Collecting Data

Posted April 30, 2021 by Sarah Callanan

It is the busy part of the semester, everyone!  As I’ve mentioned before, I’m taking LIS 621: Conducting Research: Methods and Design for the Spring 2021 semester, and it is crunch time!  My research partner and I’s project is on public library services and leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Greater Boston area, and we’ve been deep into the data collection portion of our study for a while now.  

Our project is a two-phase study: the first part consists of a content analysis investigating information regarding COVID-19 policies and the services each library in our sample is offering during the pandemic. The second part consists of semi-structured interviews with local library directors via Zoom or email, whichever works best for their schedule.   The overall purpose of our project is to investigate what services public libraries in the Greater Boston area have been offering their patrons throughout the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and to understand the leadership strategies utilized by local library directors when crafting COVID-19 policies and making service model decisions.  It is a really fascinating project to work on, and I’m really excited about the progress that we’ve made and the data that we’ve collected!  This data collection section of our project has been busy, exciting, stressful, challenging, and rewarding all at the same time.  It’s super interesting work, but we’re also running against the clock, which is a bit nerve-wracking.   Our semester ends in less than a month, and in about three weeks we have our presentation and our paper is due!   

One of the reasons why I’ve really enjoyed LIS 621 is because it has given me an opportunity to learn about the research process and explore research methods in the context of doing a research study.  I really enjoy the hands-on approach, and I truly wish this semester was longer!  

Wish me luck for the final push!