Welcome to the December 2013 issue of the EBLIP Journal. Looking back it is
hard to believe that I have been Editor-in-Chief for two years. My first issue
contained a feature of the EBLIP6 conference, and I’m delighted that this issue
contains a feature of the EBLIP7 conference, which was held in Saskatoon in
July 2013.
I’ve spent some time reflecting and looking back over the last few weeks;
not because I had nothing better to do, but because I was asked to do a keynote
speech about my research over the last 10 years (Brettle, 2013). The event was
to mark a 10 year anniversary of a health library at Coventry University
Hospital in the UK and my speech was entitled “Evidence Based Practice: An
opportunity for health librarians?”
Over 10 years ago (and before EBLIP was conceived), EBP was heralded as an
opportunity for health librarians to promote their library and expand into new
roles (Palmer, 1996; Scherrer & Dorsch, 1999). When I critically appraised
the literature on this (Brettle, 2009), I was quite disappointed to find that
although EBP had provided the opportunity for promoting the health library, for
the most part, librarians’ roles hadn’t really changed, and the work that they
were engaging in, in relation to evidence based practice, was mainly supporting
literature reviews and training clinicians to undertake their own
searching.
I classified the roles that health librarians may play in relation to
evidence based practice into four domains:
1. A supportive role, using
traditional skills and expertise to train clinicians to find evidence for
practice, to find evidence on behalf of clinicians, or to provide expert
searching and guidance in relation to systematic reviews
2. A supportive role, using their
knowledge of critical appraisal to teach critical appraisal or to critically
appraise search results to support health professionals in their EBP
3. An active role, using research or
critical appraisal to conduct systematic reviews or engage in EBLIP in their
own domain (i.e., libraries or health information)
4. An active role, using the EBP
skills (critical appraisal or research) outside the library but in the health
and social care domain (Brettle, 2009, 2012)
At the time, I found few examples within the literature of librarians using
their EBP skills outside their own domain, but there were quite a few examples,
perhaps not surprisingly, of librarians engaging in EBLIP to improve the
evidence base of their own library practice (Brettle, 2009). One of the
problems is that there are few descriptions of librarians engaging in different
roles within the literature. I am guilty of this myself, having engaged in
systematic reviews outside the library (e.g., Brettle, Hill, & Jenkins,
2008; Dugdill, Brettle, Hulme, McCluskey, & Long, 2008), I did not describe
my role, which in both cases involved leading the systematic review itself as
well as critically appraising the health literature; pretty active and outside
the comfort zone of health libraries! For me, engaging in evidence based
activities inside library and information practice gave me the confidence and
skills to branch outside my familiar domain, and then on to new roles and
opportunities. Other librarians have done similar things (Brettle & Urquhart,
2012). So, I urge you to engage in EBLIP, as you never know where it may take
you – to Saskatoon and beyond?
References
Brettle, A. (2013
Nov. 13). Evidence Based Practice: An opportunity for health librarians?
[Keynote Lecture] Doing what it says on the tin? 10 year celebration of health
librarianship: past, present & future.
University Hospital Coventry. UK
Brettle, A.
(2012). The librarian within research and evidence based practice. In Brettle, A., & Urquhart, C. (Eds.).
(2012). Changing roles and contexts for health library and information
professionals. London: Facet. (pp.135-160).
Brettle, A.
(2009). Exploring the roles, effectiveness and impact of health information professionals
within evidence based practice. Salford: University of Salford. Retrieved 21
Nov. 2013 from http://usir.salford.ac.uk/12960/
Brettle, A., &
Urquhart, C. (Eds.). (2012). Changing roles and contexts for health library and
information professionals. London: Facet.
Brettle, A., Hill,
A., & Jenkins, P. (2008). Counselling in primary care: A systematic review
of the evidence. Counselling &
Psychotherapy Research, 8(4), 207-214.
Dugdill, L.,
Brettle, A., Hulme, C., McCluskey, S. & Long, A. F. (2008). Workplace physical
activity interventions: A systematic review. International Journal of Workplace Health Management, 1(1), 20-40.
Palmer, J. (1996).
Effectiveness and efficiency: New roles and new skills for health librarians.
Aslib Proceedings, 48(10), 247-252. doi:10.1108/eb051433
Scherrer, C. S.,
& Dorsch, J. L. (1999). The evolving role of the librarian in
evidence-based medicine. Bulletin of the
Medical Library Association, 87(3), 322-328.
2013 Brettle. This is an Open Access article
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