Regen Le Roy This semester was very informative in terms of learning more about the work academic librarians perform behind the scenes in university settings. Developing a codebook with a group to analyze survey responses was more challenging than I expected. My mentor has been very helpful with connecting me with colleagues who have been … Continue reading Learning about Learning Librarians
Qualitative Research on Qualitative Research
Claire Myers Research was not entirely new to me when I joined the Library as Research Lab. I had previous research experience as a Community College Summer Fellow through University of Michigan’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) when I was a student at Washtenaw Community College. The experience that I gained in that program was … Continue reading Qualitative Research on Qualitative Research
Mentorship and Shaping of Career Values
Julia Maxwell When beginning my contribution to the Library as Research Lab project, I had a fair idea of what I wanted my career path to look like: academic librarianship, with focuses on digital scholarship and undergraduate learning. After a semester working on the project, I have found that my career aspirations are now more … Continue reading Mentorship and Shaping of Career Values
Building ongoing relationships
Jackie Freeman Some conversations can be worth having even when you don't have a clear idea of how you will pull value from them or when - if ever - they might become fruitful. I've had conversations that have led to invitations to join project teams, to new careers, and now to a new collaboration … Continue reading Building ongoing relationships
Mentoring Graduate Students in the Lab Setting
Jo Angela Oehrli While the project labs are completing many kinds of work, one intended focus for all of the labs is to integrate mentorship into the experience. Mentorship is defined broadly and is happening in many “directions” in the labs. One of the most impactful mentorship connections I have made to date has been … Continue reading Mentoring Graduate Students in the Lab Setting
Expressing Core Values
Laurie Alexander Over the past months, Angie Oehrli (U-M Learning Librarian) and I have spent time reflecting on meaningful relationships and how important they are in our daily work. Mentoring is a researched and documented component of professional success. Whether in the role of mentor or mentee, this relationship can have an impact on growth … Continue reading Expressing Core Values
The UX and UI of Service
Vincent Qiu As a Library as Research Lab 2019-2020 Fellow, I have been working in the Design Thinking for Library Services Lab, specifically on a project with Director of Connected Scholarship Meghan Sitar and my peer Emma De Vera alongside the Digital Scholarship Services Team, to conduct an assessment of how researchers throughout the university … Continue reading The UX and UI of Service
Professional Transitions
Doreen Bradley This fall semester has provided opportunities for me and others in our lab to reconnect with students from our Winter 2018 lab to write an article. In June 2019, we presented a poster on our work from Winter 2018 at the Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Conference (EBLIP). Several of the conference organizers encouraged us to write an article and submit it to the EBLIP Journal for consideration in a future issue, The deadline would be September 1, a quick turnaround time after the June conference. After consulting with my fellow lab participants, we decided to give it our best effort. We divvied up sections of the manuscript among all 5 of us and set to work. Despite the natural interruptions that summer brings with vacations and differing work schedules at each of our institutions, we submitted the manuscript on time by September 1. Now we wait. In early November, we finally heard back from the editor of the EBLIP Journal. Feedback was very positive from our two reviewers about the value of our research and contributions it would make to the profession. The editor had recommendations on restructuring parts of our article. Again, the turnaround time was tight - only one month. We each addressed comments and suggestions in the sections that we wrote. With everyone’s commitment and dedication, we made the new submission date of December 4. Fingers crossed for final acceptance and a spring publication date!