Australian special librarians using evidence in daily practice
Alisa HowlettSupervisor: Zaana Howard
“Evidence-based librarianship 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....”
Booth (2002)
“....The best available
evidence, moderated by user needs and preferences, is
applied to improve the quality of professional judgments.”
Booth (2002)
Research evidence may be the most recognisable type of evidence...
...but it is not the only type.
Similar studies
Thorpe, Partridge & Edwards, 2008
explored experiences of evidence-based practice by practitioners
Koufogiannakis, 2012identified types of evidence used by academic librarians in daily practice
•the types of evidenceused by Australian special librarians
when or in what circumstances
types of evidence
most useful or reliableinforming daily practice
I wanted to find out...
a qualitative study
reflection entries & semi-structured interviews
a constant comparison method for data analysis
purposive sampling, 5 Australian special librarians
‘map’ themes using existing frameworks
I did this with...
Australian special librarians use a
diverse range of evidence from spheres of contextual relevance
Finding one:
Individual knowledge and experience
Colleagues - feedback and input
Colleagues - non-LIS professionals
Users- feedback / suggestions- values- requests
Process / routine
Files / documentation
Usage statistics
types of evidence in spheres of relevance
the organisation directs the use of
evidence
Finding two:
evidence “simmers” before it is used
Finding three:
Information Evidence
from “current awareness” information
to becoming evidence in a given situation
what happens in between?
time / availability
differences in understanding of evidence and evidence-based practice
for LIS between practitioners and researchers
evidence used for reference services vs practice
Limitations
This research highlights a
need for a more inclusive EBLIP model that recognises the types and uses of evidence
...making it reflective of the LIS professional context
thank you
[email protected]@acrystellehttp://acrystelle.com
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