, or hey, when you're testing this, make sure the sound on your phone is turned on, otherwise you're going to be confused for three days trying to figure out why it's not working. And so that led to my first published article, was my experience kind of designing these games and being like, somebody's gotta say what's not working, so other people who maybe aren't as comfortable cold emailing or are emailing people who maybe don't have the time in their day to sit down and respond in depth can avoid some of those pitfalls. Cuz if you're designing games in a library, my experience is that often you're the only one doing that kind of work. So it's hard enough to get that information and find community, and so, yeah, I was really like, somebody's gotta be talking about what's not working, and that led to my first article.

HANNAH: There you go, the classic find the hole in the conversation. Chelsea? 

CHELSEA: Yeah, so I also started working with LibParlor, or began LibParlor, when I didn't have a ton of experience with research, and I was really intimidated by it. In fact, the first post that I ever wrote for LibParlor was about, like, trying to nurture patience with myself, about how I didn't really know what I wanted to do yet. I was really wracked with doubt and had a lot of questions about, like, where to start, and who will even be interested in this, and how do I know if this is even worth sharing, or if anyone will care, or even if I have anything to say. You know, it was, I was pretty overwhelmed by it. But when I look back now, of course, I can see that it really started quite soon. I feel like my experience in graduate school with the project with Dr. Matusiak, like I mentioned, really got me interested in methods, because we did interviews, we looked at student work, we did a really robust coding method, and I realized that I actually had a lot of fun doing that. So that made me super interested in methods. And then I'd say I also had a great graduate teaching position at Auraria Library in Denver, where my mentor, Kevin Seeber, was really great at talking to us all as though we were equal and mattered in the field, and kind of shared with us frustrations and things that he was running into, reading recommendations in a really informal way that made it much more accessible to, like, share my thoughts and realize that I might actually have some that I might want to contribute. So that was really helpful as well. And then, when I was at UC Santa Barbara, I was teaching a for-credit class, so I had a lot of opportunity to connect with students and see what they were capable of. And, you know, like, when you gave them the opportunity, what they could do, and I just felt like that wasn't reflected super well in the literature. And so, I was really growing frustrated by the ways that we were talking about students in the literature, and it just didn't feel like it aligned with my experiences, so similarly, I was kind of like, well, maybe this is my space. And when I came to UNLV, Rosan Mitola, who is our Head of Educational Initiatives here, and really, like, a mentor to all of us, probably, she's amazing. She really wanted to get started, at the time, she was the outreach librarian, and she wanted to get started doing something for transfer students. And, we just didn't really have a lot of outreach to them at that point. And so we kind of combined those two interests of my desire to start looking at students with a more strengths-based lens and try to identify the things that they were bringing to our classrooms that we weren't necessarily making space for, and this population, this transfer student population, which we hadn't spent a lot of time talking to or building resources for. And so those two projects kind of came together, and that's what, really, like, the first project that I felt like I was kind of equally creating the research project.

HANNAH: Thank you. That's super interesting to hear from all of you your path into research, because the MLIS is not geared towards preparing us. Like, all the Ph… like, if we're at graduate institutions, all the PhD students we're working with, they're learning how to do research in their degree. So, yes, figuring out where to go, like, once it's either an interest or required of you is… There are many paths to do that, but it sounds like having a good mentor is  invaluable. 

STEPHANIE: Yeah. I also want to thank y'all for, like, sharing a little bit about, like, your thought process for, like, the first project that really sparked your interest in asking research questions, or like, I don't know, I just remember starting, and people were like, find something you're interested in, and go for it. And I'm like, great, more advice, please, that, I need something more direct than find something that interests and go, especially because I am a very new librarian, this is my first librarian job. Required research, and, like, yeah, sure, that's easy, let me go research something, I guess? And so, it's really helpful to hear all of your stories of, like, that one reference question that really sparked your interest, or, like, figuring out, like, oh, I actually really like research methods. Like, I don't know, I feel sometimes like that I was kind of, like, trying so hard to find something that I was kind of ignoring the things that were naturally interesting to me. And so, really, thank you for that. I feel like that that's very helpful advice. 

