An assessment of the Institute for Research Design in Librarianship (IRDL)
When our second grant for the Institute for Research Design in Librarianship (IRDL) was ending in 2019, we wanted to take the opportunity to look back on the program, through the eyes of the 124 participants who had been through the program. The grant funding had been given to us to devise a model for continuing education for professional librarians and archivists with an interest in conducting research, so part of our looking back was to see if the model we designed had been impactful. We wanted to know about the possible short-term impacts, as well as longer-term impacts, the program had on their career trajectories, fro...
Source: Organization Monkey - March 18, 2024 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Marie Kennedy Tags: library Source Type: blogs
Using our Journal Evaluation Tool to determine credibility of a journal
It’s been about seven years since we developed a tool (a downloadable rubric and explainer) to help our faculty determine the credibility of a journal. You can download the tool at https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/librarian_pubs/40/ and read about the development of it at https://jlsc-pub.org/articles/abstract/10.7710/2162-3309.2250/. People have told us – often! – how they use the tool in their personal decision-making about where to publish, as well as sharing the tool in their classrooms and with friends. When we developed the tool, I hoped the set of decision criteria in it would be used to further the broader disc...
Source: Organization Monkey - January 14, 2024 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Marie Kennedy Tags: library OA publishers writing Source Type: blogs
Drop some positivity in the next article you peer review
We recently received feedback on an article we submitted for publication, and I was delighted that the comments we received were all entirely positively toned and productive. The reviewer(s) brought up some issues that we could act on in the revision, and we were happy to make those changes. Overall, it was a good vibes review experience. Upon reflection, it was nice because of the attitude of the reviewer’s comments.
Over the years I’ve become accustomed to critical reviews that are couched in either neutral or negative language. That’s fine, I can take a critical review, and I know reviewers are likely just trying ...
Source: Organization Monkey - January 5, 2024 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Marie Kennedy Tags: writing Source Type: blogs
Mentoring Academic Librarians for Research Success
The major take-away from this book chapter is that the feedback about the IRDL Mentor Program (in place from 2016 to present day), from both mentors and Scholars, has been overwhelmingly positive. In the chapter we describe the process used by the program to recruit and select mentors, the pairing of mentors with their Scholars, and the general administration of the IRDL mentor program. We offer strategies for making the mentor-Scholar relationship work and tips for the design of a formal mentoring program.
A consistent refrain from both the mentors and the Scholars is that the experience, “is much better overall than ot...
Source: Organization Monkey - September 15, 2022 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Marie Kennedy Tags: IRDL writing Source Type: blogs
Complex and Varied: Factors Related to the Research Productivity of Academic Librarians in the United States
The major take-away from our new research is that librarians are motivated to conduct research, yet the factors leading to their success are complex and varied.
Kris and I have already conducted two studies (with five years between the first and second) on the attitudes, involvement, and perceived capabilities of librarians doing research, and as the time neared for another study, we partnered with two librarians (Kristin Hoffmann and Selinda Berg) doing similar work to conduct an updated study. We have admired and cited the research of these two over the years and it was a treat to get to work with them so closely on a re...
Source: Organization Monkey - September 11, 2022 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Marie Kennedy Tags: library OA writing Source Type: blogs
A new e-resources usage statistics dashboard
New usage statistics dashboard alert! Check it out at https://whheresourceusage.shinyapps.io/dash/. Drop me a line here or on twitter and let me know how much you love it.
New dashboard alert!
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For the last several years I have been annually publishing the usage statistics of our library’s licensed e-resources, using a Google Sites dashboard that my colleague @mars_bar85 designed. We started developing the dashboard in summer 2013, after constructing a brief document about our decisions and goals for the dashboard. The resulting dashboard still looks good after all these years: https://library.sites.google.com/s...
Source: Organization Monkey - April 14, 2021 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Marie Kennedy Tags: e-resource mgmt library usage statistics Source Type: blogs
What do we mean by decolonizing research strategies?
This article has led me to think about power as part of the research process, who has it, who doesn’t, and how that plays out throughout and entire research agenda. From the development of the research question, to how data is proposed to be gathered, the collection and analysis of data, and who has access to the results and how the results will be used.
Zavala, M. (2013). What do we mean by decolonizing research strategies? Lessons from decolonizing, indigenous research projects in New Zealand and Latin America. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 2(1), 55 – 71.
(Source: Organization Monkey)
Source: Organization Monkey - November 13, 2020 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Marie Kennedy Tags: articles i'm reading Source Type: blogs
Critical Race Methodology: Counter-Storytelling as an Analytical Framework for Education Research
I’ve started doing a bit of reading about ways of thinking differently about traditional social science research methods, as part of a group activity with the IRDL Scholars. Today I read a piece by Daniel G. Solórzano and Tara J. Yosso, about counter-storytelling as a method to ground research from the perspective of the non-majority voice. I learned some new terminology, which I will post here as a reminder for myself (and perhaps will be useful to you as well!). The “definitions” are my own interpretation based on my reading of the terms in use in the article.
Majoritarian story: story told from the pe...
Source: Organization Monkey - November 3, 2020 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Marie Kennedy Tags: articles i'm reading Source Type: blogs
COUNTER 5 SUSHI harvester
Annually I compile COUNTER usage statistics of our licensed e-resources to contribute to our library’s national reports and to update our local e-resources statistics dashboard. Until last year this was a manual process requiring a significant amount of time. I would need to log in to a separate administrative portal of over 60 platforms, to download Excel spreadsheets of usage data for over 350 resources. Because we report based on our fiscal year (June 1 start) I would need to download two calendar-year spreadsheets and then combine them into one. Compiling all of the disparate data into three categories of e-journals,...
Source: Organization Monkey - August 11, 2020 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Marie Kennedy Tags: e-resource mgmt usage statistics Source Type: blogs
California Cheese Trail
You know that question people sometimes like to ask, “If you were going to die tomorrow, what would your last meal be?” Pretty ominous question, come to think of it. But my answer is always, “A warm baguette, grapes, wine, and a variety of cheeses.” Dave often delights me by bringing home from the grocery store cheeses we haven’t tried before, gathered from the basket in the cheese area of end pieces and sample sizes.
We really ended up living in a great area of the United States. California has its own tourism sector, related to cheese: California Cheese Trail. I want to eventually go visit t...
Source: Organization Monkey - July 4, 2020 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Marie Kennedy Tags: monkeys/bananas Source Type: blogs
California Cheese Trail
You know that question people sometimes like to ask, “If you were going to die tomorrow, what would your last meal be?” Pretty ominous question, come to think of it. But my answer is always, “A warm baguette, grapes, wine, and a variety of cheeses.” Dave often delights me by bringing home from the grocery store cheeses we haven’t tried before, gathered from the basket in the cheese area of end pieces and sample sizes.
We really ended up living in a great area of the United States. California has its own tourism sector, related to cheese: California Cheese Trail. I want to eventually go visit t...
Source: Organization Monkey - July 4, 2020 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Marie Kennedy Tags: monkeys/bananas Source Type: blogs
