Qualitative Research Resources: Qualitative & Libraries: a few gems
Find sources of qualitative training & support at UNC. How to search for and evaluate qualitative research, integrate qualitative research into systematic reviews, report/publish qualitative research. Includes some Mixed Methods resources.
Created by Health Science Librarians
A few gems for librarians inspired by UNC Chapel Hill HSL Librarians
Most of these were discussed at or inspired by discussion of qualitative research methods at HSL's July 9, 2017, monthly meeting of librarians and graduate assistants primarily in the Clinical, Academic, & Research Engagement Department (formerly User Services). These represent a small sampling of some well-known library ethnographies and ethnographers. Also included are a few examples of other qualitative research related to libraries or librarians or by librarians. Nominations of additional examples, including those using wide variety of qualitative or mixed-methods research methods, are welcome.
Nancy Fried Foster Rochester Studies (anthropology in libraries)
- Studying Students: A Second Look (2013)Nancy Fried Foster, ed. ACRL, Chicago, 2013
See chapter 7, pp71-81, Research as Connection. - Nancy Fried Foster: University of Rochester Department of AnthropologyNancy Fried Foster is Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology, University of Rochester, and Principal, Nancy Foster Design Anthropology, LLC. She has published extensively on ethnographic research and participatory design methods in libraries.
- AnthroLib Google MapProjects that inspired and were inspired by the work done at the University of Rochester on participatory design of academic libraries. These projects employ a participatory design process to build and improve academic library spaces, services and technology. For more information contact Nancy.Foster(at)Ithaka(dot)org.
Some additional qualitative/anthropological studies of researchers and libraries
- A Day in the Life of a (Serious) Researcher: Envisioning the Future of the Research LibraryMarch 8, 2016, Ithaka S+R. NY, NY.
with Reflections by Nancy Fried Foster
Kornelia Tancheva, Gabriela Castro Gessner, Neely Tang, Erin Eldermire, Heather Furnas, Darcy Branchini, Gail Steinhart, Nancy Fried Foster
Donna M. Lanclos, Library Anthropologist
- Donna M. Lanclos, PhD, Library AnthropologistDonna is an anthropologist working with ethnographic methods and analysis to inform and change policy in higher education, in particular in and around libraries, learning spaces, and teaching and learning practices. She is Associate Professor for Anthropological Research at the J. Murrey Atkins Library at UNC-Charlotte. Donna has conducted anthropological research in libraries at University College London as well as at UNC-Charlotte, and regularly presents workshops and talks in the US and the UK.
- The Anthropologist in the StacksDonna M. Lanclos, PhD, has been the Library Ethnographer at the J. Murrey Atkins Library at UNC-Charlotte since 2009. Her research interests include the nature of information seeking behavior, as well as the relationship of the needs of instructors and learners to the physical and virtual spaces of academic libraries, and in higher education generally.
- Anthropologizing: Anthropologists in Practice: Donna Lanclos, An Interview with Library Ethnographer at UNC CharlotteJuly 1, 2013. Anthropologist Donna M. Lanclos, PhD, discusses her role as "Library Ethnographer" at the J. Murrey Atkins Library at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and how she came to be in this position.
- Lanclos, D. M. (2016). Ethnographic approaches to the practices of scholarly communication: tackling the mess of academia. Insights, 29(3), 239–248. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.316In my anthropological research in academic libraries, and in higher education generally, I have encountered a contrast between the ways that institutions approach the information systems they build and buy, and how people use those systems. Confronting the ‘mess’ of people’s everyday practice is a necessary first step towards more effectively connecting people to the resources they want and need. Here I discuss some of the ways to visualize and embrace the actual practices of people, in physical and digital contexts. Based on a breakout session presented at the 39th UKSG Annual Conference, Bournemouth, April 2016
- Asher, Andrew; Amaral, Jean; Couture, Juliann; Fister, Barbara; Lanclos, D onna; Lowe, M. Sara; Regalado, Mariana; and Smale, Maura A. (2017) " Mapping Student Days: Collaborative Ethnography and the S tudent Experience," Collaborative Librarianship : VolResearch on students’ educational experiences demonstrates the importance of a holistic understanding of the complexity of students’ lives in developing library programs, services, and resources that effectively address undergraduate needs. The “A Day in the Life” ADITL) Project investigated a typical day for over 200 students at eight diverse higher education institutions in the US. Examining the local and individual expressions of student taskscapes – the ensemble of interrelated social activities across time and space – placed each student’s relationship to their library in a larger description of their academic and personal lives. By exploring the whole student experience, this multi-site ethnographic study mapped out a more complete, complex, and diverse cartography of college students’ lives and the library’s place in it.
- Donna Lanclos, PhD: digital online scholarship on UNC-Charlotte NC DocksLinks to 2011 paper, "Re-imagining the users' experience: An ethnographic approach to web usability and space design" and 2015 paper, "Sociomaterial texts, spaces, and devices."
Paul Solomon, PhD (former UNC SILS faculty member now at USC SLIS)
A few examples of qualitative research in or about libraries or librarians can be found among former UNC SILS faculty member Paul Solomon's publications.
Visual Research Methods in LIS
Visual research methods : an introduction for library and information studies by ISBN: 9781783304585Publication Date: 2020Visual research methods (VRM) comprise a collection of methods that incorporate visual elements such as maps, drawings, photographs, videos, as well as three-dimensional objects into the research process. In addition, VRM including photo-elicitation, photovoice, draw-and-write techniques, and cognitive mapping are being leveraged to great effect to explore information experiences to investigate some of the central questions in the field; expand theoretical discussions in LIS; and improve library services and spaces.
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