For the next question, it's kind of, like, piggybacks off of those things, so: How would you define “research agenda”? Which is, you know, we hear that a lot, and kind of, like, off of that, or if you're like, let me ignore the research agenda piece. How important is it, like, actually to follow a single thread of research inquiry, which is kind of, like, the image we have in our head. Maybe we're told when you go into a research position that, like, you'll have one thing you're an expert in. Is that, like, accurate, or is that, like, flim flam? We're gonna start with Chelsea.

CHELSEA: I was thinking about this, and I have a hard, I'm sure that we have an official definition of research agenda on the LibParlor website, through LibParlor Online Learning. I know for sure that there's a highlighted thing, and I'm not gonna say that one, but, for me, I feel like it's more of a, kind of a flexible vision for where your work might take you. You know, like, I think that it can be helpful to use a research agenda as a planning tool, so that you feel like you're working towards something, and you can continue to work towards that thing if nothing else kind of gets in the way, or if no other idea takes hold of you, or if your research doesn't take you in another direction. But, you know, we spend a lot of time talking to students about how their research question, you know, they shouldn't really know the answer to it already, and they should let the research and the information that they find really guide them, and I think that's true for our own research agendas as well. So, you know, it's hard to really say, like, I know what I'm going to be researching in 5 years. You know, once you have a bit of experience and a bit of a perspective that you know you might want to pursue, I think that it makes sense to try to think through the ways that you could pursue that that would keep you engaged, but I also think try not to be too afraid of going off course and following the research and your interests where they take you.

STEPHANIE: Nimisha?

NIMISHA: Yeah, I see a research agenda as, like, a vision board, honestly. I, I think it's more like a framework for finding connections between the things that you are interested in. And in that way, really, as someone who is a horrible decision maker, hate making decisions, it's so hard for me, I would much rather have someone tell me what to do. I definitely think of a research agenda as being more something that centers all of the seemingly feel disparate about either my job, the things I'm interested in, the things that I'm reading about in the field, and really focusing it in on helping me to find what those connections between them are. And if I am to speak to, you know, an MLIS grad or an early career person about defining their own research agenda or forming it, I think of it more in, like, an iterative process of putting it all on the page of what it is that they enjoy thinking about, or that they're curious about. And I really don't subscribe to the whole following one thread inquiry, because, especially as librarians, when we're practitioners, the ways that we, our job changes, the ways that we provide services change, the ways that our students and our faculty are interacting with information changes all the time. And I think because of that, we have to stay flexible about the things that we want to research and publish on. So that's kind of how I see it. 

STEPHANIE: Thank you, and also as, like, a decision hater, I feel so seen. Thank you. [laughs] Amber?

AMBER: Yeah, I don't know that I'm a great example to follow. I would say I have a very unbothered approach to my scholarly journey. [laughs] I learned what a research agenda was, my mentor, Charissa, as we were talking about applying for jobs, she was like, oh, and a research agenda's a thing they look for, don't worry about it, you've already got it, because you want to study games, and you want to make games. So, by the time it was introduced to me, I was like, oh, I've already got one of those? Great, let's keep going. So I never thought very deeply about it. I definitely don't subscribe to the one thread of inquiry, I just kind of bop around. My central theme is nerd. And so, for me, like, I have the stuff I research because of my work with students, but I also do games, podcasting, and fandom. And I know how those all intersect in my head, but I think, it would be difficult to unweave that to present it cleanly to other people. It's also not a thing I've practiced, which some people would say, I'm going up for tenure next year, I should start practicing. But no, like Nimisha was kind of saying, in my head, I see where all of the connections are in between these, maybe, on paper, unrelated areas that I research, and I just research what makes me happy and curious.

STEPHANIE: Oh, thank you, that feels, that feels just like, you have it in your head, go for it, listen! And I really appreciate that feedback, too, and I'm sure other people need to hear that. And Haley.

HALEY: Yeah, so I would echo what, you know, Nimisha, Chelsea, and Amber have already talked about. You know, thinking about what are you curious about, what do you want to learn more about? As I think about my past roles and my current role, some of it is, you know, what's the day-to-day work I'm doing, and what do I want to learn more about. How do I want to do this work better? Serve the community of students, or faculty, or staff, or the greater community better, and how do I learn more to make those services, or that opportunity, or something, more current, more contextual, more impactful. I think the other piece about a research agenda is that it's sort of like a list of skills or, you know, like a toolbox full of different ways to approach a problem or something that you're curious about. So, you know, interviews, focus groups, surveys, other types of methods. And then every time you're thinking about, I want to learn more about X, you know, how are you pulling those tools in to do it in different ways? So, one example I think about is when I was at Penn State in a tenure-track role, I learned about participatory design and how we think about participatory design, particularly with students. So we were doing research, co-research with students, who were first generation at Penn State, and we were thinking about how do we make the library better, and how do we use these, like, different games, these participatory games, to uncover ideas and then work towards a solution. And so, when I came to NKU, I was in a department head role, and I was like, okay. I need to think about my department as a community. How do I build community? How do I build a team? How do we move work forward? And so I pulled out the participatory design skills, and I applied them to a department setting. So, instead of working with students, I was with my team, and I said, okay, we're gonna do this activity, and like, let's hop on board of this thing and think about how we build together. So I think that's kind of the beauty of the research agenda, is that as you build those skills, then you can put those different skills into different ways, and you kind of grow over time, and you become better at that skill, and it just helps. Yeah, we used it in the LibParlor forum, the participatory design skills. So, you know, how are you building those strengths of yours, and then applying them in different contexts as you move your research ideas forward?

STEPHANIE: That is so cool. I'm… I'm so sorry, I'm just, like, geeking. I'm feeling so inspired here, you guys. I’m like, I must reflect, write down ideas, vision board, research agenda. Hannah? 

HANNAH: Yeah, I was, I was just happy to hear all of you say that, because, I also started this job about two years ago, and I'd previously worked at a liberal arts college where, like, research was not part of it, so this was a new of, like, I guess I have to do research, it's part of my job, and then the stress of, like, I have to figure out what a research agenda might be, and, like, I have to decide this now so I can, like, show progress over 6 years, and, but just like we tell students, like, it should be about what we're curious to learn more about.

STEPHANIE: Alright, final question! What advice would you have for librarian researchers around research agendas, whether they're just starting to find their way into research, or have already been doing research for years? And let's start with Haley.

HALEY:  I think that a piece of advice that I would give would be to connect with other people, preferably not at your institution. People at your institution are great, but with people outside, at other places of libraries, other types of academic libraries, because I think, for me, personally, places like LibParlor, places like going to conferences and talking to folks, connecting with them from different institutions, is that you just get a better understanding of all the different ways that academic librarians are navigating research, thinking about research, conducting research. And I think that that can just help your own research ideas, because you have a group of people you can tap into, so that if you're starting something and you're like, what am I gonna do with this? You can ask somebody. Or you can read an article and reach out to that person and say, hey, I really loved what you wrote, can you tell me more about this particular piece? And I think that that, having that strong network of folks across the field can really help you thrive in your research agenda, or thrive in your research projects and ideas, and help you see all that there is to see, kind of, in the field of academic librarianship.

STEPHANIE: Amber? 

AMBER: Yeah, I think my biggest advice would be to not constrain your ideas to what you're seeing in librarianship. So many of my ideas come from podcasts I listen to, or reading literature from other fields, and seeing what they're doing, and letting, like, my knowledge of work and research that's being done in librarianship kind of pick out the connections. You know, they talk about when you're developing a research agenda to kind of find your niche. I think that's a really natural way to find your niche, is by looking for interdisciplinary ideas and seeing where it intersects with your field. Because you're a unique human with interests that nobody else is going to make those connections. So, read widely. I attend conferences that are about podcasting, about fan studies and pop culture, and I always walk away with 5 million ideas of how I could bring that work into librarianship. So definitely don't think just because something is happening in history or in film studies that it doesn't apply to library research. And then to echo Haley, cold email all the people. Some of my favorite collabs have come from emailing people saying, hey, this is a cool thing, can we chat more? 

