Evidence Based Information Practice
Evidence Based Information Practice "is an approach to information practice 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".
The term "evidence based information practice" is used in preference to "evidence based librarianship" to indicate the wider relevance to other sectors.
The Information Resources Section at ScHARR has a leading international reputation as a proponent of evidence based information practice. Staff in the Section organised the first ever Evidence Based Librarianship Conference in Sheffield in September 2001. Subsequently Andrew Booth, the Section Director, chaired the Programme Committee for the second Evidence Based Librarianship Conference in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in June 2003.
Staff in the Section have been active in contributing to key outputs in Evidence Based Information Practice such as a Special Issue on Evidence Based Health Information in Health Information and Libraries Journal (June 2003) and the seminal Evidence Based Practice: a Handbook for Information Professionals (Facet Publishing, April 2004).
Selected Publications
Beverley, C.A. Searching the library and information science literature. In: Booth, A & Brice, A (Eds) (2004) Evidence Based Practice for Information Professionals: A handbook. London: Facet Publishing. Pages 89-103
Beverley, C. A., Bath, P. A. & Booth, A. (2004) Health information needs of visually impaired people: a systematic review of the literature.
Health and Social Care in the Community, 12 (1): 1-24.
Booth, A. (2002) From EBM to EBL: Two steps forward or one step back. Medical Reference Services Quarterly. 21(3): 51-64
Booth, A. (2003) Where systems meet services: towards evidence-based information practice. Vine, 33 (2) : 65-71.
Booth, A (2003) Bridging the research-practice gap? The role of evidence based librarianship. New review of information and library research, 9 : 3-23.
Booth, A & Brice, A (Eds) (2004) Evidence Based Practice for Information Professionals: A handbook. London: Facet Publishing.
Winning, M. A. & Beverley, C. A. (2003) Clinical librarianship: a systematic review of the literature. Health Libraries Review 20 (s1), 10-21.