Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Library and Information Science

PDF

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

2018

Librarianship

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

How We Done It Good: Research Through Design As A Legitimate Methodology For Librarianship, Rachel Ivy Clarke Oct 2018

How We Done It Good: Research Through Design As A Legitimate Methodology For Librarianship, Rachel Ivy Clarke

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

“How we done it good” publications—a genre concerning project-based approaches that describe how (and sometimes why) something was done—are often rebuked in the library research community for lacking traditional scientific validity, reliability, and generalizability. While scientific methodologies may be a common approach to research and inquiry, they are not the only methodological paradigms. This research posits that the “how we done it good” paradigm in librarianship reflects a valid and legitimate approach to research. By drawing on the concept of research through design, this study shows how these “how we done it good” projects reflect design methodologies which draw …


Toward A Design Epistemology For Librarianship, Rachel I. Clarke Jan 2018

Toward A Design Epistemology For Librarianship, Rachel I. Clarke

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

The design of information tools and services is an integral component of librarianship, yet American librarianship has self-identified as a social science for more than 100 years. This paper suggests an alternative epistemological perspective to the scientific tradition in librarianship: design epistemology. The paper discusses key elements that comprise design epistemology and presents examples of manifestations of these elements in librarianship. Analysis reveals that librarianship has much in common with design epistemology, yet the field lacks explicit acknowledgement of design as a fundamental epistemological framework. The paper concludes with a call for reconceptualizing librarianship as a design discipline.