Making Better Decisions: Incorporating Evidence into your Practice Denise Koufogiannakis University of Alberta Libraries OLA Superconference -- February 1, 2008

What is EBL? “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 judgements”. A. Booth

The need for evidence

History 1995 – M. Haines –Evidence-based Purchasing – “evidence based information practice” Article in Hypothesis, Research Section of MLA MLA/CHLA, Vancouver; ICML, London; LIANZA, New Zealand 2000 – conceptual framework devised – applied to health sciences librarianship First EBL Conference, Sheffield, UK Collaborative articles begin to appear nd EBL Conference, Edmonton, Canada Evidence Based Practice for Information Professionals book (March) rd conference, Australia 2005 – EBLIG group of CLA formed Evidence Based Library and Information Practice journal founded 2007 – 4 th conference, USA – now called EBLIP

EB Process Ask Acquire Appraise Apply Assess

Ask Should I teach students in lecture style or hands-on with small groups this fall?

“To be able to ask a question clearly is two-thirds of the way to getting it answered” (John Ruskin)

The Well-Built Question Setting – in what context are you addressing the question –University Perspective – who are the users/potential users of the service –First year students Intervention – what is being done to them/for them –small group instruction in a computer lab Comparison – what are your alternatives –lecture style Evaluation – how will you measure whether the intervention succeeded –improved information literacy skills

Your Question Among first year university students, does small group instruction in a computer lab, versus lecture style instruction, result in improved information literacy skills?

Acquire What type of question are you asking? –Domains – ie: Collections, Education, Reference, etc. Search for an answer

Appraise 3 main aspects –Validity –Reliability –Applicability Critical appraisal tools

Apply Directly applicable Needs to be locally validated Improves understanding

Assess Determine impact Evaluate the process What improved? What did you learn?

EB Process Ask Acquire Appraise Apply Assess

Challenges Quality of the evidence - what is the knowledge base? Dispersion of evidence sources (e.g. education, management, marketing, computer science, other) Skills in conducting research Skills in disseminating research Skills in interpreting research Time

Putting theory into Practice

Model for Evidence Based Collection Management

CORE Changing collection needs INNOVATIVE Assessment of projects Cycle

Implementation

core Implementation

core Example

innovative Implementation

innovative Example: Patron’s Choice

How can I make my practice more evidence-based? Remember – it’s not all or nothing – start small When you have a problem, consult the research literature When there is no solution found in pre- existing literature, do the research, and share it with others

How can I make my practice more evidence-based? Start a discussion group to talk about issues and solutions / best practices Ask your colleagues what they are basing their decisions on – question current practices Managers: encourage research as part of everyday practice

Wisdom means acting with knowledge while doubting what you know. Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton