Originally written for my UNT MS-LS ePortfolio, Fall 2025.
Competency Fulfillment
The ALA Competency of Research and Evidence-Based Practice, broadly, entails reviewing existing research and synthesize using multidisciplinary approaches to solve relevant information issues, recognize the application and ethics of various research methods and analysis, demonstrating awareness of principles, issues, and cultural differences and the impact on each stage of research, understand barriers to research and the distinction between research and practical application, as well as understanding the importance in engaging relevant foundations and communications for continued professional growth and knowledge distillation. My initial foray into this competency was through chemistry coursework during my undergraduate experience, where reviewing existing research publications and synthesizing was a core competency to graduate. I mastered this competency through reinforcement in several courses, primarily INFO 5080: Research Methods and Analysis. Knowledge was distilled via assigned readings, including text and scholarly publications, and reinforced with quizzes and submissions.
INFO 5080 presented the spectrum of research methods, the advantages and pitfalls of each, instilled the ethical considerations of each research method, considered cultural bias and barriers to conducting research, and reviewing literature for existing research. Additionally, INFO 5300: Management of Information Agencies, INFO 5302: Advanced Management of Information Agencies, and INFO 5320: Public Libraries each had assignments reinforcing the principle of discovering, engaging, and synthesizing existing research for application in a hypothetical professional situation or institutional dilemma. INFO 5302 and INFO 5320 each had assignments that required venturing out of librarianship to find articles to synthesize and apply analyses. INFO 5600: Information Access and Knowledge Inquiry reinforces the effects and impact of bias and barriers to conducting research.
Exemplification of Competency
The final project for INFO 5080, Final Project Hypothesis: Garland County Library Demographics demonstrates the competency obtained from coursework. Ethical considerations were addressed by requesting and obtaining permission from Garland County Library Executive Director, Adam Webb. In addition to conducting research on observing patron characteristics, responses were provided to a worksheet addressing several practical research concerns, including specifying the hypothesis, discerning the null hypothesis, collection and review of data and worked-up statistics, as well as reviewing existing data regarding demographics about Garland County, AR.
A successful submission required an understanding how to find, engage, and synthesize existing research and data for relevant application to the background of the project, selecting the appropriate research method to apply to the project and presenting data, analysis, and evaluation with research techniques, and understanding barriers encountered during the research and how that applies overall. Scholarly sources were also reviewed during the project to enhance understanding of public library demographics, although none of this early-stage scholarly source synthesis was strictly necessary or mentioned in the final submission.