Information centers have had a shift from individual, linear research to being environments where collaboration, creation, and open-ended information searches are welcomed and encouraged. Academic institutions are no exception to this trend. Libraries at universities are necessary to guide students in their curiosity and open-ended exploration of topics they find interesting.
With the goal of being an academic librarian, there are a few things I would like to implement into my future career. I want to encourage students to explore research topics that interest them and consult a variety of sources. Direct reference questions are on the decline while complex, interpersonal questions have increased; this is cause for academic librarians to shift the mindset on how they guide students in conducting research (Mathews, 2015). We need to encourage student curiosity by designing research projects that allow students to explore their own interests without becoming overwhelmed by the possibilities.
Even if students have something they really want to interest, they may face challenges that we have to guide them through. For one, the options for what to research might seem overwhelming. This could result in students not selecting a plausible research topic; perhaps it’s too specific, too broad, or there is not enough scholarly research to do a research project on it. Further, the hyperlinked environment of viable scholarly sources is vast; students may not know where to look for sources or what sources to look for.
Here are a few resources with information on how information professionals can help students to overcome these challenges to find interesting and relevant research topics.
Sparking curiosity – Anne-Marie Deitering and Hannah Gascho Rempel talk about strategies they have implemented at OSU to encourage students to embrace curiosity and promote open-minded, exploratory research. Creating guided activities for students to practice their research skills was helpful for getting students comfortable with research. They also guided students in taking their interests and developing them into appropriate research topics. They found that when students could discover topics they already had interest in, they were more intrinsically motivated do their assignments.
Designing curiosity– Peter Carney talks about the need for students to utilize their curiosity in the age of information overload. He cites research that explains we remember what we think about, not what we are taught. We can One interesting thing that he mentioned is that we cannot suppress teacher curiosity. Teachers should be empowered to create their own teaching methods. This sentiment can be transferred to information professionals. I have had the idea that when I am an academic librarians, I will have students play The Wiki Game. The rules are to get from one Wikipedia page to another through hyperlinks. I thought this would be a fun and creative way to show the interconnectedness of the topics we research and the Internet as a whole.
How to create an effective LibGuide – LibGuides are an excellent tool for information professionals to create a manageable hyperlinked environment for students to determine research topics. We can link databases, have a section on how to conduct an effective search, and add inspiration for searches that may interest students.
How to use Wikipedia in a smart way – Though Wikipedia should not be used as a primary source, it can be used as an exploratory resource. This LibGuide can be shown to students guide them in exploring their interests.
References
Deitering, A-M., & Rempel H. G. (2017, February 22). Sparking Curiosity – Librarians’ Role in Encouraging Exploration. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2017/sparking-curiosity/
Diao, J. (2023, June 1). How To Use Wikipedia in a Smart Way. York College. https://libguides.york.cuny.edu/Wikipedia
Eby, L. (2025, June 18). LibGuides How-To Guide. SJSU. https://library.sjsu.edu/how-to
Mathews, B. (2015, May 27). The Evolving & Expanding Service Landscape Across Academic Libraries. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/blognetwork/theubiquitouslibrarian/2015/05/27/the-evolving-expanding-service-landscape-across-academic-libraries/
TedX Talks. (2015, December 1). Designing Curiosity | Peter Carney | TEDxJacksonville [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8nnyjvaYVM&t=105s
Hi @lindsaymahowald,
Great post! As another aspiring academic library worker, there were several terrific resources shared here. I especially like the idea of ‘guided research’ activities with students to develop their researching skills foundationally for all that may come later.
I relate, also, to what you noted about how college and university library spaces have changed. I think back to when I was an undergrad student some 15 years ago, and the floors were already quite different than what we see today. Today, in recent times I’ve toured a few spaces, there are fewer individualized desks and massive shelves and more dry-erase boards, conference rooms, study cubes, and collaborative pods for group project work and the like.
@lindsaymahowald I really enjoyed reading your post and appreciated the resources you provided that help build off of and encourage student’s curiosity during the research process!
@lindsaymahowald this is very cool and I’m so glad you chose to look at the hyperlink to academic library. I appreciate what you highlighted: academic librarian should be encouraging curiosity and providing a holistic style service to students as they discover what the research process entails. Thanks for sharing the resources above.