Institute for Research Design in Librarianship

The Institute for Research Design in Librarianship (IRDL) takes place on Loyola Marymount University's Los Angeles Campus.in the second week of June every year. The 2020 institute occurred virtually if it happened at all.

You can apply for the 2021 Institute for Research Design in Librarianship (IRDL) when the applications become available.

The Institute for Research Design in Librarianship (IRDL) looks for applications from librarians employed by academic or research libraries in the United States. IRDL seeks novice researchers with a passion for research and a desire to improve their research skills. IRDL is designed to bring together all that the literature tells us about the necessary conditions for librarians to conduct valid and reliable research in an institutional setting.

Applications are accepted in December and January, and probably become available during the fall. Applicants receive notification in early March.

Opportunities for Learning

• Library Juice Academy -- Wide range of online courses for librarians, including offerings range from community engagement to cataloging/indexing and more.
• Coursuera -- Host to MOOCs in many subject areas inclusing, statistics, web design, education, and more.
• Valdosta State University MLIS Program -- Professionals may take classes as nondegree students, with certain qualifications. See the FAQ for more information.
• Clayton State University Master of Archival Studies Program -- You may take classes as a nondegree student. For more information consult the application page.
• LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda) -- Searchable library of online videos on many relevant topics, including research, grant writing, data analysis tools, and more.

Survey Help

• Planning Your Survey: A Brief Primer on Strategies and Approaches -- Detailed PowerPoint-based PDF file by William B. Armstrong Director, Student Research and Information, University of California San Diego. This document dates from 2009.
• Observing the User Experience -- Detailed instruction in user study methods, including surveys. This book dates from 2003, but may still be relevant.
• Survey Fundamentals: A Guide to Designing and Implementing Surveys -- A thorough but non-technical guide to good survey design published in 2010 by U Wisconsin.
• What is a Survey? -- Guide to designing and administering surveys for social science research, written for non-specialists.

Research Methodology Books and Articles

• Bibliography of Research Methods Text -- The introductory page that leads to a a curated selection of research related books. Books are not full text, but there is a link to Worldcat or you can copy the title and search GSU's collection for them.
• Basic Research Methods for Librarians -- By Lynn Silipigni Connaway and Ronald R. Powell
  Ebook Central Z669.7 .P68 2004
  Conducting research and successfully publishing the findings is a goal of many professionals and students in library and information science (LIS). Using the best methodology maximizes the likelihood of a successful outcome. This outstanding book broadly covers the principles, data collection techniques, and analyses of quantitative and qualitative methods as well as the advantages and limitations of each method to research design.
• Observing the User Experience -- Elizabeth Goodman, Mike Kuniavsky, Andrea Moed
  O'Reilly Higher Education
  Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner’s Guide to User Research aims to bridge the gap between what digital companies think they know about their users and the actual user experience. Individuals engaged in digital product and service development often fail to conduct user research. The book presents concepts and techniques to provide an understanding of how people experience products and services. The techniques are drawn from the worlds of human-computer interaction, marketing, and social sciences.
• The Practice of Social Resource -- Earl R. Babbie
  Atlanta -- H62 .B2 2016
  This thorough revision of Babbie’s standard-setting text presents a succinct, straightforward introduction to the field of research methods as practiced by social scientists.
• Research Methods in Library and Information Science, 6th Edition -- Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Marie L. Radford, and Ronald R. Powell
  Ebook Central Z669.7.C666 2017
  Conducting research and successfully publishing the findings is a goal of many professionals and students in library and information science (LIS). Using the best methodology maximizes the likelihood of a successful outcome. This outstanding book broadly covers the principles, data collection techniques, and analyses of quantitative and qualitative methods as well as the advantages and limitations of each method to research design.
• LARK's Research Methods -- For the Library and Information Science student and others new to research, this page includes resources about research methods in LIS and the Social Sciences. Included on this page are links to sites that provide information about qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research. A table is included that gives brief descriptions of some research methods, links to more information and links to some examples.