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Evidence-based medicine Reasons for the spread of EBM Daily need for valid information Traditional sources: Textbooks – out of date Experts – frequently wrong Didactic continuing medical information – ineffective Medical Journals – overwhelming Up-to-date knowledge diminishes Time pressures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)

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 1. Where to find the evidence? Lack of pertinent evidence; narrow evidence base; lack of good indexing 2. Lack of time 3. Management that doesn't support this approach 4. Lack of research skills; or, lack of confidence in research skills 5. 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 FocusConceptQuestion Root Population Among,in (who, what) Among teens who search the catalogue Intervention or exposure Does (how) Does help from a librarian Comparison intervention (if necessary) VersusVersus no help OutcomeImpact (affect) Impact the time it takes to find material?

12 1. Formulate a question: SPICE FocusConceptQuestion Root Setting Where the intervention will occur; context In large urban public libraries, Perspective Population affected by the intervention; who do patrons Intervention The service or planned action; what who interact with roving reference librarians Comparison Alternate service or action; could be no intervention as opposed to librarians at a reference desk Evaluation The measure of effect; what results? perceive that they have received better service?

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 2. Find the evidence: LIS sources Open Access Resources LISTA: ERIC: Directory of Open Access Journals Evidence Based Library and Information Practice BLIP BLIP

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 evidence tools and checklists Lindsay Glynn's Critical Appraisal Checklist CriSTAL checklist …and several more available at: ml

19 3. Appraise the evidence timesavers 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, ) 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, )

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 CategoryDissemination Methods Education/Professional Development Workshop, continuing education, conference, training, journal club, discussion group Management/policy Organizational policy/guideline, meeting PublicationPublishing/writing, internet, electronic vs. print Personal Communication Word of mouth, focus group, leadership, reading, sharing articles, , list-serv, networking, mentoring Crumley and Koufogiannakis, in Booth and Brice, Evidence-based practice for information professionals: a handbook. London: Facet Publishing, 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, Crumley, Ellen and Denise Koufogiannakis. "Developing Evidence-Based Librarianship: Practical Steps for Implementation." Health Information and Libraries Journal 19 (2002): 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): Eldredge, Jonathan. "Evidence-based librarianship: the EBL process". Library Hi Tech (2006): 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, Glynn, Lindsay. "A Critical Appraisal Tool for Library and Information Research." Library Hi Tech 24.3 (2006): Koufogiannakis, Denise, Linda Slater and Ellen Crumley. "A Content Analysis of Librarianship Research." Journal of Information Science 30.3 (2004): Morrison, Heather. "Evidence Based Librarianship and Open Access". Evidence Based Library and Information Practice. 1.2 (2006): Pollard, Amy and Julius Court. How Civil Society Organisations Use Evidence to Influence Policy Processes: A literature review. Working paper 249. July,

29 Further Reading Check out our online toolkit for many more resources! Evidence Based Toolkit for Public Libraries Contact Virginia: Contact Steph: