Librarians and Research Integrity Committees: Finding professional joy and fulfillment in practice and service

Abstract

This article describes how librarians can benefit from being members of research integrity committees. As two academic librarians, the authors share the ways that they have found professional fulfillment and joy through service on the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) for vertebrate animal research activities and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for human subjects research. Their participation on research integrity committees has provided opportunities to build new relationships, demonstrate their expertise, and find meaning in their contributions to research production. Participation on the IACUC has allowed one author to better understand research designs and instrumentation and laboratory techniques. She has built new relationships with research administrators, scientists, and lab managers, and found new opportunities to use her unique search skills. The other author, while serving on the IRB, has extended her professional network and highlighted her expertise as a qualitative researcher. She has built stronger relationships with research administrators and scholars and found new opportunities for advancing responsible data management conversations across campus. Participating in these committees has been professionally empowering and has allowed the authors to contribute to research integrity in important ways.