potential topics, identified problem areas:

- distance learning & digital collections

-- problem is not many students appear to use or know about digital collections (or other library resources/services)

-- would have to create treatment and do an experiment

- embedded librarianship

-- no rigorous way to identify sample

-- not administratively created program--done spottily, with widely varying purposes & practices

- education of library deans

-- already a lot of descriptive literature (the practical contribution)

-- questionable usefulness--is the degree for credentials or skillsets?

-- theoretical model...? complex systems theory, which would have to be tested

-- BUT -- it would make a good mock dissertation topic IF:

--- IF i can find inferential stats to study, and

--- IF i can find a theoretical basis for it

- library assessment

-- NSSE isn't a meaningful correlation; inherently includes library use AS student engagement

-- student academic achievement is too complex a construct to study with this topic

-- maybe faculty productivity instead

--- departments of Higher Education at Big Ten schools (are these also ARL institutions?)

--- count their productivity numbers (is there an existing model for this?)

--- for each (?) publication, use their citations to determine how many of their sources were obtained through their academic library

--- what about the others? ask about ILL use?

my problems to solve:

- get a topic; it needs to be:

-- empirical, inferential research

-- do-able: specifically focused enough & achievable so that i can FINISH and GRADUATE

-- interesting to me

-- original

-- practical or meaningful contribution to research or practice

-- relate to both 1) academic libraries and 2) higher educational institutions

- write 2-3 chapters in time for the end of the class in December

what are my next steps?

- read the literature on (focus on most recent years first):

-- faculty productivity

-- library assessment

- talk to library professional experienced in academic libraries & research:

-- Dr. P. Turner

-- TWU head of LIS

-- Dr. Totten or other SLIS prof

-- Dr. Bower

-- Dr. Halbert

--- talk to Suzanne & Alex about this possibility

- brainstorm over the weekend on topics

-- first thing on Saturday

what is holding me back from achieving these things? how can i alleviate them?

- lack of time (work/school/home)

-- option 1: quit job -- reject: i like my job, i need people-time and to feel i am contributing meaningfully to the world, and i need the money

-- option 2: hire help (personal assistant, housekeeper, bookkeeper) -- reject: unaffordable

-- option 3: alex works closer to home and has time to help out -- reject: the obvious reasons

- lack of energy (see above; also focus is split between high-stakes job and school)

- lack of ideas--this seems to be my problem also at work (vision, innovation), in creative writing (plot), in professional writing (content, purpose, inferential statistical problem to study)

philosophoical point about secondary data over surveys, experiments