How is the fall semester already in swing, but I’ve not yet shared my amazing research experience as an IRDL Scholar this summer?
California livin’ @IRDLonline #IRDL2018 pic.twitter.com/n9jw5EZzrR
— Sophie Rondeau (@smrondeau1) June 7, 2018
IRDL stands for the Institute for Research Design in Librarianship. It is itself the product of an IMLS grant-funded research project to develop librarians’ research skills specifically as researchers (in addition to our role as providers of research support). Its primary investigators, Marie Kennedy and Kris Brancolini, co-direct this project with grant matching funds from their home institution, Loyola Marymount University William H. Hannon Library. Their direction in partnership with the San José State University School of Information, the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC) and others are what make this life-changing experience for librarians possible. A 9-day workshop on the LMU campus (aka beautiful Los Angeles, CA!) kicks off the institute, but the experience continues for an entire year with progressive networking, mentoring, and collaboration opportunities built in to prepare researchers for disseminating their work.
When this opportunity first came to my attention, the timing of the proposal deadline fell (like so many others seemed to) way too late for me to pull anything together. With ambivalent hope, I added this to my calendar and annual goals to apply for the following year. Turns out, as I began approaching my application, I realized what great timing (falling from December to January) the call for proposal offers. Besides the usual window of downtime in academia, just the difference between a month-long window for proposals, as opposed to a single application deadline, is the kind of careful thought and facilitative detail that permeate everything about the IRDL experience and what set it apart.
Good advice generally, especially relevant as an interviewer during the research process. #IRDL2018 Day 4 pic.twitter.com/x7kL4Tst5J
— IRDL (@IRDLonline) June 6, 2018
I admit, there’s kind of a weird mixture of both honor and humility in becoming an IRDL Scholar. We are by design:
“a diverse group of academic and research librarians who are motivated and enthusiastic about conducting research but need additional training and/or other support to perform the steps successfully”.
It takes an uneasy bit of vulnerability to recognize your own limitations in a skill so necessary for your field. Maybe this opportunity seems natural and reasonable for librarians at the beginning of their career, or someone changing library specialization (say from public to academic). The Institute’s generous interpretation of a novice researcher includes new librarians for sure, but also recognizes the variation and barriers that exist for library research support. That could be in the variety of institutional resources, MLS program strengths, or even research methods education undertaken too many years and paces-of-change ago to adequately support today’s research needs. What about librarians who have already published research? Yes! That too! And we can call it all into question, which is a good thing.
I apologize for every survey I ever created before #IRDL2018
— A Truthbrarian (@atruthbrarian) June 6, 2018
At the same time that IRDL scholars recognize these limitations, we also must recognize — and are recognized for — the fact that our research is worth pursuing and generously supporting. My unique brand of novice researcher stems from working primarily in technical services and leadership positions, on and off the tenure track, and directly involved a lot of organizational restructuring and change. This has meant wide variation in available time, focus, and research methods application. Ever- “motivated and enthusiastic” however, I’ve sought out countless webinars, brown bags, mentor conversations, e-forums, and conference sessions on making time for research, developing research questions, networking for publication, and more. Yet nothing has been as effective as what I took away from IRDL.
The secret sauce (*winks to Marie*) that IRDL offers library researchers includes:
First, other motivated and enthusiastic scholars like you with the same (and yet unique) gaps in trying to cross their own research bridge. You learn from others in a way you can’t learn in just a textbook, or webinar, or conference session. Part of that is because the learning frames a specific and applicable need. But the other part is the community of expertise IRDL provides and how it includes the expertise of the novice researchers. As these ITLWTLP blogging librarians discovered, it’s an important distinction between needs based learning (aka problem based learning) and critical pedagogy. Taking the skills learned at IRDL, I am certainly more confident in my ability and ways to help my colleagues’ research. However, I don’t approach this in a teach-the-teacher way, but as true peer researchers – vulnerabilities, strengths, and all. This peer dynamic is what I think we expect to happen professionally between colleagues, but somehow haven’t always managed to achieve.
Secondly, IRDL intentionally builds real and ongoing research network relationships. Not just talking about networking or giving networking tips. Not just one kind of research network, or mentor, or just colleagues you know who are also responsible for research. I mean a variety of differently strength-ed researchers in your network who are committed themselves to a network of research relationships, as well as committed to improving the design, methods, and impact of published library research literature.
Finally, IRDL (in true California style) offers the value of reflection. Throughout the week together with my IRDL cohort, we reflected on our research as it changed dramatically from day to day; reflected as a group as we learned and struggled to learn together; and reflected individually about our experiences, needs, and interpersonal growth. Now we have begun reflecting on our progress and ultimate goals with an expanded network of IRDL scholars and mentors as we continue this year-long (life-long) endeavor.
What a fantastic week at #IRDL2018! Can’t believe it’s almost over, although all this talk about bivariate analysis got me like ? pic.twitter.com/pJAqY21rwF
— Dana Statton (@DanaStatton) June 8, 2018
If you are interested in applying to become a IRDL scholar, I encourage to follow @IRDLonline and set a goal for preparing your 2019 proposals. You won’t regret it and I will be delighted to meet you!