Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (Journal)
Not a member yet
1552 research outputs found
Sort by
The Effectiveness of Library Instruction for Graduate/Professional Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
No full textAbstract
Objective - This study sought to assess the effectiveness of library instruction for increasing information literacy skills and/or knowledge among graduate and professional students.
Methods - A search was conducted in Library Literature and Information Science Index (H. W. Wilson); Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts; Medline; CINAHL; ERIC; Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA); and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. Studies were included if they were published between 2000 and 2019, in English, reported on library instruction for graduate or professional students, and objectively measured change in information literacy knowledge/skills.
Results - Sixteen studies were included in the systematic review; 12 of the 16 studies included sufficient information to be included in the meta-analysis. The overall effect of library instruction was significant [SMD = 1.03, SE=0.19, z=5.49, P<.0001, 95% CI=0.66-1.40], meaning that on average, a student scored about one standard deviation higher on an information literacy assessment after library instruction. High heterogeneity indicated a need for subgroup analysis, which showed a significant moderation of effect by discipline of students, but none by format of instruction. However, subgroup analysis must be viewed with caution due to the small number of studies in several of the subgroups.
Conclusions - This meta-analysis indicates that library instruction for graduate students is effective in increasing information literacy knowledge and/or skills. However, to strengthen the accuracy of results of future meta-analyses, there is a need for more precise descriptions of instructional sessions as well as more complete data reporting by authors of primary studies. There is also a need for the publication of more studies, particularly studies of hybrid and online instruction
User Education and File Standards Best Options to Ensure Open Educational Resources are Truly Open
No full textA Review of:
Ovadia, S. (2019). Addressing the technical challenges of open educational resources. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 19(1), 79-93. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2019.0005
Abstract
Objective – To describe common technical challenges of open educational resources (OERs) and recommend solutions.
Design – Descriptive study.
Setting – Online open educational resources in higher education.
Subjects – Open educational resources.
Methods – Drawing from the literature and his own experiences, the author explains the necessity of accepted standards of “openness” and describes the many ways OERs fail to meet these standards. The author also describes common technical challenges that impede openness, then proposes solutions to address these challenges.
Main Results – Technical limitations often prohibit OERs from being truly open. Providers can design their resources to encourage reuse, redistribution, revision, and remixing. Three strategies for addressing technical challenges in OERs are user education, open file standards, and using Git to facilitate distributed version control.
Conclusion – Git is a compelling option for distributed version control, but entails its own technical challenges. User education and established open file standards are the best strategies to ensure that OERs are open in both a legal and a technical sense. The article concludes with the author’s opinions about how OER directors may most realistically implement these solutions
Survey Applies Public Collection Development Librarians\u27 Support for Intellectual Freedom to Collection Process
No full textA Review of:
Oltmann, S. M. (2019). Important factors in Midwestern public librarians’ views on intellectual freedom and collection development: Part 2. The Library Quarterly, 89(2), 156-172. https://doi.org/10.1086/702203
Abstract
Objective – To explore how librarian attitudes regarding intellectual freedom and demographic factors influence collection development decisions.
Design – Online survey.
Setting – Public libraries in the Midwestern United States.
Subjects – 645 collection development library professionals employed in public libraries.
Methods – An electronic survey was distributed to 3,018 public library directors in nine Midwestern states and completed by the library professional primarily responsible for collection development (Oltmann, 2019, p. 6). The survey had a 21.37% response rate. The survey focused on intellectual freedom in the management of collections and probed the participants for their experiences and influences in making collection development decisions. The survey also asked participants to make hypothetical purchasing and holdings decisions for library materials based on a short description of the material.
Main Results – Participants indicated that they used a variety of different tools for the selection of materials including patron requests. Of the participants, 45.7% indicated that their library had a policy, practice, or metric to assess the balance of their collections, while 54.3% indicated that their libraries did not have policy or method in place for ensuring that their collection was balanced. Of the respondents, 73.4% felt that local community values should be considered in collection development decision, but 62.3% said that this should not be the most important factor in decisions. Overall, the political leaning of the community did not have an impact on participants’ alignment with the ALA\u27s stances on intellectual freedom. Most respondents (73.4%) felt that government library funding bodies should have an influence over collection development decisions. Some respondents indicated they felt internal pressure from other library staff or the library board to purchase particular materials (28.1%) or relocate materials (14.1%). Respondents also indicated that they felt external pressure from their communities to purchase (32%) or restrict or withdraw (19.1%) materials. In the hypothetical purchasing scenario, most librarians indicated that they would purchase the majority of items. Some participants (39.8%) felt tension between their personal and professional views on intellectual freedom.
