LibParlor Online Learning

• Develop and articulate a personal understanding of their research identity and values in order to create short- and long-term research goals
• Identify and navigate the institutional and professional systems that intersect with LISLibrary and Information Science An interdisciplinary field that examines how physical and digital information is organized, accessed, collected, managed, disseminated and used, particularly in library settings. research in their given context
• Describe the LIS research process and articulate disciplinary norms in order to make informed decisions about their own research projects
• Assess various LIS research methodologies in order to choose an appropriate approach for their own projects 
• Apply project planning skills and strategies in order to develop a research proposal and timeline 
• Critically evaluate the field of LIS research in order to advocate for change and promote an inclusive, supportive, and rigorous research community

• A researcher identity statement: This is a personal narrative that demonstrates their interests, values, and positionalityPositionality The identity of us as a researcher as it relates to the social and political context of a research study. Our positionality is based on our past experiences and shapes how you approach the research process. as a researcher. 
• A research agendaResearch agenda An iterative document or statement that provides a roadmap to your short and long term topics and ideas you’d like to research. that articulates their short and long-term research goals. 
• A support ecosystem which demonstrates the various places in their personal and professional life to seek support during the research process. 
• A research proposal that includes a fully formed research topic, a practice literature reviewLiterature Review The process of summarizing, synthesizing and/or critiquing literature around a specific topic/idea. This work can help a researcher understand what has happened before and also how past research intersects and or diverges from other research. A literature review can be a full-length manuscript or a subsection within a larger research article., proposed methods, a data managementData management The ways a researcher collects, organizes, stores, and accesses data they collect for research. Creating a data management plan allows a researcher to know what data they will be collecting and how they will store and organize it during the research project. & ethics plan, a project schedule, and a practice Call For Proposals submission

Course 1 encourages self-reflection on the role of personal experiences in shaping research, translating values into research agendas, and identifying supportive resources to clarify research goals and interests.

Course 2 will cover the LIS research process and help you choose an appropriate approach for your own project by learning about the field’s body of literature, methodologies, and approaches to conducting research.

Course 3 will cover project planning and help you think through the various elements of putting your research plan together.

Course 4 will cover some of the basics for getting started with writing your research.

Course 5 will touch on elements of the publication and review process once you’ve written and edited your research. 

Course 6 serves as a review of what you’ve learned from LPOL. It will give you an opportunity to put together all the deliverables of the curriculum, reflect on what you’ve learned, how to give back to the community, and provide feedback on the program as a user.

• The hierarchy of the curriculum is course > lesson > topic. Each thematic course is made up of 3-5 lessons, which are then broken down by topic.
• You can choose to take the entire curriculum in order, take one course at a time, or choose individual lessons to complete, depending on your current needs.
• On each lesson page, there are navigational buttons at the bottom to help you move through and between content. Click on the “Next Topic” button to move forward in the lesson, and “Previous Topic” to go back in the lesson. The “Previous Lesson” button will take you back to the prior lesson’s main page.
• When you have finished going through all of the content in each topic as desired, click on the “Mark Complete” button at the bottom of the page. This will track your progress throughout the curriculum and help you keep track of where you’ve left off.

• Each lesson contains one or more activities to help you apply what you’re learning to your own journey. These are not graded or scored.
• There are three types of activities: Reflections (prompts for you to reflect on and answer), Exercises (ways for you to use to check your learning along with the lesson), and Activities (worksheets that iterate and build throughout the curriculum that lead to a final deliverable at the end)
• You are provided with two workbooks for you to download: your main Reflections, Exercises, and Activities LPOL Workbook will be used for Courses 1-5. Fill this out and use in whichever way is most helpful for you and your learning. If you choose to complete the entire curriculum, you will also have a Final LPOL Project Research Plan workbook where you can record the final version of your curriculum artifacts that are all meant to help you put together a full research proposal in Course 6.

1. Read through the How to Use the Curriculum and Frequently Asked Questions section of this page.
2. Register for an account. Using LPOL with your account will allow you to track your progress and pick up where you last left off.
3. You’re ready to go! Choose a course or lesson to start with based on your current needs. For more information on what each course entails, refer to the Courses section on this page. Each lesson offers a suggested audience if you need more guidance, or you are welcome to take the entire curriculum starting with Course 1, Lesson 1.

• The curriculum is entirely self-paced, which means your activity and progress will not be monitored. 
• How you interact with the curriculum material is up to you – many lessons will provide guidance or suggestions on how to do this (journaling, taking handwritten notes, typing up thoughts) but you may choose what works best for you.
• If you’re not quite ready to engage with certain parts of the curriculum, you can always choose to leave it and return to it when you are ready. If certain content does not serve you or relate to your experience, you do not have to continue on with that topic, lesson, or course.

Each course will provide a suggested audience, but it is up to you to decide based on your current learning and research needs.

That’s okay! The curriculum is entirely self-paced. If you reach a point where you’re not ready to move on, you can choose to navigate away from that lesson and choose another one or return at another time.

Each lesson was created by different people, which is why tone can read differently across the curriculum. Each curriculum creator was chosen based on their professional roles and experiences to provide guidance on a certain topic. Review our announcement of our original course creators for more information.

We’ve tried as much as we could to incorporate open access and open source texts for the curriculum’s references and readings. In the future, we will be working on improving access for these texts but in the meantime we hope you will be able to find paywalled sources through your library system.

Each lesson includes an optional feedback form for you to share your thoughts, questions, or corrections to the content. This is meant to be a “living” curriculum, in that we see it being something we update and improve upon over time based on community feedback.

If you notice an error anywhere in the curriculum, please use this form to report it.