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£44.95 Amazon.co.uk |
Details: |
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ISBN: 1856044718
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Published by Facet Publishing Limited
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Edited by Andrew Booth and Anne Brice
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Book published March 2004
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Other opinions: |
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Review and customer comments at amazon.co.uk
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Title:
Evidence-based Practice for Information Professionals: A Handbook
Review:
What is evidence-based practice?
--------------------------------
Evidence-based practice is a paradigm that originated within medicine.
It can be defined as 'the use of existing research to support
practical decision-making, to improve the quality of services to
clients'.
Within medicine/healthcare, the research findings from studying a
group of patients were applied to the management and care of the
individual patient. Since the mid-to-late 1990's, evidence-based
approaches have been developed in many health fields and, in more
recent times, evidence-based approaches have been advocated and indeed
adopted in non-health based disciplines and professions, e.g. social
work, education and human resource management.
This book addresses questions such as: 'Is it possible to adapt
evidence-based practice to librarianship and information work?'; 'To
what extent are the skills and techniques, used in evidence-based
practice, transferable to other areas of professional practice?'; 'Is
it desirable for information professionals to integrate research
findings into their day-to-day decision-making?'.
These issues and related topics are discussed in the book, which is
edited by Andrew Booth (Director of Information Resources and Senior
Lecturer in Evidence-based Healthcare at the School of Health and
Related Research, University of Sheffield) and Anne Brice (Head of
Knowledge and Information Sciences at the Public Health Resource Unit,
Oxford). Contributing chapters themselves, they have also drawn upon
the expertise of a range of contributors not only from the UK but also
from Canada, Australia and USA.
The book is divided into three parts:
Part 1 - The context for evidence-based information practice.
This first part includes an introduction to evidence-based practice,
its history, how to identify and obtain the evidence base (the
research) and concludes with a chapter on why it is perceived that
librarians fail to use research findings in the course of their
professional activities.
The chapters are written in a concise style (which I like) but are
extensively referenced so that if more detail is required, the reader
has a ready source of further reading material.
Part 2 - Skills and resources for evidence-based information practice.
This part contains 'how-to-do-it' chapters, ranging from initiation to
evaluation to review. Presentation of the topics follows in a logical
fashion -- amongst others, topics covered include: formulating the
right questions; searching the library and information science
literature; critical appraisal techniques; how to apply evidence to
everyday practice. It is a very practical 'how to' section which, I
think, many will find useful particularly if they are new to the
concept of evidence-based information practice.
Part 3 - Using the evidence base in practice.
The final (and longest) part explores the six domains of
evidence-based librarianship identified in research, to demonstrate
the application of evidence-based information practice to a
practical decision-making context:
- Reference/enquiries
- Education
- Collections
- Management
- Information access and retrieval
- Marketing and promotion
These chapters with their associated 'Special Topics' present concise
summaries of evidence-based information practice within generic areas
of work, together with practical examples of the application of
evidence-based principles and methods. It is these examples that
really bring to life how a method that originated in healthcare can be
very usefully applied in the information profession.
The book is written in a concise style; the editors and contributors
bring a wealth of expertise to their subject matter. From the extent
of references provided, there is little doubt that the book has been
well researched.
I believe that this book will find favour with both new and
established information professionals, whether they work in healthcare
or in other fields where the evidence-based paradigm may be something
that they are just beginning to encounter.
Free Pint Reviewer:
Jela Webb is a freelance strategic advisor, consultant, lecturer and
trainer in information and knowledge management, working with private
and public sector clients. An associate of Ashridge, Learnership and
TFPL, she has implemented KM programmes in FTSE 100 companies and, in
collaboration, developed 'The Integrated Learning Model' which
combines traditional training with online learning and knowledge
management.
Jela has recently completed a research assignment investigating KM for
SMEs and is currently developing an e-learning programme on
information literacy for a public sector organisation.
She may be contacted via http://www.azione.co.uk
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