Educación y capacitación de las mujeres

When new librarians start in a research-expecting environment, some it can be intimidating. There are advantages, but uncertainty can undermine them. A supportive peer environment makes it easier to see the research as just one part of the larger learning process. It may be one of the more exceptional parts of the process, but support seems to lessen the sense that research is alien to librarianship.

Nina: … you said you wouldn’t have chosen a tenure track position?

F3: I’m really glad I’m in one now because just being a tenure track faculty you have so much more that you can do besides when you’re staff. But I really didn’t want to publish because I had never done it before and I don’t know how to write an academic article, or I didn’t. I guess I do more now, but that was my thing. I was like, I don’t know how to do this and I don’t know how to learn how to do this, which is kind of what

you’re writing about. So I was like, how do I even learn. But when I interviewed here, even from then I could tell that people were going to be really supportive. And that’s one of the things they said, it’s like, ‘That’s okay, we’re here, we’ll write with you, we’ll support you.’

In this way, research seems to become just one more thing to work on while learning the new job for them. That appears to set an important base for moving on to how the library and fellow librarians can work together to support research success.

A successful supportive organization appears to depend on support from peers. Although one or two experts may provide the expertise for research, a wider sense of group engagement is needed. One way to foster this is through peer discussion. Peer-to-peer discussion has an

enormous impact on comfort with research. It helps promote thinking and problem-solving about research. The one study site that had a formal research support group discussed the kinds of things that might come up in such a peer-to-peer group:

Respondent 1: I think it’s a little bit of a community of practice model for this group where it’s just kind of get together and talk and see what organically evolves….

Respondent 2: Well, people talk about their individual projects and then we ask questions of what people have done in the past, sort of best practice questions but also what issues came up with that sort of research and how we might improve a little bit. Yeah.

Respondent 1: And through that discussion one person may jump in and say, ‘You might want to read this article because I think it would be really helpful to your research,’ or ‘You know, this tool might be really useful for you,’ you know, that kind of thing.

The value of having partners or groups for discussion was emphasized by most

interviewees. Whether the interviewee was slightly or highly experienced; and, as mentioned in 4.7.2.2, whether they preferred working independently or co-authoring, they still found value in discussing ideas with their peers. Thus, fostering situations where discussion between peers is encouraged is an important and valuable way to create support for research. Lastly, an

Keeping research actively on librarians’ minds in turn creates a sense of both expectation and possibility. It encourages a pro-research thought process and helps researchers to maintain momentum.

As mentioned in 4.3.1 above, many academic librarians fear research. As a result, they dislike talking or even thinking about research. To help combat this feeling, it is important to identify, recruit, or build individuals who view research in a positive light. From there, it is also important to encourage organization-wide propagation of positivity towards research. Moral support – emotional support to boost morale and provide encouragement – is important for building positive feelings about research. Recognition of research achievements is a key way to build moral support, as described here:

I think the biggest benefit is just the communal aspect of it. So, obviously the folks you already met with are writing, so they understand, you know, whenever somebody publishes something, you know, there’s a bar on campus and we get a pint or something. But in general it’s very much lauded; it’s brought up at faculty meetings that so and so has published this and we all clap. And so I think, within the library itself, it’s more of the biggest support is kind of the moral [support] aspect. The recognition, I guess, is the example. (D4)

Holding a recognition event such as an annual forum can formalize both peer discussions and recognition for moral support. “We’ll have occasional sharing sessions where someone will present at a conference and we’ll have them do basically a brief version or the entire presentation for the library faculty…. Just so we all know what we’re all working on. And that kind of thing is encouraged. I think that’s really valuable” (B1). This strategy combines elements of having a research discussion group and having a recognition event.

No single support can ensure research success in the library. A combination of tangible and community-based supports is needed. In addition, librarians must be able to take advantage of available resources and supports. Because of the busy workload, flexibility is also needed.