The staff and librarians of KUMC’s A.R. Dykes Library support many different information needs from KUMC library users, including all KUMC students, staff, faculty, and affiliated researchers. We use a variety of online resources such as the library's public homepage, its interlibrary loan requesting service, and its research guides to address some of these needs. These resources, though, are by nature broad in scope and don't answer every unique question that KUMC library users may have. For specific user inquiries, librarians provide research consultations.
What is a Research Consultation?
Research consultations are direct meetings or interactions between a librarian and an individual or small group of library users. To me they are a process of mutual learning and sharing of knowledge. Many KUMC library users possess knowledge and ideas from their experience and domain expertise that librarians don't have; conversely, librarians know how to connect that knowledge and ideas to relevant tools, resources, and services that help the library user to achieve their goals. That partnership and chance to learn from each other is an invaluable asset to all KUMC students, staff, faculty, and affiliated researchers looking to enhance their research knowledge and skills
Consultation Topics
Librarians assist with a number of different topics in research consultations, including research best practices, creating research questions and search strategies, locating publishing/library-provided funding options, advising with non-legal guidance on the use of copyrighted works in student theses and dissertations, setting up and troubleshooting in EndNote 21 and Covidence, and addressing faculty needs in supporting information and resource access in curriculum materials.
Consultation Questions
To get a feel for what this process is like, it may be helpful to see examples of actual questions from library users I've encountered during my time at KUMC:
- “Would you give me an opinion on a journal that emailed me directly? I’ve got a paper I need to resubmit somewhere, but I’m always a bit leery of the solicitations.”
- “What are the copyright rules of using an article the library doesn't have access to in my classroom?”
- “How do I find articles that talk about populations with respiratory illnesses living in urban environments are affected by excessive heat?”
- “How do I properly cite and comply with copyright best practices for using two figures in my dissertation?”
- “What kinds of databases can help me search for developments and research in medical education?”
These are some examples of the kinds of questions Research and Learning librarians can help answer in research consultations.
Scheduling a Research Consultation
All research consultations are free of charge and can occur in-person, via Zoom/Teams, and via email correspondence depending on the question. Sometimes a topic is more straightforward, sometimes it requires a quicker back and forth verbally.
The best method for scheduling a research consultation is by navigating to the Research and Learning page on the library homepage. There, a library user may locate their school's Research and Learning liaison librarian to email directly or schedule a consultation using the librarian’s scheduler tool. This will show librarian availability so a user can easily find a time that suits both the user and librarian.
If a library user isn’t sure who to set up a consultation with, email dykesresearch@kumc.edu.
