The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, located at 1813 N. High St., is one of many university libraries included in Ohio State’s Undergraduate Research Library Fellowship, for which applications close Feb. 26. Credit: Ashley Kimmel | Lantern Photo File
For the ninth consecutive year, Ohio State is offering its students chances to explore 3D printing, produce plays, solve mysteries and more through the Undergraduate Research Library Fellowship, also known as URLF.
As stated on the URLF’s website, the summer program provides students with the paid opportunity to make revolutionary discoveries about their interests, and about themselves. Within URLF, students work one-on-one with a library mentor from any one of the 11 university libraries, such as the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, Herbarium Library or Music & Dance Library, the website states.
Since the program’s inception in 2016, 47 students have created a URLF research project. Two of those students, Samir Haurani and Rose McCandless, weighed in on their personal experiences throughout the program, while library faculty members shared what the program is like from mentors’ points of view.
A second-year in musicology, Huarani said he completed his research project last summer. Originally, he researched music education and its intersection with disability by analyzing music education and therapy journals at the Music & Dance Library, Huarani said.
Yet, as Haurani continued working on his project, his research question changed as he discovered a new passion: how the K-12 education system has evolved throughout history.
“How has the language shifted? Did a shift in language shift how they go about teaching people?” Huarani said.
“URLF helped me have a better idea of these fields that I had interest in, and what aspects of the fields do I want to go further down,” Huarani said.
Being a student mentee in URLF also provided Haurani with the necessary career direction for the future, he said.
“I have to write a senior thesis as a musicology major,” Haurani said. “Participating in URLF eased a lot of the stress I had about what my potential senior thesis paper would be about.”
Haurani is not the only student to grow intellectually from his time in URLF. McCandless, a 2021 Ohio State alum in history as well as medieval and Renaissance studies, completed her research project the summer of 2019.
For her project, McCandless said she studied a variety of works within the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Collection in Speck Hall. Because of the 40 hours per week she had to allocate to academic investigation per the program’s requirements, McCandless said her time at URLF was crucial in helping her get to where she is today in her research ventures.
“URLF is a priceless opportunity,” McCandless said. “All of my research ties back to my work that summer. I don’t think I would’ve gotten to produce scholarship at the depth I was able to without that amount of time to dedicate to it.”
McCandless said she encourages Ohio State students to participate in URLF and engage with the University Libraries more broadly.
“I don’t think people realize how insane it is, the caliber of library funding and resources Ohio State has,” McCandless said. “The collections are fantastic. The staff is amazing. They are incredible mentors who are really invested in helping students succeed, whatever that means to that student.”
As the University Libraries’ professional development coordinator and the head of URLF, Craig Gibson reviews applications for the program and ensures all student mentees are supported throughout their fellowships. Despite the wide range of research interests to which the program now caters, Gibson said the program was not always so diverse.
“The library used to offer a library research prize,” Gibson said. “It was more like a conventional research paper. By about 2014, 2015, we stopped that prize and developed URLF, allowing for all kinds of different projects.”
Gibson said participating in URLF supports Ohio State students in any future research efforts they may undertake.
“URLF gives students a much more in-depth experience and understanding of how research works and how scholars do their work,” Gibson said. “This helps them explore various research methodologies. URLF helps students get a sense of how scholarly inquiry actually works.”
Beth Kattelman, curator of and professor within the Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute, has mentored several URLF students throughout the years, supporting their efforts in everything from revitalizing film equipment to writing plays about the communist Red Scare.
Contrary to what may come to mind when thinking of a long-term research project, Kattelman said URLF offers many nontraditional opportunities on which students can embark.
“Students can create a creative piece like a play or screenplay,” Kattelman said. “There’s no exact requirement for what the end project should be.”
Kattelman said URLF is a great resource for students who don’t want to wait for graduate school to begin pursuing in-depth academic inquiry.
“There’s nothing that says undergrads can’t create new knowledge as well,” Kattelman said. “For self-motivated students, they can create their own pathways.”
Danny Dotson, the mathematical sciences librarian and head of Ohio State’s Geology Library, said one of his past student mentees completed their URLF project on analyzing business literature to determine the market for 3D-printed toys and content, discovering information that existing databases were lacking.
“Conducting research in URLF teaches students many skills, like time management, putting together strategies, looking at resources and rethinking a strategy,” Dotson said. “This is very similar to what you may do in a future career or graduate school.”
Tina Schneider, the Lima Campus Library director and professor within the University Libraries, said her work focuses on hymnology, or how hymns have influenced and contributed to American culture.
Previously, Schneider’s student mentees have studied hymns from the Lima Campus archives and documented the personal experiences of seven female staff, faculty and former administrators, Schneider said. She said these interviews are part of Ohio State’s Voices of Women Oral History Project, and now include the first women from a regional campus.
Schneider said she encourages Ohio State students to engage with URLF because it supports other students and communities in their research endeavors.
“URLF is a wonderful program and opportunity to engage with library collections,” Schneider said. “In URLF, students make an original contribution that others can build off of.”
The applications for the summer 2024 fellowship, which is open to students from all majors, are due Feb. 26. More information about the Undergraduate Research Library Fellowship and application information can be found on the URLF’s webpage.
