Community Blogs

UMSILibraryLab Education, Filling the Gap, Graduate School, Mentorship

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

UMSILibraryLab Design Thinking, Librarian-Faculty Collaboration, Library Innovation

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

UMSILibraryLab Librarian-Faculty Collaboration, Publishing

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!

UMSILibraryLab Career Exploration, Education, Field of Information, Graduate School, Reflection, research

Unpacking an Interdisciplinary Experience: Reflections from a Data Science Student

Elizabeth Hanley Not too long ago, we had project-wide midpoint check-ins where lab members came together in small groups to discuss our experiences so far in the Library as Research Lab project. Many of the topics had to do with how the skills learned in this project differ from - or augment - our experiences in the classroom at the School of Information. Being a project member who hails from the School of Information Data Science track, I had a lot of thoughts about the value of being an interdisciplinary student that I wanted to continue unpacking after the focus group. Not only has this program been deeply influential in shaping my academic trajectory at UMSI, but it has influenced how I think about my future career as well. More than just a research project, the Library as Research Lab program has helped me better articulate who I want to be as a data scientist.

UMSILibraryLab Education, Field of Information, Graduate School, Reflection

Library as Research Lab’s Lessons Reach Beyond the Classroom

Elizabeth Hanley As one of the fortunate students who has been able to participate in the Library as Research Lab project since it began in Winter 2018, this program has deeply shaped my time at the School of Information. In returning to this program for a second year, I’ve discovered that staying with a project long-term teaches a set of valuable professional skills that can’t always be covered in a semester-long class. Being a member of the Library Assessment of Student Learning Lab throughout the course of my time at UMSI has taught me to take ownership of the research process in a way that, to me, feels meaningful and fulfilling. Participating in this program has pushed me to grapple with ambiguity, think deeply about how to ask meaningful questions, and draw real-world conclusions from our findings. I’ve had the chance to watch our research evolve from the very beginning stages until now, when we’re starting to see our work accepted at conferences and shared more broadly in the community.