6-hour workshop (6 MLA credits) offered at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, May 2013

1. Evidence based
librarianship in practice
Using evidence in
health sciences libraries
Lorie Kloda, MLIS, PhD, AHIP
McGill University
Denise Koufogiannakis,MA, MLIS, PhD
University of Alberta
Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, Boston, May 2013

2. Introductions
1. Your name
2. Your title/position
3. Your city, institution
4. What experience do you have with
evidencebased practice?

3. Activity 1
identify barriers to
using research findings in your work

4. What we will cover today

5. Course objectives
• identify the steps in evidence based practice
• formulate answerable questions relevant to their own
work setting
• define what constitutes evidence in their own work
setting
• identify strategies for locating local or external evidence
to answer their questions
• make use of tools for critically appraising published
research
• provide examples of how evidence can be applied by
health librarians in the real world

6. Activity 2
what are your "burning" questions?

7. The EBLIP Process

8. What is EBLIP?
“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.”
(Booth, 2000)

9. Why should you care?
“Wisdom means acting with knowledge while
doubting what you know.”
Jeffrey Pfeffer&Robert I. Sutton

10. A brief history
1997 - Hypothesis article by Jon Eldredge
2000 - MLA Research Section created an
Evidence-Based Librarianship
Implementation Committee
2000 - Eldredge publishes papers that provide
the framework for EBL
2001 - first Evidence Based Librarianship
conference held in Sheffield, UK
2004 - Booth and Brice book on EBIP
2006 - EBLIP journal launches

11. The 5 A’s of EBLIP
1) Formulate a focused question (Ask)
2) Find the best evidence to help answer that
question (Acquire)
3) Critically appraise what you have found to
ensure the quality of the evidence (Appraise)
4) Apply what you have learned to your
practice (Apply)
5) Evaluate your performance (Assess)

12. 5 A's process
Hayward, 2007, http://www.cch
e.net/info.asp

13. Is the EBLIP model used?
• The ideal vs reality
• Criticisms of EBLIP
• Barriers to practicing in an evidence based
manner

14. Barriers to evidence use
• Organizational dynamics
• Lack of time/competing demands on time
• Personal outlook / lack of confidence
• Education and training gaps
• Information needs not being met
• Financial limits

15. Determinants by level of control

16. Other considerations
• individual vs group decision making
• influences / biases
• impact of work environment
• types of evidence
• enablers

17. Widening the model
A revised process:
1. Articulate – come to an understanding of the problem
and articulate it.
2. Assemble – assemble evidence from multiple sources
that are most appropriate to the problem at hand.
3. Assess – place the evidence against all components of
the wider overarching problem. Assess the evidence for
its quantity and quality.
4. Agree – determine the best way forward and if working
with a group, try to achieve consensus based on the
evidence and organisational goals.
5. Adapt –revisit goals and needs. Reflect on the success
of the implementation.

18. Bringing the components together
Research
Evidence
Professional
knowledge
Local
evidence

19. Questions to ask yourself
What do I already
know?
What local evidence
is available?
What does the
literature say?
What other
information do I need
to gather?
How does the
information I have
apply to my context?
Make a decision
What worked? What
didn’t? What did I
learn?
PRACTITIONER

20. Turning theory into
practice: a case
illustration

21. The case (1/2)
A new distributed undergraduate
medical education program has
begun in the province of British
Columbia. A librarian at the new
location in the northern part of the
province is wondering the best way to
become involved in the medical
curriculum, specifically with the
teaching of EBM skills.

22. The case (2/2)
After learning more about
undergraduate medical education she
wonders if she should try to become
integrated in the UGME teaching as a
PBL tutor? She wonders if doing so
would have a positive effect on the
medical students, and whether she
can be effective in the role.

23. How do you think the
librarian should approach
this decision?

24. What Fyfe and Payne did
1. Looked at the existing literature
o several good studies that provided background re:
librarian role, but nothing that was directly relevant.
Read and examined studies, taking applicable
information.
o research indicated that a librarian can have an effect
on student engagement in EBM training; PBL
involvement can increase respect for the librarian;
PBL involvement can lead to other connections with
students who otherwise wouldn't come to library;
and, such involvement builds good relationships.

25. What Fyfe and Payne did
2. Decided to give it a try
o took a 2 day PBL tutor training course
o engaged in tutor shadowing to increase confidence
o became a PBL tutor
3. Following the PBL session, was evaluated by
the students, alongside all the tutors
o received comparable ratings to other tutors
o qualitative comments from students were positive

26. What Fyfe and Payne did
4. Reflection on the process
o reference skills are similar to PBL facilitation skills
o time is a challenge
 was able to negotiate reduced reference hours in
order to continue in PBL role
o The involvement outside a traditional librarian role
led to increased relationships with other tutors and
students
o Led to ideas for possible future research:
 impact on relationship building
 changes in student perceptions of librarians
 impact on future scope of medical practice and
patient interaction

27. Formulating an
answerable question
Ask

28. ―Questions drive the entire EBL process.
[…] The wording and content of the
questions will determine what kinds
of research designs are needed
to secure answers.”
(J. Eldredge, 2000)

29. Scenario case study

30. Burning question case study
Does library instruction help
public health professionals' in asking
good clinical questions?

