CRD's 2008 SPRING WORKSHOP

How to Hit a Research Homerun: Tips and Tricks from Some Heavy Hitters


Brian Mathews, The Ubiquitous Librarian blogger and User Experience Librarian at Georgia Tech, spoke about his experiences doing focus group studies. He is all about engaging library users. Tour Guides and Campus Celebrities are two of the groups that he targets to populate his focus groups. He doesn't record, but he does make use of ice breakers and other activities to stimulate conversation. He uses 10 new undergraduates each year to be "mystery shoppers." The thing that Brian said that resonated with me the most is that "things are always changing because the students are always changing."



Judi Briden, Digital Librarian for Public Services and Brain & Cognitive Sciences Librarian at the , discussed some of the methods used in Studying Students: The Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester. Not only did she talk about the various approaches that they used for their qualitative research, but she also shared some of the techniques that they used to stimulate creativity. Judi emphasised that "my library is not your library," but that much of what they did could be adapted to suit any size library.


"Ask-the-Experts" Panel Session

Panelists (l to r): Joe Fennewald, Head Librarian, Penn State Hazleton; Marianne Goodfellow, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology, Lebanon Valley College; Brian Mathews, User Experience Librarian, Georgia Institute of Technology.

Panelists (l to r):Judi Briden, Digital Librarian for Public Services, University of Rochester; Tim Wherry, Associate Professor and Library Director, Penn State Altoona; Nancy Dewald, Reference Librarian, Penn State Berks.