Chapter 15, aptly titled "Research," overviews the various types of research applicable to the LIS field. The rather dry discussion in the first portion of the chapter opens up to a good section on rationale.
I have been involved in qualitative research this year as a part of a Trasition Task Force in a not-for-profit organization (albeit not a library), and we've made use of surveys and focus groups to date as our means of gathering input from the organization members. We're continuously analyzing the data, even as we prepare to solicit further information through an interview with the organization leader and a further survey to the membership. The Task Force is currently discussing the best means to report the findings to all the stakeholders. Because of this recent personal experience (in addition to my academic research experiences), this chapter is actually fairly interesting to me. I have been translating my experiences outside the library setting to situations that I can anticipate arising within my future career as a librarian and am intrigued at the thought of doing library research. I especially noted the author's specific emphasis on reporting the research results and suggestions of "publication in a library newsletter, professional association bulletin, or an electrionic discussion list."
The most surprising outcome of my reading of this chapter is that I have begun to consider the possibility of pursuing a PhD at a future date. The idea of researching the feasibility of new systems and changes to existing modes of operation is beginning to excite me and concern me a little, as well, as I had not previously considered doing extensive research in the field of LIS.
Powell, Ron. (2008). "Research." In Ken Haycock & Brooke E. Sheldon (Eds.), The Portable MLIS: Insights From the Experts (168-78). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
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