STEPHANIE: I love that. I'm now inspired to pursue my research agenda of real housewives of research libraries. And Chelsea?

CHELSEA: Yes, I would say probably quite similar to Amber, and really also I have to echo Haley as well, but being an interdisciplinary field, I feel like, means that LIS research can be so many things. It really offers so many opportunities that can be overwhelming, but can also be really exciting. So I'd recommend folks to think through experiences that they've had, or meaningful perspectives that they hold that they would like to bring into the research, because there's probably a way to do it in LIS research, just because it's so incredibly interdisciplinary, and there's so many different ways to approach it. And then last but not least, I'd say slow down. You have time, which is maybe the advice I should have given myself. [laughs]

STEPHANIE: Oh, amazing advice, thank you. And Nimisha.

NIMISHA: Ugh, everyone had such wonderful answers. Of course, I have to go last. I think that, and maybe I'm speaking for myself, and maybe you all feel similarly, but being a librarian, I mean, we are constantly, every day, I know when I'm doing reference or research support, I don't know a thing about what they're, what they're researching, right? But I know how to connect them to that thing. And I remind myself of that when I'm doing my own research or thinking about it, that, like, admit when you don't know something. It's totally fine, and it feels really scary. But when you admit that you don't know a thing, it makes it so much easier to then go and pursue and find the people that do and talk to them about it, which kind of connects to the things that everyone else was saying. And I think, something that is also really important and close to me is to try to do what we can to remove barriers for other people coming after us. A lot of my research interests now have a lot to do with labor practices and retention of librarians of color in the field. And I would love to be able to contribute to the experiences of librarians of color in a positive way. And I, I think you know, connecting the things that you're interested in with thinking about, how would I have loved to have been treated or, have, you know, approached the field, as a younger version of me, and how can I then do that for other people? So I think those are two things that I would say as advice. 

STEPHANIE: Thank you. All of those pieces of advice are delicious nuggets, honestly, so thank you for sharing that. I know, especially the piece about, Nimisha, what you just said about, for one, like, reminding yourself that we don't know necessarily about the questions we’re asked, or, like, the topics students, faculty even are doing research on. And so, like, hold that curiosity for ourselves with our own research as well. And also not just necessarily producing research for your job, or for, like, curiosity, but also for, like, the material conditions of our field, and for other people in our field. That really resonates, especially today, so thank you for that. Hannah, do you have any follow-up questions or final thoughts? 

HANNAH: I don't think so. This has been so wonderful to talk with you all, and I think really reassuring [laughs] as someone who is just starting a research journey, so thank you.

NIMISHA: I will just say one last passing thought is, I found LibParlor and the LibParlor ladies, just, like, completely randomly, you know, just by, like, giving it a shot, and it ended up being, like, and now I've known them for quite a while, and we've published together, we've worked on a grant together. Haley and I now live in the same city, and we hang out together. But it's like, finding community is so important, and sometimes it just happens really, really organically, sometimes it happens really, really randomly, and sometimes it can happen very purposefully, and you just email a person, you're like, we're gonna be friends now. Let's hang out, let's talk about research. So, I would really recommend that people, as much as one can, is to just start fostering and creating those connections, because it really, really helps.

[musical transition]

HANNAH: So, we are recording this episode the week before our Welcome Week here at the University of Minnesota. So, because we're so busy, instead of a current awareness segment, we thought we'd try something that fits a little better with our jam-packed schedules right now, just a little chat between friends about the beginning of the school year. So, Stephanie, how do you feel about the beginning of fall semester and getting into September? Excitement, nerves, a little bit of both? 

