Presented at the 2016 Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Libraries conference (London, UK). This presentation reports the findings of an analysis of personal network data gathered from the novice librarian researcher participants of the first year of the Institute for Research Design in Librarianship (IRDL), an institute designed to provide instruction in how to conduct a research project and establish a peer-network of like-minded librarians to support each other throughout the research process. Analysis of the first year of data (four waves) will be discussed in this presentation. The data gathered is about the people and the strength of the relationship in the personal research networks of each of the IRDL participants. During the presentation we will report on the observations of the networks over a year’s time and show you visually how they evolved. The results have implications for how librarians develop themselves, and may influence the future of libraries generally. A highlight of this presentation is to focus on our methodological decision to gather the four waves of data in survey format. We will describe the mechanism used to gather that data, the freely available, open source, web-based software used to gather personal network data, EgoWeb 2.0. We will describe the process of customizing the survey software to ask questions about the people in the librarians’ research networks. We will demonstrate the computations that the software provides, as well as the attractive visualizations of the personal networks.

1. Marie R. Kennedy, Loyola Marymount University
David P. Kennedy, RAND Corporation
Kristine Brancolini, Loyola Marymount University

2. Agenda
1. Problem statement
2. The Institute for Research Design in
Librarianship (IRDL)
3. IRDL assessment plan
4. Social network analysis component
Focus on EgoWeb 2.0

3. 1.
Problem
Statement

4. How does the
personal learning network of
a novice librarian researcher
evolve on their path to becoming
a more advanced researcher?

5. 2.
Background
on IRDL

6. “Kennedy, Marie R. & Kristine R. Brancolini
(2012).
“Academic librarian research: A survey of
attitudes, involvement, and perceived
capabilities.”
College & Research Libraries 73(5): 431-448.

7. IMLS Laura Bush
21st Century Librarian
Program, 2013-2016
(RE-06-13-0060-13)
To create a learning
experience and
support network for
academic and
research librarians.
Funding Source & Partners

8. IRDL
Summer
Workshop

9. Goal of IRDL
Increase the number of academic librarians
with specific research skills in conducting and
disseminating the results of research.

10. 3.
Assessment
Plan

11. Assessment Plan
Research
proposals
Confidence
Mastery
of content
Development of
personal learning
networks

12. 4.
Social
Network
Analysis
Component

13. Methods
Design
Ego-centered
Longitudinal(4 waves
over one year)
Focused on the
research network of
each of the IRDL
Scholars.
Population
Entire cohort of the
2014 IRDL
25 academiclibrarians
employed in single, full-
time positionsin
institutionsof higher
education (community
college, college, and
university libraries)
All novice researchers
Instrument
Survey constructed and
processed using
EgoWeb 2.0
Self-administeredvia
the Web

14. Survey Construction
elicitation composition structure

15. EgoWeb 2.0
Open-source survey software
Easily create social network data collection
instruments
• Generate lists of network members
“Who is in the network?”
• Ask questions about network members
“What are the characteristics of these people?”
• Ask about connections among network
members
“How are they connected to each other?”

16. EgoWeb 2.0: Network elicitation

17. EgoWeb 2.0: Network composition

18. EgoWeb 2.0: Network structure

19. EgoWeb 2.0: Data processing
Adjust display
settings

21. Size of the networks
Consider the numbers of people with
whom the IRDL Scholars interacted
for research purposes during the
course of one year.

22. Total Network Size and Average Size at Each Wave
T1 T2 T3 T4
Network Size
Minimum 5 8 5 2
Maximum 20 40 42 40
Average(SD) 10.78 (3.83) 24.74 (9.91) 16.09 (9.26) 16.39 (10.60)
Total 248 569 370 377
Change from T1 to T2
Average(SD) + 13.95 (9.00)
Total + 321
Change from T2 to T3
Average(SD) - 8.65 (10.69)
Total - 199
Change from T3 to T4
Average(SD) + 0.30 (7.85)
Total + 7
Change from T1 to T4
Average(SD) + 5.60 (10.08)
Total + 129

24. Strength of the relationships
Look closer at those mentioned in all
four waves.

25. Category of Relationship by Type of Support
(Those named across all four waves, n=107)
Personal friend Professional
colleague
Both friend and
colleague
abs. % abs. % abs. %
I’m usually asking this
person for advice or
help 6 42.86% 20 58.82% 14 23.73%
I’m usually giving this
person advice or help
0 0.00% 4 11.76% 4 6.78%
It’s pretty even; I ask
for help but also give
help in equal amounts
8 57.14% 10 29.41% 41 69.49%
Total 14 100% 34 100% 59 100%

26. Density of the networks
Examine the cohesion of the research
networks of the Scholars.

28. Discussion
Research question
Difference scores
Rate of change
Reciprocal assistance

29. Questions, comments, suggestions?
Marie Kennedy (marie.kennedy@lmu.edu)
David P. Kennedy (davidk@rand.org)
Kristine Brancolini (brancoli@lmu.edu)
For additional information about IRDL:
http://irdlonline.org
For additional information about EgoWeb:
http://egoweb.info

30. Thanks
Special thanks to the people who made and
released these presentation resources for free:
◈ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
◈ Backgrounds by SubtlePatterns