Evidence-based librarianship: a toolkit for public libraries

1. Evidence-based librarianship:a toolkit for public libraries Virginia Wilson Coordinator Saskatchewan Health Information Resources Partnership Stephanie Hall Chief Librarian Powell River Public Library November 6, 2007

2. Ignoring the research • A recent review of the evidence found that “research findings are under-utilized” in librarianship (Genonie, Haddow and Rice 57) • Does this result in high risk decision making? (49)

3. Could the tendency to ignore research evidence be the dirty little secret of an information-obsessed profession?

4. Evidence-based librarianship "Evidence-based librarianship (EBL) is a means to improve the profession of librarianship by asking questions as well as finding, critically appraising and incorporating research evidence from library science (and other disciplines) into daily practice..." (Crumley and Koufogiannakis, 2002)

5. Evidence-based medicine Reasons for the spread of EBM • Daily need for valid information • Traditional sources: • Textbooks – out of date • Experts – frequently wrong • Didactic continuing medical information – ineffective • Medical Journals – overwhelming • Up-to-date knowledge diminishes • Time pressures Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (U. Toronto) http://www.cebm.utoronto.ca/intro/interest.htm

6. Why use EBL? Libraries can use the research literature to: • Inspire • Inform • Improve (Pollard and Court v)

7. Evidence can help answer questions like: * How have we done? * How are we doing now? * How can we do better? * Where are we going? * How do we get there? * How are we making a difference? * How do we get the resources? * And sometimes, if we try very hard with assessment techniques--How has what we do changed your life? (Davies, 130)

8. Barriers • Where to find the evidence? Lack of pertinent evidence; narrow evidence base; lack of good indexing • Lack of time • Management that doesn't support this approach • Lack of research skills; or, lack of confidence in research skills • Access to resources

9. The EBL process • Step 1: Formulate a Question • Step 2: Find the Evidence • Step 3: Appraise the Evidence • Step 4: Apply the Evidence • Step 5: Evaluate the Results

10. 1. Formulate a question • Taking the time to formulate a question that is precise, answerable, and that includes all the necessary information helps focus your thinking before proceeding to search for evidence. • Two common mnemonics for question formulation are PICO and SPICE

11. 1. Formulate a question: PICO

12. 1. Formulate a question: SPICE

13. 2. Find the evidence • One of the barriers to the practice of EBL is the lack of a strong evidence base in our field. So, when searching for evidence: • Consider both quantitative and qualitative research • Think outside the LIS box

14. 2. Find the evidence: domains of inquiry Koufogiannakis, Slater and Crumley suggest that every LIS practice question falls within one or more of the following domains: • collections • education • management • professional issues • information access and retrieval • reference (2004)

15. Open Access Resources LISTA: http://www.libraryresearch.com ERIC: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ Directory of Open Access Journals http://www.doaj.org/ Evidence Based Library and Information Practice http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP http://ebltoolkit.pbwiki.com/ 2. Find the evidence: LIS sources

16. Generate the Evidence • Consider both quantitative and qualitative approaches. • Or bring your research question to appropriate interest groups or other networks you may be a part of • Don't be intimidated by the idea of "research": projects can be small and practical. • The Education Institute often has sessions that deal with research methods.

17. 3. Appraise the evidence Critical appraisal is the process of assessing and interpreting evidence by systematically considering its • relevance • validity • reliability

18. 3. Appraise the evidencetools and checklists • Lindsay Glynn's Critical Appraisal Checklist • CriSTAL checklist …and several more available at: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/service/library/gosford/ebl/toolkit/appraise.html

19. 3. Appraise the evidencetimesavers EBL:levels of evidence • Jonathan Eldredge originally proposed a hierarchy of evidence very similar to that used in EBM: • – Systematic reviews • – RCTs • – Controlled comparison studies • – Cohort studies • – Descriptive surveys • – Case studies • – Decision analysis • – Qualitative research

20. 3. continued Systematic Reviews: The Campbell Collaboration

21. 3. continued Systematic Reviews: EPPI

22. 3. continued Evidence Summaries:EBLIP

23. 4. Apply the evidence • Applicability: "whether a study is generalizable or relevant to your situation" (Koufogiannakis and Crumley, "Applying Evidence to your Everyday Practice." in Booth and Brice, 2004. 120) • The evidence will usually be one of three things: 1. directly applicable 2. needs to be locally validated (i.e. replicate the study at the local level) 3. improves your understanding of the situation

24. 4. Apply the evidence • Variables to consider when determining applicability: • User group • Timelines • Cost • Politics • Severity (Koufogiannakis and Crumley, 121-123)

25. 5. Evaluate the results:Are we done yet? Not quite! It’s important to evaluate the success of your use of the evidence on two levels: • Practitioner - were all the steps of EBL followed successfully? • Practice implications - was the decision you made after consulting the research a good one?

26. Disseminating your results Crumley and Koufogiannakis, in Booth and Brice, Evidence-based practice for information professionals: a handbook. London: Facet Publishing, 2004. p.140.

27. The Value of EBL • "Looking analytically at librarianship through research fosters growth, curiosity, awareness and promotes new learning; it keeps librarians interested in the profession and encourages them to do research to find an answer if one does not already exist. It may even impel librarians to do better research and find other solutions if they are not satisfied with what they find in the literature" (Crumley and Koufogiannakis 2002, 62).

28. Works Cited: Booth, Andrew and Anne Brice,eds. Evidence-based practice for information professionals: a handbook. London: Facet Publishing, 2004. Crumley, Ellen and Denise Koufogiannakis. "Developing Evidence-Based Librarianship: Practical Steps for Implementation." Health Information and Libraries Journal 19 (2002): 61-70. Davies, Eric J. "What Gets Measured, Gets Managed: Statistics and Performance Indicators for Evidence Based Management." Journal of Librarianship and Information Science 34.3 (2002): 129-133 Eldredge, Jonathan. "Evidence-based librarianship: the EBL process". Library Hi Tech. 24.3 (2006): 341-354. Genoni, Paul, Gaby Haddow, and Ann Ritchie. "Why don't librarians use research?" Evidence-based Practice for Information Professionals: A Handbook. Eds. Andrew Booth and Anne Brice. London: Facet, 2004. 49-60. Glynn, Lindsay. "A Critical Appraisal Tool for Library and Information Research." Library Hi Tech 24.3 (2006): 387-399. Koufogiannakis, Denise, Linda Slater and Ellen Crumley. "A Content Analysis of Librarianship Research." Journal of Information Science 30.3 (2004): 227-39 Morrison, Heather. "Evidence Based Librarianship and Open Access". Evidence Based Library and Information Practice. 1.2 (2006): 46-50. http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP/article/view/49/117 Pollard, Amy and Julius Court. How Civil Society Organisations Use Evidence to Influence Policy Processes: A literature review. Working paper 249. July, 2005. http://www.odi.org.uk/Rapid/Publications/Documents/WP249.pdf

29. Further Reading Check out our online toolkitfor many more resources! Evidence Based Toolkit for Public Libraries http://ebltoolkit.pbwiki.com/ Contact Virginia: virginia.wilson@usask.ca Contact Steph: librarian.of.the.wilds@gmail.com