31. SPICE question structure
Setting the context (e.g., hospital library, academic
health center)
Perspective the stakeholder(s) (e.g., graduate students,
managers, reference librarians)
Intervention the service being offered (e.g., chat reference,
RefWorks workshops)
Comparison the service to which it is being compared
(optional)
Evaluation the measure used to determine
change/success/impact (e.g., usage statistics,
course grade)

32. SPICE case study
Setting Department of Health (New Mexico)
Perspective Librarians
Intervention 3 hour instruction session on evidence-based
public health information
Comparison Nothing
Evaluation Number of work-related questions asked;
Sophistication of questions (background vs
foreground)

33. Librarianship domains
Reference/Enquiries—providing service and access to information that meets
the needs of library users.
Education— Incorporating teaching methods and strategies to educate users
about library resources and how to improve research skills.
LIS Education subset – Specifically pertaining to the professional education of
librarians.
Collections—Building a high-quality collection of print and electronic materials
that is useful, cost-effective and meets the users’ needs.
Management—managing people and resources within an organization. This
includes marketing and promotion as well as human resources.
Information access and retrieval—creating better systems and methods for
information retrieval and access.
Professional Issues—exploring issues that affect librarians as a profession.
(Koufogiannakis, Crumley, and Slater, 2004)

34. Librarianship domains
• Information access & retrieval
• Collections
• Management
• Education
• Reference
• Professional issues
• [Scholarly communications]

35. Activity 3
formulate your burning question using
SPICE

36. Break
please be back by 10:45 a.m.

37. What counts as
evidence?

38. Definition of evidence
“the available body of facts or information
indicating whether a belief or proposition is
true or valid”
(Oxford English Dictionary, 2011)

39. Activity 4
What are some possible evidence
sources we use to make decisions in
health sciences libraries?

40. Evidence Sources
Hard evidence Soft evidence
Published literature Input from colleagues
Statistics Tacit knowledge
Local research and
evaluation
Feedback from users
Other documents Anecdotal evidence
Facts

41. Activity 5
For your own burning question, what are
some possible sources of evidence that will
help you make a good decision?

42. Sources for locating and
creating evidence
Acquire

43. Locating
Published research
• Databases
• Books, bibliographies
• Mail lists, blogs, word
of mouth
• Conferences
• Systematic
reviews, Evidence
summaries

44. Creating
Local evidence
• Usage data
• Transaction data
• Evaluation results
• Survey, interview, f
ocus group findings
• Inputs, outputs, out
comes, impact

45. Locating published evidence
Databases
• Library and information studies
• Management
• Education
• Social sciences
• Health sciences, psychology

46. http://libvalue.cci.utk.edu/
http://www.informedlibrarian.com/
http://eprints.rclis.org/

47. Locating published evidence
Conferences
• EBLIP (1-7)
• Health
librarianship, e.g., MLA, CHLA, EAHIL, ICML
• Assessment, e.g., Northumbria
Conference, Library Assessment
Conference
• Academic, e.g., ACRL
• Information
literacy, e.g., LOEX, WILU, LILAC

48. Locating published evidence
Systematic reviews
http://lis-systematic-reviews.wikispaces.com

49. Locating published evidence
Evidence summaries
http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP
Evidence Based Library and Information
Practice journal, 2006-
>250 evidence summaries

50. Creating evidence
Data and findings
• Usage data
• Transaction data
• Evaluation results
• Survey, interview, focus group findings

51. Creating evidence
Sources for local evidence already available
• Library assessment department
• University planning and institutional analysis
• Annual reports
• Internal reports
• "Stats"

52. Creating evidence

53. Evidence for case study
Locating evidence
• Databases: LibValue, LISA
• Systematic review wiki
• Journals: JMLA, HILJ, etc.
• Conferences: MLA
• EBLIP Evidence Summary
Creating evidence

54. Activity 6
1. identify 2-3 sources for locating evidence
to answer your question
2. consider 1 potential source of local
evidence to look into

55. Lunch break

56. Critical appraisal
Appraise

57. Critical appraisal
Weigh up the evidence
• Reliable
• Valid
• Applicable
Checklists help with critical appraisal process
Language is different for interpretive
(qualitative) research

58. Reliability
1. Results clearly explained
2. Response rate
3. Useful analysis
4. appropriate analysis
5. Results address research question(s)
6. Limitations
7. Conclusions based on actual results

59. Validity
1. Focused issue/question
2. Conflict of interest
3. Appropriate and replicable method
4. Population and representative sample
5. Validated instrument

60. Applicability
1. Implications reported in original study
2. Applicability to other populations
3. More information required

61. ReLIANT
For appraising research on information skills
instruction
Focuses on:
• Study design
• Educational context
• Results
• Relevance
Koufogiannakis, D., Booth, A., & Brettle, A. (2006) Reliant: Reader's Guide to the Literature on
Interventions Addressing the Need for Education and Training. Library & Information Research
30(94), 44-51.

62. Activity 7
critically appraise Eldredge study using the
ReLIANT checklist

63. Critical appraisal: the shortcut

64. Applying evidence in
practice
Apply

65. Ways to apply evidence
1)The evidence is directly applicable
2)The evidence needs to be locally validated
3)The evidence improves understanding
Reflection

66. Dealing with the barriers

67. Enablers of evidence use
• Positive organizational dynamics
• Ongoing education
• Positive personal outlook
• Time

68. Activity 8
Reflection on applying evidence to your
practice question

69. Wrap up
Assess

70. Activity 9
3 things you will take home and act upon