Dont give up your day job: Using EBLIP in Practice

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Dont give up your day job! Using EBLIP in
Practice

• Andrew Booth

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A warning for all would-be supermodels!
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Aim

• To provide a practical introduction to evidence
  based library and information practice.
• To equip participants with the skills required to
  practise evidence based practice in their
  workplace.

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Objectives

• By the end of this training course, participants
  will
• Be able to identify key areas of their practice
  that can be informed by reflective practice,
  grounded in research evidence.
• Be able to articulate questions from common
  library practice which are answerable either from
  the literature or from good practice.
• Understand the main types of research design and
  their contribution to addressing questions from
  professional practice.
• Be able to work in teams to appraise and
  implement evidence from the research literature
  within their workplace.
• Be aware of the importance of reflective practice
  for the ongoing improvement of information
  services and systems.

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Your Objectives?
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Dont give up your day job

• 10.00 What is evidence based information
  practice?
• 10.20 Identifying meaningful questions
• 10.45 Appraising a library research study
• 12.00 LUNCH
• 12.45 Using research in practice
• 1.30 Barriers to development implementation
• 2.00 Reflection
• 2.05 Evaluation
• 2.15 Close.
• AFTERNOON TEA

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Evidence in Daily Life Icebreaker

• For the Newspaper article supplied work in twos
  or threes to answer
• Does this article/study provide sufficient
  evidence that Teenagers who surf the net do
  better at school?
• How would you improve on this study?

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What is Evidence Based Library and Information
Practice?
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Evidence based library and information practice is

• Evidence Based Library and Information Practice
  (EBLIP) seeks to improve library and information
  services and practice by bringing together the
  best available evidence and insights derived from
  working experience, moderated by user needs and
  preferences.
• EBLIP involves asking answerable questions,
  finding, critically appraising and then utilising
  research evidence from relevant disciplines in
  daily practice. It thus attempts to integrate
  user-reported, practitioner-observed and
  research-derived evidence as an explicit basis
  for decision-making. (Booth, 2006)

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Why librarians?

• As a profession which has the ability to manage
  the literature of research, librarianship is
  uniquely placed to model the principles of
  evidence-based practice, not only as they apply
  to other disciplines which we serve, but also as
  they apply to our own professional practice
  (Ritchie, 1999)

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The process of evidence-based library and
information practice
Eldredge, 2000
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So let us consider a worked example
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Adding SPICE to a library intranet site a
recipe to enhance usability

• Lisa Cotter, Ingrid Tonnison,
• Suzanne Lewis Larnich Harije
• NORTHERN SYDNEY CENTRAL COAST HEALTH

Booth, A (2006) Australian supermodel?A
practical example of evidence-based library and
information practice (EBLIP). Health Information
Libraries Journal 23 (1), 69-72.
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So let us consider a worked example

• Based on Abbott WA (2006), Persuasive Evidence
  Improving Customer Service through Evidence Based
  Librarianship Evidence Based Library and
  Information Practice, 11

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A Worked Example

• In Bond University Library (Setting) would the
  provision of increased opening hours
  (Intervention) to meet student demand
  (Perspective) lead to benefits (Evaluation) when
  compared with current provision (Comparison)?
• How realistic is twenty-four hour opening? Same
  Setting, Intervention and Comparison but with
  Evaluation from Management Perspective.

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An Evidence-based approach

• Decision made to use an evidence based approach -
  library management decided that a comprehensive
  report with recommendations based on best
  practice and other relevant evidence would inform
  all stakeholders and help to resolve the issue.

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Identifying the evidence

• Librarys opening hours compared to other
  Australian university libraries using Council of
  Australian University Librarians (CAUL) annual
  statistics.
• Survey of twenty-four hour facilities of other
  Australian university libraries via
  questionnaire.
• Review of literature illustrated that
  internationally, increasing number of
  institutions are opening for twenty-four hours
  for some days of the week and new libraries are
  being built to incorporate a twenty-four hour
  facility.
• Quantitative analysis of feedback about opening
  hours received from customers in 2004 indicated
  low but persistent level of complaints
• Quantitative analysis of usage patterns gathered
  in the Librarys Facilities Use Survey showed
  current spread of hours approximated closely to
  usage

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Evidence from research

• Research conducted in US indicates that students
  requests for extended library opening hours are
  perennial and vary from requests to open until
  2.00 am during exam periods to demands to open
  24-7 most days of year (Steele and Walters
  Curry Engel, Womack and Ellis).