STEPHANIE: Hannah, let me start by saying, how is it already this time of year? I… I don't know, time is weird. I feel like just last month, I was like, oh, it's May, and now it's September, but I feel like… or August, oh my god, see, that's confusing. I don't even know when it is. But I also feel like that kind of sits with me throughout the entire year, where I'm like, oh, it's March? I thought it was just December. So… I guess I'm doing… good? I do feel, like, a little bit more comfortable. I mean, this is now gonna be my third year, third school year here. And so, I feel like I kind of know what's coming for the most part, which feels really nice. So there is a bit of security in that, of being like, I know the core classes I'm going to be teaching, going into. I know what to expect, I know the pacing of the semester pretty well by now. But also, I'm… I'm gonna be out of office at some weird times, and so I'm also, like, ooh, weird, I'm gonna be out for a week in September? That feels strange. I also am kind of excited, we're trying some new things in Hannah’s and my department, trying to do a little bit more, like, collaborative work together, and so I'm also kind of excited for that, and seeing how that goes, and the opportunities that may come up with that. So, I'd say overall, my vibes, TLDR, they are, I'm ready, I think, question mark, but then also, like, yeah, I feel kind of secure in that, like, yeah, let some bumps in the road happen, it probably will, but also, I now know that I can handle bumps in the road, and so… is that different? So, Hannah, I don't know if that was a great answer on my part. So, how are you feeling? It is almost Welcome Week! What's up?

HANNAH: Yeah, I think, for me, like, getting into fall semester, for me, is always, like, about scheduling instruction. I don't know if that's my previous life as a reference and instruction librarian just coloring how I, how I think about things. But I think, I'm having less nerves about the beginning of the school year than previous years. I don't know, in the pa-, well, I probably will be feeling some more nerves, like, in a couple weeks when my next instruction session is coming up, but, I don't know if it's just, like, the time that I have now been a librarian, I'm getting over that, or if it's just, like, I'm more busy right now, so I don't have time to feel anxious about getting back into instruction season. I think, at least this fall, I'm starting to notice a shift in how I'm thinking and feeling about reaching out to faculty. I think, feeling less in awe of them, less worried about bothering them by saying, hey, can I come teach a class for you? In the past year, I was reflecting about sending those cold emails to faculty, and realizing that the emotional work of sending those emails is a lot more than the actual physical task of sending them, so I think, to me, that helped me kind of separate, like, just get it done. If they answer, great. If that faculty member doesn't answer back, fine. I only have time and energy to work with the faculty who want to work with me, so I'm feeling a little more chill about it [laughs] now. And I think also, like, in this time of preparing to do less with less, I'm also feeling more relaxed about not making it into every class I could. I have, like, an aspirational spreadsheet of, here's the 45 classes that I could potentially reach out to for fall semester, but that is, you know… If every one of them said yes, there's no way I could do that and remain sane. So, yeah. So I'm feeling a little more relaxed, and then also using Welcome Week coming up to start getting myself excited about the school year. So, I'm feeling kind of happy about where I'm at this year. 

STEPHANIE: That's awesome. I kind of love the festivities of Welcome Week. As an undergrad, like, freshman, I did not like it one bit, but as an adult librarian who's on campus during Welcome Week, I'm like, oh, the vibes are fun! The freshmen are excited! They're excited! They like the libraries, too! Like, they come by, and they're, like, geeking over their favorite kind of books, or they're like, oh, I love Libby App! And I just really, I love the energy that they bring, and it does make me hopeful, so I feel that as well. I'm feeling hopeful for working with, working with friends, friends teaching me things, and, you know, doing, doing the best I can, and as you said, doing less with less. So, I'm hopeful. I also, random goal. My goal, I'd like to, on one of the campuses at our institution, they have, you know, like, a dairy shop with ice cream, and so I, my goal for myself, my non-work-related goal that is kind of work-related, is to go get some ice cream one day, just like be on campus and be like, I need some cold dairy stat. So, that's gonna be my personal goal for the semester. 

