27. Anchoring qualitative research support: two university library case studies

Qualitative research is fundamental to the social sciences but has historically sailed in the shadow of, and received less support than, quantitative research. In her pioneering study of the nascent state of qualitative supports in academic libraries, Swygart-Hobaugh (2016) even dubbed them the 'Jan Brady' of data services. As qualitative researchers, and leaders of research data services and social science support units at our respective libraries, we recognize this and believe our organizations are well positioned to support qualitative researchers throughout the research lifecycle.

This poster will showcase our experiences establishing new qualitative research support services at Temple University Libraries and the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. We will discuss how we developed or restarted our services, from initial benchmarking and internal exploration to service launch, team staffing, and evaluation.

Our two case studies demonstrate practical applications of suggestions made by past researchers, who have explored the visibility and accessibility of qualitative research support and the relationship between qualitative support, data literacy, and other research data services (Swygart-Hobaugh, 2016; Cain et al., 2019; Hagman & Bussell, 2022). We will describe how we acted upon their findings to enhance the discoverability of our libraries’ qualitative services, their educational impact, and their integration with other programs.

This poster will yield practical insights to benefit other library, information, and data professionals launching new or developing existing qualitative research support services. We hope to inspire IASSIST 2024 attendees to consider how their organizations can navigate a research landscape where qualitative data and methods are increasingly valued.