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Evidence based decision-making

• Detailed costing prepared for four different
  scenarios ranging from longer opening hours for
  duration of semester to short period of 24-hour
  opening leading up to exam period.
• Evidence appraised and summarised in report
  recommending further increase in opening hours in
  weeks leading up to exam period.
• Longer term recommendation was to incorporate
  24-hour study facility when and if Library is
  refurbished.
• Based on CAUL survey, facility should provide
  individual and group study spaces, computers,
  wireless access, laptop ports, photocopier and
  printing equipment, vending machines, lounges and
  appropriate security arrangements.

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Acting on the evidence

• Report discussed with Student Council and senior
  University executive. Recommendation for long
  term accepted but short term proposal not
  adopted!
• Through process, all stakeholders gained good
  understanding of issues and agreed with decision
  made.
• Concept of refurbishing Library has progressed
  and University has invited proposals from
  architects to develop a project brief.
• Evidence gathered to resolve opening hours
  question has contributed to better understanding
  of Librarys role in providing learning
  environment in addition to traditional role as
  repository of books/provider of electronic
  resources.
• Has helped convince senior executive that
  refurbishment necessary to meet student needs.

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Moving on to further questions

• Refurbishment proposal has defined new question
• What facilities and services would students like
  to see included in refurbished library?
  Stakeholder feedback is being gathered using
  online survey and focus groups.

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The process of evidence-based library and
information practice
Eldredge, 2000
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Identifying meaningful questions
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Asking Answerable Questions

• Questions drive the entire EBLIP process.
  EBLIP assigns highest priority to questions
  with greatest relevance to library practice.
• Eldredge, 2000

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Sample questions

• Are students who have been taught information
  skills more or less likely to continue to further
  study?
• What personality characteristics in librarians
  make them good or bad searchers?
• Do library desk staff members provide accurate
  responses to reference questions?
• Which web pages on a library website are most
  usable?
• Does weeding some classification ranges in a
  monographs collection result in higher usage than
  the unweeded but otherwise similar ranges?

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And theres more!

• Does face-to-face contact versus electronic-only
  by a library liaison librarian result in a more
  accurate perception of library services or
  resources?
• Are librarians or library assistants more
  effective at answering reference questions?
• Why do non-users not use their library?
• Why do some users prefer certain information
  resources over equally relevant information
  resources?
• How does one measure effective searching skills?
• Do librarians improve or worsen perceptions of
  information overload?
• How can we measure customer satisfaction with
  library services?

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SPICE up your life!

• S Setting what is the context for the
  question?
• P Perspective who are the users/potential
  users of the service?
• I Intervention what is being done to them/for
  them?
• C Comparison -what are your alternatives?
• E Evaluation how will you measure whether the
  intervention has succeeded?
• Tell me what you want, what you really, really
  want

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Domains of EBLIP (Crumley Koufogiannakis,
2002, 2004)

• Reference/Enquiries providing service and access
  to information that meets the needs of library
  users.
• Education finding teaching methods and
  strategies to educate users about library
  resources and to improve their research skills.
• 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.
• Information Access Retrieval creating better
  systems and methods for information retrieval
  access.
• Professional Issues wider professional concerns
  
• Marketing/Promotion promoting the profession,
  the library and its services to both users and
  non-users.

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Exercise

• Think of an area of common library or information
  practice with which you are involved. How do you
  know whether or not it is effective? Using the
  SPICE framework express a question regarding the
  effectiveness of that specific area of practice

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Question Types

• EBM (Richardson et al, 1997)
• Foreground versus Background
• EBLIP (Eldredge, 2002)
• Prediction
• Intervention
• Exploration

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Find Evidence

• Scattered evidence base
• Need for New databases
• New ways of searching

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When did you last search for evidence to support
your own practice?
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Appraising a research study
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Appraise Evidence

• Not traditional area of librarian skill
• Checklists for appropriate studies
• Information needs analyses (CRiSTAL)
• User studies (CRiSTAL)
• Interventions Addressing the Need for education
  and Training (RELIANT)

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What is critical appraisal?

• To weigh up the evidence critically to assess
  its validity (closeness to the truth) and
  usefulness (clinical applicability).
• Adapted from Sackett Haynes, 1995.

