The spring semester is officially over. There is one thing I always do before diving into the joy of summer – gathering the research ideas my students had in the Research Methods class and putting them into a list. I used to do this in an Excel file, but now, documenting them on this blog seems a better idea. So here we go:

• What barriers exist that inhibit parents of elementary school children from utilizing public library materials and services?
• What motivates patrons to use tagging features in library catalogs?  Do different tagging interfaces make a difference?
• What connection, if any, does the age of a school library collection have upon student use of the library, both in terms of visits and circulation?  In addition, are there specific genres/subject areas in which currency has a greater impact?
• Are public libraries attracting new digital users through mobile library services?
• Do academic libraries lend more support to group studying, or to individual studying, or do they support the two types of studying equally?
• Do LGBTQ young adults have access to LGBTQ collections and programs in San Francisco Bay Area public libraries?
•  How does library jargon on reference desk signage affect student recognition of in-person reference services at the CSULB Library?
• What are best practices for developing and administering Drupal user permissions and roles for library websites?
• What are the challenges users face when browsing and transferring library ebooks into their ereaders?
• How does the content and visibility of online Interlibrary Loan signage impact the success of library patrons in using ILL services?
• What are key factors in the success of animal-assisted literacy programs offered at public libraries?
• How do California public librarians use information gathered from social cataloging sites in their reader’s advisory programs?
• How effectively does the Oakland Public Library meet the technology needs of Oakland teens?
• What is the level of accuracy in the mapping of interface terminologies from selected fields in electronic health record systems to SNOMED CT?
• How do library patrons’ emotions and thought processes affect their choice of mode of reference service, specifically between face-to-face reference service and chat reference service?
• What are the nature, size, and accessibility of the University of California and California State campus radio archives?
• Does pictogram signage improve patron access to the collection in the elementary school library?
• Does allowing food and drink increase the number of people coming to the library?
• Do reference librarians yield the same results when given the same research question face-to-face vs. an asynchronous form?
• What are attorneys’ perceptions of their law library transitioning to an entirely electronic library?
• Do professionally staffed elementary school libraries have an impact on students’ reading achievement?
• How does the library staff benefit from a full-time social worker at the SFPL?
• What comparisons and contrasts can be drawn between the respective impacts of children’s and teens’ participation in variously structured public library-run summer programs on teen reading and library use habits?
• What combination of skills, experience, and academic qualifications are required to get a job as an entry-level special librarian in a hi-tech company?

As always, a wonderful array of research questions seeking to tackle various kinds of important problems in our profession. They each designed a study based on their respective research question, and wrote a research proposal about it. Hopefully some of them will actually carry it out!

(photo from http://www.ksos.kit.edu/img/IDEAS_Design.JPG)