Conclusion – The first part of this article found that holding an MLS degree had a significant impact on participants\u27 stance on intellectual freedom and alignment with the American Library Association (ALA) principles. This part indicated that they also felt greater pressure to withdraw, acquire, and manage particular materials in their collections and felt more tension between their personal and professional stances on intellectual freedom. Age, gender, duration of work, and community political affiliations significantly impacted only some of the participants\u27 responses. Overall, there was general support for intellectual freedom and alignment with the ALA principles; however, 40% of respondents indicated tension between their personal and professional beliefs about intellectual freedom. 
Evidence Based Practice for Virtual Reality Spaces and Services: A Service Design Case Study
No full textNo abstract
Age as a Predictor of Burnout in Russian Public Librarians
No full textObjective – Increasing life expectancy leads to an increase in the mean age of the workforce. The aging workforce implies new challenges for management and human resources. Existing findings on relations between age and burnout are controversial and scarce. Also, the problem of burnout amongst library workers in Russia has received little attention from researchers.
Methods – The studied sample consisted of 620 public librarians from 166 public libraries of different regions (the Moscow region, Yaroslavl, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, Astrakhan, and Republic of Buryatia) of the Russian Federation, who completed a self-reported online survey. For measuring burnout, a new Burnout Assessment Tool was implemented. To examine the associations of interest, we used structural equation modeling with a group correction approach. In addition, library location, general self-efficacy, and length of employment at the current workplace were utilized as predictors. All statistical analysis was performed in R.
Results – Findings confirmed the hypotheses partially and revealed negative links between exhaustion, mental distance, and cognitive control and age, while reduced emotional control did not relate to age. Urban librarians tended to demonstrate higher levels of mental distance and had more significant problems with emotional regulation than their rural counterparts. Also, the non-Moscow region librarians did not demonstrate correlations between age and reduced cognitive control. Moreover, they showed a positive link between age and reduced emotional control.
Conclusion – The current paper confirmed some previous results on the negative relations between burnout symptoms and chronological age. The results suggest the existence of higher risks of burnout for younger library workers. Potential mechanisms underlying the resilience of older workers are discussed
The Urgency and Importance of an Active Information Seeking Task Influence the Interruption of Information Encountering Episodes
No full textA Review of:
Makri, S., & Buckley, L. (2020). Down the rabbit hole: Investigating disruption of the information encountering process. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 71(2), 127–142. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24233
Abstract
Objective – To understand when and why information encountering episodes are interrupted.
Design – Naturalistic observational and interview study.
Setting – Personal network of the study authors in London.
Subjects – Fifteen personal contacts of authors, aged 22-60, recruited via word-of-mouth and social media.
Methods – Each participant was asked to conduct a search on a self-chosen topic. The researchers took notes and recorded search interactions and think-aloud protocols. After the search, a follow-up interview asked whether the participant had unexpectedly encountered any interesting or useful information; if so, the researchers asked for more details about that episode. If not, they conducted a critical incident technique interview, focused on a memorable example of a past information-encountering episode. The researchers used inductive thematic analysis to analyze the data, augmented with constant comparison across the data and the themes to ensure analytical rigor.
Main Results – The most frequent point at which participants interrupted an information encountering (IE) episode was near its beginning, when the searcher noted an information stimulus but then immediately returned to the active information-seeking task. IE episodes were also interrupted 1) after the searcher examined the encountered content but did not explore it further, and 2) after the searcher explored it but decided it was not useful.
The factors that influenced interruptions of IE episodes included the searcher’s reluctance to invest the time and effort needed to engage with the encountered information, due to the importance or urgency of the active information-seeking task; the searcher’s reluctance to leave the active information-seeking task, seeing IE as a distraction from that task; the searcher’s reluctance to multitask, i.e., to keep track of both the IE episode and the active information-seeking task; the searcher’s reluctance to risk a dead end; the searcher’s reluctance to be seduced by the “shiny thing” of encountered information (p. 136) and to drift too far away from the active information-seeking task; and the searcher’s reluctance to get “caught up” emotionally in the IE episode (p. 138), a “temptation that is satisfying only in the short-term” (p. 138).
