By Clare Thorpe
Earlier this year, Library and Information Science Research Australia held a panel discussion 'to consider the opportunities, issues and challenges for library and information professionals in sharing and disseminating Australia’s emerging body of LIS practice-based research'. Clare Thorpe has recently expanded on her presentation in a commentary article in the journal Evidence Based Library and Information Practice. She summarises her thoughts about why library and information professionals should share their outcomes and results widely.
The Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP) model provides a structured approach to decision making and problem solving in workplaces. Colloquially known as “The 5As” (Koufogiannakis, 2013), it is a cyclical process that guides library and information professionals through five steps - Articulate, Assemble, Assess, Agree and Adapt. The model can be applied by individuals and in teams, providing a practical, guided approach that incorporates critical reflective practice and evidence-informed decision making. However, the model fails to explicitly identify a step to prompt the LIS practitioner to communicate their evidence based practice to their stakeholders, clients, or peers.
Figure 1: The five step EBLIP model (Koufogiannakis & Brettle, 2016, p. 14)Writing, publishing, disseminating and sharing the completed work is the final step in the research process (Hallam, 2018, p. 457). Communicating research findings is a critical and often required stage of the research process, particularly when publishing research findings is mandated by funding bodies. Crumley and Koufogiannakis (2004) argued that:
“Dissemination of research results is vital to the progress of the profession as well as helping to improve practice. It involves not only making your research available, but also ensuring that it is accessible to others and presented in a manner that is easy to understand. (p. 127)”They promoted communication within the library, to its parent organization, and externally to the profession via informal and formal methods of dissemination, such as conference presentations, journal clubs, scholarly publication, reports to management, and personal networking (Crumley & Koufogiannakis, 2004).
So, if EBLIP is accepted as a form of practitioner research, then it follows that communicating findings and results should be a requirement of being evidence based LIS practitioners.
Figure 2: The six step EBLIP model (Thorpe, 2021, p. 121)Why should announcing, advocating, and communicating be made an explicit part in the EBLIP model? In my writing, I proposed four benefits that may apply to individuals, libraries, and the profession:
- To advocate and influence
- To contribute to the profession’s evidence base
- To demonstrate professional expertise
- To build organizational capacity and maturity.
I try to practice to what I preach and tell stories of the work that I do in my library in a range of different forums. For example, in 2021, I have published four journal articles, presented at two conferences, spoken at four webinars and now, written one blog post. Taking time to reflect on the work that I have done with colleagues over the past year, has challenged me to think about how I explain my work to different audiences and to communicate with a purpose, whether that is share findings, to advocate for my library and my team, or to influence and inspire others into action.
In a profession that values access to information and knowledge sharing, sharing of work based projects and practitioner research should be a normal expectation and behaviour of our work. I argue that the EBLIP model would be strengthened with an explicit step that promotes actively contributing to the evidence base for the betterment of libraries and the profession.
If a generation of LIS professionals learns to engage in EBLIP without sharing and communicating their work, then criticisms of the validity of our profession’s evidence base will endure. Communicating in an evidence based way should be an explicit part of the LIS professional’s identity.
References
Crumley, E., & Koufogiannakis, D. (2004). Disseminating the lessons of evidence based practice. In A. Booth & A. Brice (Eds.), Evidence-based practice for information professionals: A handbook (pp. 138–143). Facet Publishing.
Hallam, G. (2018). Being evidence based makes sense! An introduction to Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP). Bibliothek Forschung und Praxis, 42(3), 453–462. https://doi.org/10.1515/bfp-2018-0067
Koufogiannakis, D. (2013). How academic librarians use evidence in their decision making: Reconsidering the Evidence Based Practice Model [Doctoral dissertation, Aberystwyth University]. Aberystwyth Research Portal. http://hdl.handle.net/2160/12963
Koufogiannakis, D., & Brettle, A. (Eds.). (2016). Being evidence based in library and information practice. Facet Publishing.
Thorpe, C. (2021). Announcing and advocating: The missing step in the EBLIP model. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 16(4), 118–125. https://doi.org/10.18438/eblip30044
Clare Thorpe is an award-winning library leader, research-practitioner, and board director. She is Director, Library Services at Southern Cross University and serves on the Board of the Australian Library and Information Association.
Clare.Thorpe@scu.edu.au
@thorpe_clare
