(Thing 21) Research my research

As soon as I read Thing 21, I started ROFLing. As a student, I would have plugged in all my data at the start of the semester, tuned out every e-mail reminder, and crunch it all at the last minute. As a professional, I can think of tons of reasons to use calendar tools to help keep me on track with events like upcoming conferences.

The “About RPC” states: “The traditional details of bibliography cards, outlines, citation formats, etc. often result in a view of the research process as daunting and tedious. Our goal is to help you bring the student to see the research process as empowering and rewarding.” I remember looking at bibliography cards as ridiculous as an undergraduate, then learning how significant a role they can play in crafting a good research paper in graduate school. A tool that helps students learn how to conduct research in a format they’re probably already familiar with—digital—brings the project from “tedious” to manageable.

Even facing resistance from professors about sharing in the research process, librarians can still participate when those one-shot information literacy students enter the library classroom. Assuming that the professor is skilled at the instructional principles of conducting a research project, the library instructor need only send a brief e-mail to the professor to see what his or her research topic will be for the semester. If the librarian reaches resistance even to this, a quick course catalog review of the course description should give an understanding of core themes. Adapting the RPC principles of research to guide him or her, the librarian steps into the role of research mentor in the information literacy course. As I’ve seen similar skills implemented at Flagler College, the research mentor role plays out when students ask for “that librarian that taught my class that one time.” Clearly, some information connection is at work between student and librarian.