Evidence Based Librarianship
Virginia Wilson
Coordinator, Saskatchewan Health Information Resources
Partnership
University of Saskatchewan
May 26, 2008
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Outline
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Background of EBL
The EBL Framework
The EBL Toolkit—The Steps
EBL Support and Resources
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Evidence Based Medicine
Reasons for the spread of EBM
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Daily need for valid information
Traditional sources:
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Textbooks
Experts
Didactic continuing medical information
Medical Journals
Up-to-date knowledge diminishes
Time pressures
Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (U. Toronto)
http://www.cebm.utoronto.ca/intro/interest.htm3
Other Types of Evidence Based
Practice
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Evidence Based Crime Prevention
Evidence Based Policy Development
Evidence Based Software Engineering
Evidence Based Scheduling
Evidence Based Social Work
Evidence Based Nursing
Evidence Based Management
Evidence Based Dentistry
Evidence Based Policing
Evidence Based Business
Evidence Based Conservation
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Evidence Based Librarianship
Aka…
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EBL
Evidence Based Library and Information
Practice (EBLIP)
Evidence Based Information Practice (EBIP)
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EBL: Definitions
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Three definitions came into being in the early
2000s.
Jonathan Eldredge, USA
Andrew Booth, UK
Denise Koufogiannakis and Ellen Crumley,
Canada
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“Evidence based librarianship (EBL) seeks to improve
library practice by utilising the best available
evidence in conjunction with a pragmatic perspective
developed from working experiences in
librarianship. The best available evidence might be
produced from either quantitative or qualitative
research design, depending on the EBL question
posed, although EBL encourages using more
rigorous forms over less rigorous forms of evidence
when making decisions.”
(Eldredge, 2002)
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Hierarchy of Evidence
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“Evidence based librarianship (EBL) is an approach to
information science that promotes the collection,
interpretation, and integration of valid, important,
and applicable user reported, librarian observed, and
research derived evidence. The best available
evidence moderated by user needs and preferences is
applied to improve the quality of professional
judgments.”
(Booth, 2002)
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"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. It also involves encouraging
librarians to conduct high quality qualitative and
quantitative research."
(Crumley and Koufogiannakis, 2002)
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Commonalities among the definitions:
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A context of day to day decision making
An emphasis on improving the quality of the
professional practice
A pragmatic focus on the “best available evidence”
Incorporation of the user perspective
Acceptance of a broad range of quantitative and
qualitative designs
(Booth, 2002)
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EBL combines:
Professional Expertise
Research Evidence
User Preferences
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So what?
Q: Why should law librarians care about the
growing evidence based movement?
A1: Enhance your own practice
A2: Empirical Legal Research
A3: Evidence Based Law?
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Enhance your practice
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Improve decision making, streamline services,
implement the optimum procedure, etc.
Provide more opportunities for collaboration
and communication
Increase credibility among library patrons and
funding organizations
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Empirical Legal Research
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Based on observation and experience
Traditional methods enhanced by using a solid
base of up to date empirical information
Purpose: the help legal scholars determine if a
law or process is actually doing what it has set
out to do
(Ridley, 2006)
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Evidence Based Law
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“Following the trend in healthcare, the legal
market will adopt ‘evidence based law.’
General counsels will finally put bite behind
the bark for lower costs and better service.
They or their agents will systematically
analyze how lawyers work [. . . ]and develop
best practice.”
(Friedman, quoted in Lerdal, 2006)
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EBL: The Framework
Evidence Based Librarianship:
 combines a conceptual framework with
practical tools
 enables librarians to do their jobs more
effectively and in a more informed fashion
 is a way of systematizing the decision-making
process in order to achieve more reliable
results
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Barriers
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5.
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
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http://ebltoolkit.pbwiki.com/
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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
Step 6: Disseminate the Results
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Step One: Formulate a Question
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The most important step
The foundation of the EBL process
The question needs to be answerable: not too
broad, yet not too narrow.
Multi-faceted questions need to have a focus
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PICO
Focus
Concept
Question Root
Population
Among, in
(who, what)
Among students who
search the catalogue
Intervention
Does (how)
does help from a
librarian
Comparison
Intervention
Versus
versus no help
Outcome
Impact (affect)
impact the time it takes to
find material?
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SPICE
Focus
Concept
Components
Setting
Where?
In law libraries,
Perspective
For whom?
do patrons
Intervention
What?
who use the internet
Comparison
As opposed to…
Evaluation
How well? What
result?
as opposed to the
print collection
perceive they have
found comparable
information?
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Step Two: Finding the Evidence
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What kinds of evidence?
Where is the evidence?
What if there’s no evidence?
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What Kinds of Evidence?
Qualitative research
 Quantitative research
The concept of the “best available” evidence
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Where is the Evidence?
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For fee resources
Open source resources
Library literature
In the literature of other
disciplines
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Domains of Inquiry
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It’s been suggested that every LIS practice
question falls within one or more of the
following domains:
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collections
education
management
professional issues
information access and retrieval
reference/enquires
(Crumley and Koufogiannakis)
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Sources of Evidence
Open Access Database
LISTA: http://www.libraryresearch.com
From Ebsco publishing. Open access. A free bibliographic
database providing coverage on subjects such as
librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online
information retrieval, information management, and more.
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Open Access Journals
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Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
http://www.doaj.org/
Evidence Based Library and Information Practice
http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP
Partnership: the Canadian Journal of Library and Information
Practice and Research
http://journal.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/perj/index
LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research
Electronic Journal http://libres.curtin.edu.au/
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Open Access Archives
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E-LIS http://eprints.rclis.org/
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dLIST http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/
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OCLC Research Publications Repository
http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/search.htm
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The Directory of Open Access Repositories-OpenDOAR
http://www.opendoar.org/
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The Committee to Promote Research—a SIG of
CALL
Research Resources for Law Librarians
http://www.callacbd.ca/index.php/publisher/articleview/frmArticl
eID/293/
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On the CALL/ACBD website
A mix between open access and for fee
resources
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What If There’s No Evidence?
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Take the question you’ve formulated by using
PICO or SPICE and design some research
around it.
Consider publishing your findings to increase
the body of evidence.
Don't be intimidated by the idea of "research":
projects can be small and practical.
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Step Three: Appraise the Evidence
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Critical appraisal is the process of assessing
and interpreting evidence by systematically
considering its relevance, validity and
reliability.
Relevance
Validity
Reliability
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Step Four: Apply the Evidence
Applicability: "whether a study is generalizable
or relevant to your situation" (Koufogainnakis 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
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Determining Applicability
Variables to consider when determining
applicability:
 User group
 Time lines
 Cost
 Politics
 Severity
(Koufogiannakis and Crumley, 121-123)
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Step Five: Evaluate the Results
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?
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Step Six: Disseminating the Results
Ways of dissemination:
 Workshops, continuing education,
conferences, training, journal club discussion
groups
 Organizational policy/guidelines, meetings
 Publishing/writing, the internet
 Word of mouth, focus groups, leadership,
sharing articles, e-mail, list-serv, networking,
mentoring
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EBL Support and Resources
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EBL Toolkit
http://ebltoolkit.pbwiki.com/
To give feedback on the toolkit contact
Virginia Wilson: virginia.wilson@usask.ca
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http://eblibrarianship.pbwiki.com/
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Give it a try…
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