On Monday I turned in my capstone writing project and gave my presentation.  The topic was: Health Information seeking behaviors of parishioners in a small parish. I really wanted more time to tune it up-to delete the comments to myself, like “I do not know what this means. or “A reference belongs here.” or to add pages numbers on references.  I am not sure I am supposed to do this, even having read and use the APA publication guide.

I am glad to have it over with.  In truth, I really enjoy the process of research and writing. The process of discovery through learning is quite interesting and fun. To commit to paper one’s thoughts and ideas is very satisfying and empowering to me. To haven written leaves me with a satisfaction that I have yet to find anywhere else.

With that enjoyment, though, comes a completely different set of emotional needs than those when I am not writing. I end up needing nurturing and support. After two deaths in the family, I was a very needy writer.

All in all, the class was a wonderful experiences, though stressful.  Dr. Chelton was very kind, down to earth and supportive. I think that this class should be a two semester course: one semester for the literature search and review and another to work on the project itself.

This was the first paper of its size I have written.  108 pages was not too bad to create. Now, I am more confident in my writing and research skills….but I can always improve.

It is the mid-term and I am hard at work on reading more articles for my 709 paper and interviewing volunteers.  My topic is health information seeking behaviors of parishioners in a small parish. As soon as I finish reading one piece, identifying the subtopics in each article and taking notes on the article, I find that the reference list yields more and more sources that would be interesting to read and use in the paper. I have at least 86 articles, many more of which require reading.

I identified seven volunteers.  I need ten volunteers. I tested my questions yesterday and did  the first interview. I was so moved by the comments of the volunteer that I had to stop a couple of times. The research instrument is an  in depth interview of 42 questions. I seem to have a knack of generating these long research instruments and finding large numbers of articles.

This project is to become another facet of my life’s work. I am absolutely more and more fascinated by the information on this concept of health information seeking behavior. The fact that little, if any, has been written/studied about the sub-demographic of church-goers in interesting to me.

Since beginning the research class I began working on the IRB (Institutional Review Board) application using IRBNet.org a couple of days ago.  It is quite an application.  It is long and requires attention to thinking about one’s proposed project ethically. One must think about informed consent, screening, seeking volunteers, creating flyers and ads, special procedures used in the research, and numerous other aspects of performing research using human subjects.

I have found that thinking about my project from an ethical perspective sheds new light on ethical aspects of research.

Until now, I have not had to deal with the IRB.  I elected to do a project that involves the IRB because I want to do further research and I want to have the experience of working with the IRB. I believe that If I do not take the opportunity to work with the IRB now, that I will shy away from working with IRBs in the future.

One of my fears is that I will not obtain IRB approval early enough and that my interviews will have to be done hastily, so that the analysis, discussion and the ultimate completion of the project will take longer than I expected. The project is to be completed by the end of the semester…

I am still reading articles-articles I found at the seminary library, articles on our databases, and articles found at the end of the articles…I haven’t perused the Dissertation Abstracts yet.

Today I am reading more articles and organizing them, working on the introduction and fine tuning the research instrument. Since I am planning to perform in-depth interviews, I expect to have to record the interviews and I must obtain a digital recorder, which is an extra expense this semester.

The work on the project is progressing. It is progressing slooooooowly, but progressing nevertheless.

This semester I am enrolled in the Research in Library and Information Studies course….the dreaded 709 (so thought by many). By the end of this course we are expected to have prepared a significant piece of writing called the capstone project. Since the longest paper I have every written, to my memory, is about 2000 words, and this excludes the big Encyclopedia Project I am working on, the capstone project is a bit daunting.

Since I have been working on the Encyclopedia Project for six years now, a large writing project is not too intimidating, I have the self-possession enough to know that it can be done…one step at a time. I have established my topic, that being the health information seeking behaviors of parishioners in a  small Episcopal parish. I am working on the literature review. I have found that the more that I find the more articles may be found by combing the list of references at the end of each paper and I have found quite a number of relevant articles, all of which I plan to read…well…as much as I can read before I think enough is enough. I have yet to search the Dissertations Abstracts database.

I am working on my research instrument for the series of unstructured interviews.

There is lots to read and learn from the materials that Dr. Chelton has posted on Blackboard. All that I have read so far has been very helpful.

I have picked a topic that required the participation of the IRB and I am learning how to use IRBNet, the online version of the IRB.  It helps one to organize all the documents and streamlines the process required if one is using human subjects. I suppose that I could have selected a topic that does no require the involvement of the IRB, but I feared that if I did  not tackle this thing that I am afraid of, that is, a project involving the IRB, that I would never venture forth. So here I am…plodding along, and slooooowly progressing.

The semester is almost over…and, with it, my internship at Touro-Harlem Medical Library.  I have currently completed 148 of the 150 hours required.  I plan to continue putting in hours (16 hours per week)  until the end of the semester to round out the activities and learning objectives as listed in the action plan I created at the beginning of the semester.

I have had a exciting and learning filled internship and I am looking forward my next class…709.

Happy Holidays.

I had hoped to be able to blog about my internship in some detail.  I am advised that this is not possible. So my musings will be limited.

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It has been several months since my last post.

Time is passing. Just yestesrday I was taking 701, when I started the program in Fall, 2010.

I recently completed Organization and Management of Academic Libraries with Dr. Marcum. The course was very satisfying, in that it was not as structured as the other courses such that one had to focus on self learning and create a learning plan/structure. Very interesting and useful as I move into an independent study course, in which I am reviewing the literature on information seeking behaviors of medical professionals/ medical students/residents.

I am working on the modules for the CITI,the institutional review board training tool, since I plan to use human subjects in my capstone project and I want to take this opportunity to learn by experiencing the IRB process.

Records Management, the other course I am taking this semester, is interesting.  I had not really given corporate/organizational records too much thought, let alone their management.

Upon completion and passing of these two courses I will have three additional courses to take. I want to do my internship in the fall or spring and I have a site in mind that I am almost certain I can arrange an internship with. The capstone project looms. One other course I can take-maybe another internship, a course on something digital or information literacy, perhaps.

So I have my hands full…and promise not to wait so long to write again.

The storm is over for many.  I never lost power and trees did not fall much around me.  For many though, the storm left disaster in its wake. A hospital worker returned to work today after the first floor of her home was flooded.  She had been awake many ours and her hands were swollen were red.  Still, she came to work despite her losses.

Our church, St. Ann & the Holy Trinity in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, has started collecting items to be distributed to the people affected by Sandy. The prescription assistance program is ready to help people in need of free medication.

I am grateful for the minimal effect the storm had on me and my friends and neighbors. This storm is a good exapmle why there needs to be space for print materials in the medical libraries.  When there is no computer access, health care professionals need to know how to do it the old fashioned way and make it work.

God’s grace and peace to all of you and to those who especially need to be in our thoughts and prayers.

The storm left me very fearful. By the time the storm was over I had slept a lot, listened to the radio a lot and did not touch a bit of classwork. …and I was lucky enough to have power, water and food throughout. My thoughts and prayers go out to the people who lost property and lives.

NYU hospital’s loss of power and the need to transfer many patients left me with a great sense of all the effort that goes into making disaster plans. The way the city handled the storm was commendable from a citizen’s point of view.