BW Guide2 Library Science Doku Wiki

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
Please post a brief reflection on your learning this semester in LI 810. What knowledge have you gained? What skills have you attained? What did you learn about research in general, about library and information science and about yourself as a learner or a librarian?

**What I’ve Learned**

From Beck and Manuel, I’ve learned a great deal about research methodologies and methods that I was at best casually acquainted with before taking the class. I know more about nine specific methods and have wrestled with what topics are best approached using which method. I’ve also thought a lot about what research will be like in the future and how it will be disseminated and enhanced as I’ve tried to think about it in philosophical frames of epistemology and ontology.

From Pyrczak, I’ve learned ways to approach research articles in a more comprehensive and analytical frame of practice. This meta-analysis of the research article as a subject of dissection gave me an appreciation of where it can wrong even when it looks right. This kind of textual criticism was helpful in thinking about a form a writing that carries a heavy burden of authenticity and authority and noting where the rhetorical pivots can be inserted by the author to move beyond the neutral academic style. I also came away from Pyrczak (and Beck & Manuel), with a clearer notion of the defining characteristics of quantitative/qualitative research and as well as an enhanced appreciation for the value of qualitative research.

From the APA Publication Manual, I’ve learned about an unfamiliar academic citation style and current writing practice for publication. I’ve practiced the skill of source citation and reference writing.

From Kloda, I’ve learned about evidence-based library practice and the S.P.I.C.E. method of analyzing question formulation.

From the class assignments and discussions, I’ve learned about performing an observational research study, thought about the role of academic research in the context of popular media dissemination of “the latest findings from scientists!”, learned about this topic through the lens of my classmates’ discussion posts and class comments, and gained tentative competency in performing critical assessments of academic research.

As a learner, I’ve reflected on the techniques I’ve used to respond to the class assignments and readings (using a wiki, visually representing material through drawing, writing responses first by hand then typing them up, book markup and note taking with gray highlighters and penciled margin comments); made judgments on my cognitive capacities (what’s different about being a twenty-something student in the late 80s and one who is nearing 50); and tried to incorporate the material I am learning into the framework of the world that I think is most congruent with my understanding of how the world and its people really operate.

I take away an appreciation of the skill it takes to construct, execute, write up and disseminate research. I also learned that producing good research is hard, best done collaboratively, and is perhaps not as rewarding as writing a book or popular article – but it is the basic building block of academic progress. I am also more confirmed in my convictions that research and science are very human fields that are shaped as much by the cultural paradigms of the researchers and institutions as they are by "neutral objectivity" that is the general guiding principle of the academic. I find much of library and information science research to have a singular cognitive bias, to be somewhat insular and needing more cross-fertilization from other disciplines, but offering a broad and interesting range of topics to explore.

Ultimately, this class (and additional readings) have confirmed to me that I made the right choice for my next career path and I come away with the strong conviction that librarians as a group are talented, committed, and intellectually curious - exactly the people I want to be around for the next 20-30 years!