Making our skills visible through research HSLG Annual Conference 12-13 May 2016 “Advancing health library skill sets” A.Lawton

Outline Why research My experience Professional practice Over to you (tips for publishing) A.Lawton

Research ‘Health Services Research’ is defined as research with the goal of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system through changes to practice and policy. Health services research is a multidisciplinary field of scientific investigation that studies how social factors, financing systems, organisational structures and processes, health technologies, and personal behaviours affect access to health care, the quality and cost of healthcare and ultimately health and well-being‘ (HRB, 2014) Basrelief sculpture "Research holding the torch of knowledge" (1896) by Olin Levi Warner. Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. Public Domain A.Lawton

Why carry out research? A.Lawton

Improve understanding of a topic A.Lawton

Problem solving Whether to invest in ebooks or increase awareness of existing print collection?

Add to LIS evidence base “Health Science librarians should identify clinical research opportunities in all sectors, and offer their information and knowledge skills to the research team”. (SHELLI report, 2011). “Establish a body of Evidence” 1 of 3 strategic recommendations of SHELLI report.

Create new knowledge beyond LIS

Health & Social Care Professionals

Complementary skillsets Table 2 Possible points of correspondence between public health informatics competency domains and MLA essential areas of knowledge (Banks et.al, 2005).

Prove/Disprove a theory

Enhance your skills

Improve practice

One good reason.. Increase your visibility!

Confidence & Credibility Modeling behaviour By becoming a researcher, gain confidence working with other researchers. Lends more credibility to your role.

Professional Practice – Research as a Competency Research, Analysis, and Interpretation (MLA Competencies) All health information professionals use published research either to provide information services to end users or to improve their practice as librarians. Whether using the published research of others or reporting their own findings, health information professionals require a core set of knowledge and abilities. Source: Medical Library Association (2007).

A question of policy.. MLA Research Imperative (2007) CC BY-SA 3.0 Creator: NY - http://nyphotographic.com/

..or responsibility? “Members should: share, where possible, results of  research and development projects they have been involved in to help encourage best practice across the profession and enable colleagues to improve the services they provide. Carry out and use research involving users (e.g. surveys of needs)”  (CILIP Code of Professional Practice, 2013)

Part of standards User Education Systematic Review Skills Needs Assessment LIS Staff Training

What is the level of research activity of health science librarians? USA (Lessick et al, 2016) 17% response rate MLA members UK (Spring, 2014) 316 usable responses 79% read research articles 1 a month 58% apply research studies to practice 62% reported acting on research had enhanced their libraries 34% authored research articles 55.4% never involved in research related to health librarianship Hospital librarians less likely than academic librarians to be research active “Research is an activity that health librarians feel is a large part of what defines their work. Librarians have ..overlooked what it means to them and their own profession”.

What skills are needed for research? Ask an answerable question Critical Thinking Enquiry/ curiosity Literature searching Comprehension Critical Analysis Underatand research methods Data Capture Data Interpretation & synthesis

How can I obtain these skills? Have to set goals for incorporating research into practice Goal: write a case study about e.g. transition to an e-only journal collection at my hospital library. Submit for publication in September 2016. Alternatively become a co-authoe & learn OR do a MOOC

Options for upskilling Informal Join Research Group MLA/CILIP Shadow Mentor Co-author Formal MLIS DBS/UCD/Distance Learning MOOC CPD Courses

What are the steps involved in getting published? Clarify your research question (title) = Define stage Decide publication type (review, research article, case study, systematic literature review, RCT, meta analysis, systematic review, rapid review) Alison Brettle Define, Design & Do

Find co-authors OR Go solo Peer network (HSLG List) Researchgate LinkedIn LIS Literature You're in control Time Management

Identify journal Your criteria Open access Peer-reviewed Good quality Indexed widely Multidiscplinary / LIS Journal criteria Author guidelines Read previous issues Check publication types Audience

Ask JANE (Journal/Author Name Estimator)

Collect & Design Acquire lit Appraise Apply it to research question (ID Methods) Begin lit. review

Do Start with an end date/goal in mind. If collaborating, divide sections & use collaborative tools e.g. GDocs, Dropbox, Trello, Snipe, Skype etc.

Waiting Game Don't fear rejection, learn from it

Disseminate

Communicate

References Banks, M. A., Cogdill, K. W., Selden, C. R., & Cahn, M. A. (2005). Complementary competencies: public health and health sciences librarianship*. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 93(3), 338. Lessick, S., Perryman, C., Billman, B. L., Alpi, K. M., De Groote, S. L., & Babin Jr, T. D. (2016). Research engagement of health sciences librarians: a survey of research-related activities and attitudes. Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 104(2), 166. Medical Library Association. (2007). The Educational Policy Statement of the Medical Library Association: Competencies for Lifelong Learning and Professional Success. Chicago, IL: The Association. Spring, H. (2014). An investigation into the barriers to and priorities for research engagement in health librarianship. International Journal of Health Information Management Research, 2(1), 58-79.

Useful Resources JANE http://jane.biosemantics.org/ Academic Writing Librarians Blog LibFocus http://www.libfocus.com/ An Leabharlann CILIP LIRG MLA Research Section EAHIL Http://theinvisiblelibrarian.com Grant, M. J., Bonnett, P., Sutton, A., Marshall, A., Murphy, J. and Spring, H. (2016), Are you a budding academic writer?. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 33: 1–6. doi: 10.1111/hir.12137

Thank you for listening! ICML/EAHIL 2017 watch this space for call for papers Any Questions? @aalawton