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In recent years public libraries have increasingly been required to collect data for the assessment of their performance and to inform service developments. The purpose of this paper is to describe an initiative to promote an evidence‐based approach to library management in a UK county library service.

The paper gives a definition of evidence‐based librarianship and describes how a three‐year study put evidence‐based management (EBM) principles into practice, and the implications for the staff and service as a whole.

An evidence‐based approach to library management yields considerable benefits in terms of service delivery and staff attitudes to data handling. When staff understand the purpose and benefits of collecting data and have the skills to handle evidence, they are more inclined to take ownership of these processes.

This research is limited to one public library authority in the UK. A key priority for future work is the exploration of how the experience gained in this initiative may be transferred to other library services and domains.

The practical implications of this work are widespread across the service. Staff at all levels seem to have greater awareness of the data collection process and how evidence can be used to inform decisions, both in the day‐to‐day running of the service and in the strategic planning process. The project culminated in the formulation of a performance management resource; a single point of reference for all staff involved in data handling and decision making.

A practical study of evidence‐based librarianship has never before been undertaken on this scale in the UK.

The purpose of this paper is to explore conceptual and practical links between performance measurement and evidence‐based library and information practice (EBLIP) and to identify lessons to be learned from evidence‐based healthcare.

The paper presents a selective review of key writings in EBLIP for reference to performance measurement.

The paper finds that performance measurement may variously be viewed as one small, but essential, stage of EBLIP or an overarching approach to utilisation of data of which research‐derived evidence is a single source

Similarities and potential linkages between the two activities are currently underdeveloped and need to be explored through rigorous empirical research.

The stages of EBLIP are modelled in relation to a single case study of reference checking.

This is the first article to develop explicit links between these two areas of information practice, following in passim mentions at previous conferences.

Evidence‐based information practice is an important paradigm that is now emerging in mainstream information work from within healthcare information. This paper aims to provide an introduction to the concept before considering the imperative for practitioners to use insights from research within their professional practice and day‐to‐day decision making. The importance of a focused question and a systematic approach to critical appraisal are rehearsed and similarities with the domain of information systems are briefly considered. The paper concludes with state‐of‐the‐art observations from a recent conference in Canada and recommendations for further development of the paradigm. The objective is to achieve the eventual extinction of the concept through complete integration as simply another tool for reflective practice.

The paper seeks to describe the EBL process in sufficient detail that the readers can apply it to their own professional practice.

The paper takes the form of a narrative literature review.

The EBL process can be summarized through its five steps: formulate a clearly defined, relevant, and answerable question; search for an answer in both the published and unpublished literature, plus any other authoritative resources, for the best available evidence; critically appraise the evidence; assess the relative value of expected benefits and costs of any decided upon action plan; and evaluate the effectiveness of the action plan.

References for readers to pursue more in‐depth research into any particular step or a specific aspect of the EBL process are provided. The EBL process assists librarians in applying the best available evidence to answering the more important questions facing their practice, their institutions, and the profession. This evidence can become the basis for making sound decisions.

This chapter reviews significant advances in health sciences librarianship, highlighting developments between 1970 and 2005. During this time Advances in Librarianship published two chapters that dealt with health sciences librarianship. The first appeared in 1971 with volume two. Written by David Bishop (1971), then at the University of Arizona, it focused on developments in the 1960s and provided a review of the MEDLARS (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System) system, the beginnings of the regional medical library (RML) program and advances in library services and information resources. The second chapter devoted to health sciences libraries appeared in the ninth volume of Advances in Librarianship. In it Donald Hendricks (1979) from the University of New Orleans highlighted collaborative programs among health sciences libraries, the growing reliance on computer applications, professional development programs, clinical medical librarian services and the accomplishments of the Medical Library Association (MLA).

The purpose of this paper is to assess the body of business instruction literature by academic librarians against evolving models for evidence‐based research.

The paper used systematic review and inter‐rater reliability of the literature of business information research instruction to test two attributes of research quality: the evidence‐based levels of evidence and the EBLIP critical analysis checklist.

Intervention questions and case studies are the most popular research methods on the EBL levels of evidence scale. The majority of articles score below 75 on the EBLIP critical appraisal checklist. Prediction questions are represented by higher levels of evidence and study quality. Intervention questions paired with the cohort design and exploratory questions paired with survey design indicate strong areas of research quality. The case study method, while most popular, showes lower scores across all question types yet revealed some high‐quality benchmark examples.

Error is possible when distinguishing between cohort and case study – some articles may fall into one or the other study design. Rater training was conducted only once, and best practices for inter‐rater reliability recommend multiple rounds to achieve higher rater agreement.

Recommendations are presented for ways to improve the evidence base of research articles and suggest areas for professional development opportunities for librarian researchers wishing to increase the quality of research publications.

The paper goes beyond the narrative review of the literature of business instruction to measure the research methods employed in those publications against two evidence‐based standards. The results will show where the literature stands as a maturing discipline and provide recommendations for increasing the levels of evidence for future research.

As the interest in evidence‐based librarianship increases, so does the need for a standardized practice methodology. One of the most essential components of EBL, critical appraisal, has not been fully established within the library literature. The purpose of this paper is to outline and describe a thorough critical appraisal tool and process that can be applied to library and information research in an evidence based setting.

To create a critical appraisal tool for EBL, it was essential to look at other models. Exhaustive searches were carried out in several databases. Numerous articles were retrieved which provided “evidence” or “best practice” based on a critical appraisal. The initial tool, when created, was distributed to several librarians who provided comments to the author regarding its exhaustiveness, ease of use and applicability and was subsequently revised to reflect their suggestions and comments.

The critical appraisal tool provides a thorough, generic list of questions that one would ask when attempting to determine the validity, applicability and appropriateness of a study.

More rigorous research and publishing will be encouraged as more librarians and information professionals adopt the practice of EBL and utilize this critical appraisal model

The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary of the key themes and content of the Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 6 conference, held at the University of Salford (UK) in June 2011.

The paper summarises the content, themes and issues discussed during this conference.

This conference covered a number of themes highly relevant to current library and information practitioners and researchers. These included the link between research and practice; the validity of different types of evidence; and the importance of addressing local needs with local evidence.

The conference provided an insight into the key issues around evidence‐based practice in librarianship and information science, and suggested several areas where future development may be possible.