HANNAH: That's a good goal, and that is a good thing, I think, to add in to all of the busyness and stress that can come with the beginning 

STEPHANIE: [laughs]

HANNAH: of the semester of, like, let's slow down and take care of ourselves, too, so… [laughs]

STEPHANIE: Yeah, yeah, take care of ourselves, need that calcium. And support the dairy students! And the cows! [laughs]

HANNAH: So we have, we do have a few announcements, or updates to share. Stephanie, do you want to start us out? 

STEPHANIE: I absolutely will. So, yet another update about our RSS feed. Y'all, we are so close. So close. The thing that is in the way is Stephanie needs to upload more data. So, data entry work, which is both easy and also a challenge. So, the good news, though, the end is in sight, an RSS subscription button is in sight. Coming at you soon. 

HANNAH: And who would have known at the beginning of this process that getting a podcast set up for free without relying on too many external platforms would be so hard? 

STEPHANIE: It's so hard, like, someone out there who is very tech-savvy, maybe a developer. And also, really cares about data privacy. This is a perfect project for you to do. I feel like this, there's opportunity here, so feel free to take this idea, run with it, and help us out, please and thank you.

HANNAH: So, besides the RSSing, we have our guest hosts coming up for spring semester. We received so many wonderful proposals to our call for guest hosts. As of recording, we just discussed those proposals this morning, and by the time we release this episode, we will have reached out to our guest host or hosts. And I say it plural because we're hoping that with so many great proposals, we can bring on a couple people for spring, so we are super excited about that.

STEPHANIE: Yeah, for any of you who have submitted, thank you for sharing your ideas and putting in time and effort for it. As Hannah said, we were not expecting to get so many, and they were so enticing and so interesting. We're like, dang. Okay, we have, like, the next 4 seasons set up, if we were just gonna do it all. So, we are super excited to try this format out. We have been talking since the beginning of wanting to grow Library Table Talk to include more voices, and so this is one part of that, like, steady, long-term goal that we have. For one, it's just more fun, and it's really helpful to have more voices than ours on the podcast. And also, you know, it helps in the sustainability of work to have more people involved. ‘Tis just the two of us, and as you've seen by how long the RSSing has taken, you know. We are just two people. It'll be great if there's more who are interested, even in doing a few episodes here or there. So, we are super excited about this, and cannot wait to share these episodes with you. 

[outro music begins (instrumental, upbeat xylophone, clapping, and bass)]

STEPHANIE: And that brings us to a close here, folks. Thank you for listening. We hope you'll consider subscribing. You can also find us on our website at z.umn.edu/librarytabletalk. 

HANNAH: Library Table Talk is produced by me, Hannah Cabullo, 

STEPHANIE: And me, Stephanie Sparrow. 

HANNAH: This episode was edited by Hannah. Thanks to our employer, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, and University Libraries for making this work possible. 

STEPHANIE: Music is by Blue Dot Sessions, Town Market and Dirt Bike Lovers. 

HANNAH: Warm regards, 

STEPHANIE: Stephanie 

HANNAH: And Hannah.

[short musical interlude]

STEPHANIE: Um, Season 2? Ah, okay, renewed. [laughs]  I don't know, I'm just trying a bunch of random things. 

HANNAH: Alright. I think one of those is gonna work. [laughs]

STEPHANIE: [laughs] Well, I guess, until next time? 

HANNAH: That sounds like you're questioning whether there's gonna be a next time.

STEPHANIE: [laughs]

HANNAH: There will be, Stephanie! This is our September episode. 

STEHPANIE: Yeah.

HANNAH: Hopefully, the next one will be out by October. We have all three of our fall episodes recorded, so it's a matter of… editing them. 

STEPHANIE: Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, I don't know why I phrased it as a question. Until next time! That was more confident. [laughs]

HANNAH: Alright. [laughs]

[music fades out]