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Critical Appraisal Skills Programme

• Critical appraisal skills training for the NHS
  (Anglia and Oxford)
• Appraises
• Reliability Get the same results if repeated?
• Validity Results derived in rigorous way?
• Applicability Can I apply it to my patients?

http//www.phru.nhs.uk/ casp/casp.htm
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The (hidden) cost of experiments
Does conducting the experiment itself so disturb
the environment that you are no longer getting a
real picture?
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How is it done? Getting started

• Scenario - from real life or invented
• Article - primary or secondary study addressing
  the problem in hand
• Checklist - for assessing the study design of the
  article User Guides
• And optionally, a Crib sheet, digest or commentary

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Final important steps

• Apply results in practice
• range of behavioural and educational
  interventions to facilitate culture of change

• Evaluate your performance
• Audit
• Accreditation
• Ongoing evaluation alongside innovation (compare
  health services research)

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Using Research In Practice
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Matching Research Designs to Your Question

• The wording and content of the questions
  determine what kinds of research designs are
  needed to secure answers.
• Eldredge, 2000

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An Evidence Prism
Qualitative research
Non-research
SRs
RCTs
Audits, surveys etcetera
Focus groups, Delphi techniques, Interviews
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Exercise

• Match the questions identified in the scenarios
  provided to the research design(s) that you
  consider most appropriate to answering them.

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Using Research In Practice

• Evidence that is Directly Applicable
• Evidence that needs to be Locally Validated
• Evidence that Improves Understanding
• (Koufogiannakis and Crumley, 2004)
• Plus
• Evidence that may inform our Choice of
  Methodologies, Tools or Instruments
• (Booth, 2003)

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Barriers to development implementation
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Implementing Research in Practice - The challenge

• "The key to evidence-based information practice
  is the ongoing development and application
  ofinformation science research".
• "Individuallibrarians must apply the results of
  research routinely to library and information
  service practice, to the development of
  information policy, and to other information
  issues important to..institutions
• Using Scientific Evidence to Improve Information
  Practice The Research Policy Statement of the
  Medical Library Association

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Evidence Based Practitioner

• Subscribes to key health information journals out
  of their own pocket
• Email alerting service
• Stay after-hours to conduct a literature search
• Slip" photocopy requests into the system
• Read and appraise the evidence
• Summarise findings in report to library committee
• Report discussed at monthly team meeting
• Task group set up to explore feasibility.
• Six quarterly meetings
• Implementation group produce draft local guidance.

Booth, 2004b
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Evidence Based Organisation

• Current awareness service
• Relevant items instantly printed out for future
  reading.
• Selection process triggers request for critically
  appraised summaries
• Email from Accreditation and Standards Agency to
  audit compliance
• International Research Register.
• Scope of Professional Practice department sends
  through a new updated international guideline
• Library's Guidelines Implementation Group reviews
  evidence at their weekly virtual team meeting
• Map against database of integrated service
  pathways
• Affected pathways flagged for attention
• Action plan formulated

Booth, 2004b
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Evidence Based Practitioner

• Six generic characteristics of evidence based
  practitioner (Hopayian Hooper, 2003)
• Constantly questioning
• Sceptical of current practice
• Listens to and values other peoples perspectives
• Aware of validity and limitations of their own
  knowledge
• Possesses level of knowledge of evidence based
  practice appropriate to their own situation
• Continuously learning.

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Exercise Barriers and Enablers for EBLIP

• Working in groups - brainstorm a list of barriers
  to EBLIP. Focus on barriers as they currently
  exist in your own workplace

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Diamond Nines

• Now put the Post-Its into priority order using a
  diamond pattern.
• Place the barrier that you believe is MOST
  IMPORTANT at the top of the pattern.
• Place the barrier that you believe is LEAST
  IMPORTANT at the bottom.

Most Important
Least Important
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Enablers!

• Then swap your lists and propose potential
  solutions to each barrier on the other groups
  list.

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Challenges for EBLIP

• Quality of the evidence
• Dispersion of evidence sources (e.g. education,
  management, computer science)
• Skills in conducting research
• Skills in disseminating research
• Skills in interpreting research
• Time!

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Issues for Organisations

• Inclusion in job descriptions
• Inclusion in performance review
• Journal Clubs
• Support to Evidence Based Organisations
• Production of guidelines

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What are your priorities?

