O. Carteaux

Student Learning Outcome No. 2: Research

 

Knowing how to effectively research topics are one of the cornerstones of becoming librarian or archivist. This research includes knowing how to search, look for information, and being able to navigate databases is vital to being able to make information available to patrons. The where and how is especially vital when finding information, and all of my classes in the program required me to do quite a bit of research, in various capacities.  Boolean searching, using reference materials, and being able to effectively navigate databases and library catalogs have helped me in every research paper, annotated bibliography, and action research project I have done in my three years of being in the program. Most recently, I am using my research skills in all of my coursework this semester - from the projects that I am working on at Duke, to my independent study, to even the completion of this capstone. 

 

In my years of the program, there have not been any courses in which research was not a large part of any project or paper that I was assigned. Some of the courses were geared to show us how to effectively research topics and learn about materials, and others focused less on the research itself and focused more on the fruits of that research. Since I have been in the program, classes themselves have afforded me the chance to groom my research skills, but most recently, what has made me really use them is my practicum at Duke, my presence at the AMIA conference in early October, as well as the independent study I am working on regarding digitization of vinyl in WUAG's stacks. 

 

In LIS 614 Government Documents, I learned how to research all kinds of repositories, whether federal or state, and how to utilize the information found in them - as well as how diverse that information could be. I found it interesting that whatever has been published by the government, is in fact public domain, and caries essentially no copyright restrictions. However, there is so much that is included in government documents, in ever kind of capacity - especially regarding format, subject, and intended patron -  that finding specific things in repositories can definitely be a challenge. The class was one of my first forays into going beyond basic searches for finding all kinds of information and materials, and definitely was the most diverse in the sense of subject and scope.  

 

In my reference class, LIS 620 Information Sources and Services, we were given workbooks to complete to familiarize ourselves with all kinds of reference materials - to the point that the hours put into the completion of the workbooks became quite tedious. But the exercise accomplished what it set out to do - being able to find specific information in those materials are important skills to have, regardless of whether one wants to become a reference librarian or not - especially when looking at older materials which are not necessarily digitized or available online. Many of those materials are available in a digital format, or available on the web, but many are still not- whether because of time needed for digitization, funding, or decisions regarding access needs in that format. Many materials because of their age and special or general focus are not deemed to be as important regarding that kind of access - libraries have so much on their plates that they must choose what to digitize regarding the needs of their patrons. I now have pages and pages of titles for reference materials that I know of to search, and although I have not needed to utilize them in quite some time, vow to reacquaint myself with them, because I am sure that I will need them in the future, and I know that regardless of whether I am ever in the position to work a reference desk they will be exceedingly valuable to not only patrons, but any personal research I do for myself and my own projects. 

 

This class also helped me quite a bit with LIS 688 Information Literacy Instruction, because in one of our projects for LIS 620, we had to complete a lib guide, which helped me complete the much more detailed one for masters film students at a fictional university for LIS 688. Having that foundation, and knowing how to find those kinds of materials saved me quite a bit of time and effort when setting up the much more complex lib guide a year or so later - and cemented my thoughts regarding how to organize it that much more. 

 

I love research. I love doing research. I enjoy how it is like a puzzle - one you must figure out without a guide, and all the pieces fall together as more and more information is found and applied. Most recently, my research has been tied in with my practicum at the Duke Archive of Documentary Arts, and the projects that I am working on there. For the H. Lee Waters Film collection, I made a series of shot lists for films that were shot in Kannapolis, North Carolina, in 1941, and attempted to find information about the various places that existed there at that time - mostly having to do with schools and businesses - and even Cannon Mill itself, which is now a research facility. Quite a lot of research went into finding those places, and putting them as coordinates, and I learned much about the history of the town, and what was going on there at the time in the process. Much the same applied to the transcriptions that I most recently worked on with the Radio Haiti project. Although I was present when the interview was recorded, there was much about the history of Radio Haiti I did not know - and in doing transcription had to research phrases as well as important people that were involved in Haiti at the time - whether it be the various political players, or other governments that were active at that time. I ended up learning quite a bit about Haiti in the process. That is one of the things that I love about research, and about this kind of work - that although they deal with subjects that I may not be ultimately passionate about, my interest is maintained because I am always learning about new things - and always expanding my knowledge base. 

 

Another thing I think is important to mention is my experience at the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) Conference in Savannah, Georgia, in early October. The whole program was amazing, and my brain positively exploded with the amount of information I was trying to digest in just a few days. I know that even though I took an insane amount of notes, I will never remember everything that I heard about at the various panels and talks, but it gave me a platform to dive off of regarding all sorts of research possibilities regarding what I am interested in, and a starting point to look for all those things that I may have been unaware of before I went. I have no doubt that I will reference the program that I have taken with me from there, as well as look up panels that I thought were particularly interesting - and use that information in my own professional and personal research. 

 

Research in general is fantastic, because it gives one the ability to acquaint oneself with information and subjects one knows nothing about, or perhaps did not even know were topics of interest. Because we live essentially in the information age, or digital age, much of this information is available to us in easier to find formats than ever before - increasing the amount of information and materials we have access to, and opening up possibilities both regarding professional interests and personal. 

 

 

 

Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) Conference, October 8-11, 2014

LIS 614 Public Documents and Information Sources: Reasearch Exercise

LIS 620 Information Sources and Services: Annotated Bibliography on Biometrics

LIS 643 Metadata: Annotated Bibliography on Application Profiles

LIS 688 Information Literacy: UNCMA Film and Media Criticism Lib Guide