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The purpose of this paper is to consider how library education can best incorporate the profession's emerging interest in evidence‐based practice (EBP) whilst ensuring that the educational experience is meaningful to the contemporary library student.

A learning and teaching model developed by the Queensland University of Technology will be presented as a case study on how the library education curriculum can be developed to incorporate a focus on EBP whilst catering to the unique learning style of the millennial student.

To effectively meet the needs of the millennial student, library educators must develop their curriculum to include a real world activities and perspective, be customisable and flexible, incorporate regular feedback, use technology, provide trusted guidance, include the opportunity for social and interactive learning, be visual and kinaesthetic, and include communication that is real, raw, relevant and relational.

This paper contributes to the current discussion on how EBP can be integrated effectively into the contemporary library curriculum in general, and meet the learning needs of the millennial student in particular.

Attempting to incorporate research into decision making raises several questions about the research that currently exists in librarianship, areas that are most in need of research, obstacles to conducting research, and possible solutions for nurturing a professional environment in which conducting and using research becomes an accepted and expected part of our practice. This article attempts to answer some of those questions.

A general overview of the research base in librarianship is given. Compilation of content analyses and systematic reviews present an argument relating to the need of further research in librarianship. Further examination of potential research questions is conducted, and potential obstacles and solutions to research barriers are presented.

There is still a need to establish a solid evidence base within our profession. With support from all sectors of librarianship, progress can be made.

This paper points out gaps in our research knowledge, and areas that need to be explored via research in library and information studies. It is hoped that this paper will encourage librarians to think about how they can incorporate research into their daily practice.

This article is based on a paper presented at the 2005 IFLA World Library and Information Congress. It brings together the findings to date of the author's research project on research quality, to address issues related to research quality as a basis for the use of research evidence in evidence‐based practice.

The methods used include a literature review, a review of existing models for evaluating research evidence, and a pilot project based on a qualitative, naturalistic research design that employed content analysis and statistical techniques.

While a number of strategies have been developed for the evaluation of published research, all have their limitations. The same is true for the models that have been proposed for assisting practitioners to evaluate research evidence as a basis for evidence‐based practice. The literature review identified four different approaches to the assessment of quality in research reporting. The pilot study identified three different “value perceptions” held by experienced research evaluators that affected their research evaluations.

Although practitioners need to be able to evaluate research reports as a basis for evidence‐based practice, there is currently no one strategy that can be recommended as a fail‐safe tool to support this activity.

The article highlights the variety and limitations of existing strategies or models for evaluating research quality and suggests possible steps forward.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the nature of the qualitative research paradigm, with a particular emphasis on the marginalization of qualitative approaches within the current discourse of evidence‐based librarianship.

The paper presents examples of qualitative research in the field of library and information studies, reviews the discourse of EBL as it relates to qualitative research, and also draws on debates in the health sciences on the role of qualitative research in evidence‐based practice.

EBL levels of evidence must evolve to include qualitative research, as these methods best suit many of the research questions addressed in LIS contexts.

There is currently little acknowledgement of the value of qualitative research for EBL; this paper dispels this notion, and calls for EBL to embrace these methods.

Soft systems methodology processes fortified by collaborative evidence‐based librarianship (EBL) principles can guide end‐user involvement in digital library project design and development. This paper aims to reveal the efficacy of this inclusive human‐focused approach for building systems through user‐generated research examples.

From 2003 to 2006, user‐centered interaction design guided increasingly complex human‐computer interaction projects at California Polytechnic State University. Toward that end, project planners invite polytechnic students, supervised by computer science professors, to assess peers' information seeking needs. This student‐generated evidence informs creation of paper prototypes and implementation of usability tests. Sustained relationships between planners and beneficiaries permit iterative evaluation and continuous improvement of design concepts and product functionalities.

Purposeful conversations aimed at learning from user‐generated evidence enrich the planning process for digital library projects. Reflective of the “learn by doing” educational values of the organization, this approach advances learning among both users and planners throughout user‐centered (re)design experiences.

Collaborative design assumes that enabling interfaces, systems, and environments are best designed and developed inclusively, with and for beneficiaries. Toward that end, practical guidelines are offered to enable replication of this approach, which depends on user produced and interpreted evidence, in other organizational settings.

A paucity of literature exists on the relevance of EBL in the digital age. Similarly, too little applied research has adopted a human‐centered focus for design and development of information systems. Finally, too few digital library projects recognize the value of initiating positive user experiences at project inception.

The evidence‐based practice (EBP) model appears to have established itself as the principal change driver and discourse for the healthcare sector. This study sets out to identify the emergence of the term EBP in the professional literature to establish an empirical foundation for discussion. The understanding of and relevance to healthcare practitioners in a large South West London hospital are assessed and their views related to the perspective of library and information professionals to assess implications for practice.

An extensive literature search was carried out and the data generated used to produce a growth curve for the literature. A survey of health care professionals using e‐mail and follow‐up interviews was undertaken at the case hospital.

Between 1998 and 2004 the number of papers appearing to discuss the theme increased four‐fold. The first recorded reference was in 1991. The EBP model had strong official and political support in the field. On the user sample there is evidence of resistance to the orthodoxy.

The EBP model – variously adopted by several healthcare agencies – has placed information management at the centre of the care process. In spite of this, there are few definite implications for the role of library and information professionals, since the world of information and the UK NHS itself are continually in a state of flux, and the current EBP dominance may neither strengthen nor safeguard it.

The bibliometric study provides a baseline. The study of healthcare professionals is a case study to add to knowledge of practice.

The purpose of this work is to present an alternative way of considering evidence‐based librarianship (EBL) through an examination of the data that makes up studies used for EBL.

This piece starts with the standard evidence‐based librarianship definition and deconstructs it down to the level of the individual user, and that data is considered in a different context.

The bibliomining process, or the combination of data warehousing, data mining, and bibliometrics, is used as a framework to build a different path to EBL. Bibliomining‐based evidence‐based librarianship is not appropriate for all topics; however, when the artifacts of library use can be gathered and explored, this method can provide a different path to reach the goals of EBL.

As the quantity of studies needed for traditional EBL are not currently available, this alternate method provides a way to achieve the goals of EBL through data already in the library systems.

Seeks to spread the concept of evidence‐based practice beyond the health sector.

The authors have worked with physicians and nurses and offer their observations from being part of the development of the skills and tools of evidence‐based practice.

Librarians need to increase their reliance on sound evidence to support their programs and services. They also need to become more active in producing and publishing evidence for their peers and others outside the profession. The authors feel that librarians have the abilities to do this, especially if supported by their organizations and institutions with respect to education and resources.

The paper should be of use in the development of evidence‐based librarianship.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

Introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2013.

Provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

The paper seeks to provide an overview and update of thinking in relation to the theory and practice of formulation of answerable research questions within evidence based information practice.

The paper reviews the healthcare and information literature on question formulation, augmented by structured and purposive internet searches.

Although a few key authors have published extensively on all aspects of the evidence‐based information practice process, including question formulation, there is little in the way of empirical research.

In the absence of an empirical research base from within the specific domain of information practice, this conceptual paper extrapolates findings from healthcare research to general librarianship.

This article models the process of question formulation using a proposed conceptual framework (SPICE) and encourages practitioners to identify their own practice‐based questions.

This is the first article specifically to address question formulation for a general (i.e. non‐health) library audience.