• Practice guidelines
• EBLIP journal/newsletter Achieved
• More systematic reviews Partly achieved
• Register of rigorous studies
• International Collaboration Partly achieved
• More RCTs
• Critical appraisal checklists Partly achieved
• Other outcome research inclusion in
  curriculum training/retraining develop research
  skills develop best practice

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Future Prospects
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The Current State of EBL

• practitioners are finding themselves in a
  position where they have to design and carry out
  original research in order to obtain applicable
  evidence Until the body of evidence is
  substantially increased, it is essential that
  original research be encouraged and published.
• I recently posted a message to the EBLIG
  electronic mail list requesting EBL success
  storiesThe response was minimal, save for three
  people who had carried out original research and
  used the results to modify practice or implement
  a new service or policy. Nobody mentioned using
  existing evidence, and nobody mentioned
  evaluating implementation results. On the
  surface, this supports the general hypothesis
  that the body of research is low and that EBL
  still has a way to go before it is practised
  regularly and systematically. (Glynn, 2006)

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Route maps for Evidence basedproblem Solving
(RESolve)

• Instead of systematic review on clearly-focused
  narrow topic we conduct series of brief searches
  to populate our understanding of a particular
  phenomenon (e.g. the Virtual Reference Desk)
• Construct a model with causes, options,
  effectiveness, costs, user views.
• Model progressively overwritten as new evidence
  appears

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Route maps for Evidence basedproblem Solving
(RESolve)
Repeat multiple layers for interventions,
evaluation etcetera
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Fourth EBLIP Conference

• 4th International Conference on Evidence-based
  Library and Information Practice (EBLIP4), May
  6-11, 2007, Durham, North Carolina, USA.

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The future of EBP

• the long-term future of evidence based library
  and information practice probably lies not in a
  single-minded focus on research-derived evidence
  but in a more encompassing approach that embodies
  reflective practice.the ability to critically
  analyse, make informed judgements and direct
  actions can be triggered by any number of
  catalysts, of which research evidence may be just
  one.
• Booth (2003).

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EBIP RIP!

• It thus seems likely that ultimately evidence
  based practice will contribute to a toolbox from
  which the reflective practitioner will
  occasionally draw. The ultimate objective of
  evidence based library and information practice
  is thus to write itself out of existence!
• Booth (2003).

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More questions than answers?

• Booth A and Brice A. Evidence Based Practice for
  Information Professionals a handbook. Facet
  Publishing, March 2004.
• PRICE 44.95
• ISBN 1856044718

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Conclusion, Feedback and Evaluation

• We would like you to think of one suggested
  action as a result of todays course to advance
  EBLIP in your own organisation.

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References - 1

• Abbott WA (2006), Persuasive Evidence Improving
  Customer Service through Evidence Based
  Librarianship Evidence Based Library and
  Information Practice, 11
• Booth, A (2003) Evidence Based Librarianship
  FOLIO Course
• Booth, A. (2003) Where systems meet services
  towards evidence-based information practice. Vine
  -London 33 (2) 65-71.
• Booth A (2004a). A checker's career? Health Info
  Libr J. 21(4) 269-72.
• Booth A (2004b) Bridging the Research-Practice
  Gap? The Role of Evidence Based Librarianship New
  Review of Information and Library Research, 9 (1)
  3-10.
• Booth A (2006) Counting what counts Performance
  Measurement and Evidence Based Practice
  Performance Measurement and Metrics 7 (2)
  (forthcoming)

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References - 2

• Booth A and Brice, A, (2004) Evidence Based
  Practice for Information Professionals a
  handbook. Facet Publishing.
• Bradley DR, Rana GK, Martin PW, Schumacher RE.
  Real-time, evidence-based medicine instruction
  RCT in a neonatal intensive care unit. JMLA. 2002
  Apr 90 (2) 194-201.
• Crumley E, Koufogiannakis D. (2002) Developing
  evidence-based librarianship practical steps for
  implementation. Health Info Libr J.
  Jun19(2)61-70.
• Eldredge JD. Evidence-based librarianship an
  overview. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 2000
  Oct88(4)289-302.
• Eldredge JD. EBL Levels of Evidence. Hypothesis
  2002 Fall 16 (3) 10-13 .
• Guyatt, GH et al (2000) Practitioners of evidence
  based care. BMJ, 320 954 - 955.

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References - 3

• Hopayian K Hooper, L (2003). Steps towards a
  matrix http//www.ebhc.org/2003/abstracts_book.pd
  f
• Koufogiannakis D and Crumley, E. 2004 In Booth A
  and Brice, A, (2004) Evidence Based Practice for
  Information Professionals a handbook. Facet
  Publishing.
• Koufogiannakis, D, Booth A, and Brettle A.
  ReLIANT Reader's guide to the Literature on
  Interventions Addressing the Need for education
  and Training. Library Information Research
  30(94) Spring 2006 44-51.
• Richardson WS, Wilson MC. On questions,
  background and foreground. Evidence Based Health
  Care Newsletter 1997178-9.
• Ritchie A. (1999) incite Magazine - December
  http//www.alia.org.auincite/1999/12/appraisal.htm
  l.