Evidence-based Practice for Information Professionals

Book excerpt: Evidence-based practice is a paradigm that originated within healthcare but is rapidly migrating to other fields. It involves applying the results from rigorous research studies to professional practice in order to improve the quality of services to clients. Familiarity with these methods has caused an increasing number of information professionals to turn a critical eye to their own practice. Is it possible to adapt this model to librarianship and information work? To what extent are its skills and techniques transferable to the various areas of professional practice? Is it desirable for information professionals to integrate research findings into their day-to-day decision-making? These and other related issues are discussed in this book, the first to examine this key topic in depth. It is divided into three parts: The Context for Evidence-based practice; Skills And Resources for Evidence-based Information Practice; and Using the Evidence Base in Practice. This last part explores each of the six domains of evidence-based librarianship identified in research, to demonstrate the application of evidence-based information practice in a practical decision-making context. These chapters with their associated Special Topics present concise summaries of evidence-based information practice within generic areas of work, together with practical examples of the application of evidence-based principles and methods. Supported by a wealth of case studies drawn from a wide range of sectors, these contributions from leading-edge professionals cover the following key issues: why evidence-based information practice? a brief history of evidence-based practice how good is the evidence base? why don't librarians use research? formulating answerable questions identifying sources of evidence and searching the LIS literature appraising the evidence applying evidence to everyday practice and evaluating your performance disseminating the lessons of evidence-based practice examining the evidence base for reference services and enquiry work the contribution of evidence-based practice to educational activities towards evidence-based management evidence-based perspectives on information access and retrieval introducing an evidence-based approach to marketing and promotional activities. Readership: This book is of wide interest to all new and established information professionals, both those in fields such as healthcare where the evidence-based paradigm is already impacting on their work, and those in other fields encountering it for the first time. It is a core text in departments of library and information work.