Psychology

     I had never truly considered how broad the study of psychology is. It is not surprising that in 1962 Kuhn speculated that psychology might not be a true "science" due to its disjointed theories and lack of general consensus. This does however make psychology an incredibly exciting and diverse field of study, no matter how you define "science."

     Bennet and Simmings explore the effect that "embedding" a librarian in to a course has on the students, faculty, and library. Their study of Capella University's embedded librarian in psychology courses offered conclusions that embedded librarian increase student access to librarians. When students are encouraged by their professors to consult librarians, and are given direct contact to the librarian in the form of an online message board, we see that utilization of librarians increases. This model allows librarians to demonstrate their value at the point of need, rather than waiting for student patrons to approach them. Particularly in the online environment of many of today's institutions, I think this is an important method to take. While this is not by any means applicable only to psychology, the sheer number of psychology classes that undergraduates take may make these classes a good starting point for universities to implement embedded librarians.

   While searching in PubMed, I found a similar study by Alison Konieczny (2010). Konieczny writes in the first person describing her own experiences. She writes that the time commitment varies greatly depending on the need of the class, the class size, etc. She also comments on the variety of roles a librarian might take in the class; sometimes a librarian may only be present in the class at the beginning, preparing introductory content on how to perform research. Other classes might require the librarian to remain embedded the entire time to assist on research needs. Konieczny is sure to note that in particular, online students benefit from embedded librarians because librarians are not as visible to distance learners as they are to students physically attending classes on a traditional university campus. Nevertheless, I think that the concept of embedded librarians is worth exploring even in traditional, in-person classes. Librarians take on more of a central role and students are given more opportunities to explore them as a resource.

      In terms of actual reference sources, there seem to be a huge variety on the web and published in print. Because of the many different areas of study in psychology, these sources are often quite specific. Resources like AmoebaWeb from Vanguard University provide users with websites, blog posts, and resources in specific psychology subtopics like memory, language, social psychology, culture and psychology, etc. There are also the standard databases like PsychINFO and the other APA databases. The APA offers a broad range of products for libraries, from journals, databases, to books and other educational materials.

     In particular, I will be on the look out for more resources related to data and datasets. The APA offers this page as a guide: http://www.apa.org/research/responsible/data-links.aspx. There are also various LibGuides from different institutions providing links to data sets. One nice thing about these LibGuides is that frequently the datasets are not proprietary, even when most LibGuide resources at that institution are. I thought UCLA's guide to datasets was helpful as well. http://guides.library.ucla.edu/content.php?pid=32842&sid=2408190

   




Konieczny, A. (2010). Experiences as an Embedded Librarian in Online Courses. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 29, 47-57. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02763860903485084.