I’m currently in-between research projects at the moment, and I’m trying to find that perfect question that both captures my imagination and would be useful to others in my field. My last research project, about the information needs of K-12 school nurses, sort of fell into my lap due to the nature of my outreach work. But now, I’m struggling to come up with something that meets my two criteria.

I love doing research, and as an early-career librarian, I’m trying to find my area of expertise. Twenty or thirty years down the line, I’d love to be known as the go-to librarian expert for [insert subject/topic here]. My conundrum at the moment, which is also contributing to my inability to pick a new research project, is that I’m interested in everything. I want to explore information literacy instruction, tutorial development, distance education, information behaviors. Am I supposed to pick just one area on which to focus my research efforts?

I realize this is a good problem to have; I’ve met librarians who are too busy supporting users to pursue research, or lack support from the top to dedicate some of their time to projects. I’m lucky to work in an environment where research is encouraged and supported by both my colleagues and superiors. I suppose I’m suffering from a form of choice overload – there are so many research options to choose from, I’m becoming unable to actually make a selection.

So what do you do? How do you decide what to research? What factors influence your choice?