Conclusion – Overall, the results help us understand when and why disruption of IE can occur. When an IE episode begins, the searcher is not able to estimate the time and effort required to pursue it or the fruitfulness of following it through. Thus, factors associated with the primary information-seeking task (e.g., its importance or urgency) and with the searcher (e.g., ability to multitask) tend to influence decisions about when to interrupt an IE episode
Understanding EBLIP at an Organizational Level: An Initial Maturity Model
No full textAbstract
Objective - Existing research around evidence based practice in the LIS (library and information science) professional context over the past two decades has captured the experience of individual practitioners, rather than the organization as a whole. Current models of evidence based library and information practice (EBLIP) relate to, and apply predominantly to, individuals or specific scenarios. Yet despite a growing demand from institutional and library leaders for evidence to demonstrate why investments in libraries should continue, little is known about how an organization can enhance its maturity in evidence based practice. This paper addresses this gap by seeking to understand what an evidence based university library looks like and answering the questions: how does a university library leader know the library’s service and practice is evidence based? How can a university library measure and progress its maturity in evidence based practice?
Methods - Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with library professionals employed at Australian and New Zealand university libraries. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis techniques. The interviews, combined with a literature review and environmental scan of evidence based practices in university libraries, informed the development of a draft capability maturity model as a framework for developing evidence based practice in university libraries.
Results - The model identifies and describes characteristics at five different levels of evidence based practice maturity from least mature (Ad hoc/Sporadic) to most mature (Transforming). Three dimensions of experience help to define the characteristics at each level of maturity and provide a framework to understand how a university library might develop its organizational capacity in evidence based library and information practice.
Conclusion - Library leaders and practitioners will benefit from the model as they seek to identify and build upon their evidence based practice maturity, enabling more robust decision-making, a deeper understanding of their clients and demonstration of value and impact to their stakeholders
Use, Perceptions, and Awareness of LibGuides among Undergraduate and Graduate Health Professions Students
No full textAbstract
Objective – This study investigated usage, perceptions, and awareness of library research guides created using Springshare’s LibGuides among undergraduate and graduate health professions students.
Methods – The researchers recruited 100 health professions students in April 2017 from Hunter College, a senior college within the City University of New York system. Participants were asked to complete a paper survey to ascertain their use, perceptions, and awareness of Springhare’s LibGuides.
Results – Nearly two-thirds of study participants were not aware of library-created LibGuides and 68% had never used this tool. Compared to undergraduates, graduate students were more likely to be aware of LibGuides. The use of LibGuides was higher among graduate respondents (43%) than their undergraduate counterparts (30%). The study found low awareness and use of LibGuides among health professions students overall, regardless of age, gender, academic level, and health sciences concentration. Physical therapy students were more likely to use and be familiar with LibGuides than nursing, medical laboratory sciences, and speech-language pathology and audiology students. Participants reported using general subject guides more than course-specific guides, and the most commonly used page was the Databases guide. Of those participants who had used LibGuides, the vast majority (97%) said they found them useful in their studies.
Conclusion – This study demonstrates low usage and awareness of LibGuides among health professions students at a large urban public college. Findings suggest a need for academic libraries serving such students to develop and implement strategies to promote awareness and increase usage of online research guides. The researchers recommend instructing with LibGuides during information literacy sessions and demonstrating their usefulness during reference consultations. Additional strategies include linking LibGuides to course sites through learning management systems such as Blackboard and collaborating with faculty members to better inform students about the guides
The Value of Information in Professional Settings is Experienced through Relationships and Networks
No full textA Review of:
Sharun, S. (2019). Exploring value as a dimension of professional information literacy. Journal of Information Literacy, 13(2), 26–40. https://doi.org/10.11645/13.2.2627
Abstract
Objective – To critically explore the frame “Information has Value” in a workplace setting.
Design – Semi-structured interviews.
Setting – Community health centre in Canada.
Subjects – Seven health and human services staff members serving vulnerable, urban youth ages 12 to 24.
Methods – The researcher employed phenomenography to analyze interviews and to identify categories of information practice.
Main Results – Four categories of information practice emerged: resourcing, referring, outsourcing, and advocating. The researcher identified the value of information as central to participants’ experience of information practice in the workplace. Subjects’ understanding of the nature and significance of value was situated within personal relationships and professional networks.
Conclusion – The study demonstrated that a specific aspect of information literacy can be successfully investigated to highlight its complexity and to show how it is experienced in a specific setting. A second conclusion was the centrality of interpersonal relationships to how value is experienced in professional information practice. The researcher recommends further study exploring relational value and in the sociocultural practice of information literacy