CLIS J705 - Introduction to Research

in Library & Information Science

Research Article Critique Assignment

University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Science

Citations for Research Study Critique (choose two):

SUGGESTED Guidelines for writing the critique:

• Give the main idea(s) of the article.
• Provide details and examples to support the main points.
• Discuss all relevant conclusions that the author(s) make.
• Give your reaction to what you have read.
• Be prepared to discuss your information in class.

PLEASE BE SURE TO LET ME KNOW WHICH ARTICLE IT IS YOU’RE CRITIQUING.  Also, your creativity will be praised! Feel free to be creative with your analysis! The more personal connections you make to the articles you select to critique, the more YOU will benefit. 

When critiques are returned to you via email the following marks will be used:  something highlighted in yellow means that it's not needed or is being corrected; something highlighted in blue means it's a great use of language or really adds to the work; something in bold and red within the text is a comment to you.

~ Remember: I don’t care what you think, I care that you think!

Use DISCUS – South Carolina’s Virtual Library to download the full-text of these articles.  For more information on how to access the InfoTrac OneFile and Expanded Academic databases via the SC State Library’s DISCUS project, visit http://www.sc.edu/library/alphaindex.html.

1. Library Trends, Spring 1998 v46 n4 p718(14) Scholar's playground or wisdom's temple? Competing metaphors in a library electronic text center. Moira Smith; Paul Yachnes. Abstract: Cognitive anthropological theories are employed in the study of how librarians and library users conceptualize and respond to electronic texts. Metaphors used and behavioral patterns exhibited are deduced. The three most common metaphors are presented.

2. Library Quarterly, July 2001 v71 i3 p360 STANDPOINT EPISTEMOLOGY AS AN ALTERNATIVE METHODOLOGY FOR LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE. Samuel E. Trosow. Research traditions in library and information science (LIS) are deeply rooted in Enlightenment notions of Western science. A central element of this tradition is the insistence on neutrality as a prerequisite to objectivity. In LIS, neutrality has also become a guiding practice. Alternative epistemological projects challenge Enlightenment-based conceptions and have much to offer research in LIS. Integrating these projects into the conceptual frameworks of LIS research will provide powerful epistemological resources for future work. A metatheoretical framework is reviewed, and the qualitative/ quantitative dichotomy, prevalent in LIS, is critiqued. Standpoint epistemology, as a critique of existing power-knowledge relationships, is discussed as a research strategy that can provide a starting point for reconceptualizing LIS research.

3. Library Trends, Spring 1998 v46 n4 p616(19) Flaubert, Foucault, and the Bibliotheque Fantastique: toward a postmodern epistemology for library science. (Gustave Flaubert, Michel Foucault) Gary P. Radford. Abstract: The library experience is analysed from the perspective of literary theory, and an alternative postmodern epistemology is posited. Traditional ideas about the library, librarians and, importantly, the library user can be re-thought in terms of the new theory.

4. Library Quarterly, April 1995 v65 n2 p161(39) The use and misuse of anthropological methods in library and information science research. Alan R. Sandstrom; Pamela Effrein Sandstrom. Abstract: Contemporary practitioners of information science research have begun to adopt methodologies that tend to disparage the role of science and which are misleadingly passed off as qualitative techniques. To avoid this pitfall, researchers should use scientific ethnographic methods in their work.

5. RQ, Winter 1997 v36 n2 p270(7) Using undergraduate marketing students in an unobtrusive reference evaluation. Mary Tygett; V. Lonnie Lawson; Kathleen Weessies. Abstract: Marketing students evaluated reference services at Central Missouri State University's library. The staff were unaware that they were being evaluated. Results of the study indicate that marketing students conduct subjective surveys well because they understand the methodology and its problems.

6. Information Technology and Libraries, Sept 1996 v15 n3 p135(21) Improving personal-name searching in online catalogs. Karen M. Drabenstott; Marjorie S. Weller. Abstract: Personal name queries are one of the most common online catalogue search types, but research indicates that these searches sometimes do not yield useful information. Methods for improvement include using search trees, new ways of soliciting user queries and user surveys on effectiveness.

7. Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services, June 2002 v15 i2 p70(10) The role of research in public libraries. Kirsty Williamson.  Abstract:   The traditional ways in which library research has been undertaken and the predominantly quantitative approach of the library survey are discussed. Recent trends to using qualitative or interpretivist approaches to research, or of using mixed methods, are explored together with examples of recent research projects in public libraries in Australia. A mind stretching, but realistic scenario of the possibilities of public library research is examined. Edited version of a paper given at the Alia national public libraries conference Melbourne November 2001.

8. Library Trends, Spring 1998 v46 n4 p681(18) The keys to the kingdom have been distributed: an organizational analysis of an academic computing center. Gillian M. McCombs. Abstract: Cultural analysis, or ethnography, can successfully be applied to the study of organizational realities. An academic computing center is studied from this vantage point in order to understand, and facilitate, the smooth cooperation between computing professionals and librarians.