Quality Judgment and Users – centered librarianship

Dr.H.S.Siddamallaiah

Principal Information officer

NIMHANS- Bangalore, India sidda@nimhans.kar.nic.in

First one is quality judgment

Evidence Based Librarianship

• Many a times we– Decide first – Evaluate later

I wish it should not be a “costly mistake”

In library functions and service• Decision are

– Made on beliefs of user needs • based on tacit knowledge

– Evaluated afterwards

• EBL demands good (data-based) evidence first to make the decision– Then evaluate as well

• There are some questions – When we have so much of research output

• Why Start new research– Understand already done– Understand old and continue new

» good researcher » understand existing and start new

• Instead of new research– Should we concentrate on

» Converting (translate) existing research to action

• Counter questions are• How many are really good

• How many are good to implement Authenticity is the big question

though so much of information available

• We come across • Many good literature

• Many good practice

• Process of consolidation of – quality and applicability

• is EBL

There are some more names and acronyms• EBLIP

• Evidence Based Library and Information Practice

• EBIP • Evidence Based Information Practice

• Evidence Based Librarianship– Has two main role

• Helping users in their professional practice• Apply Evidence based approach in our own

practice

Evidence-Based Librarianship conceptualization

• EBL- is based on Evidence-Based Medicine • EBM concept = Combine study results

(evidence) to make a decision.• EBL translation = Use library research projects

and combined results to better understand a phenomenon

What is EBL?

“an approach to information science that promotes the collection, interpretation, and integration of valid, important and applicable user-reported, librarian-observed, and research-derived evidence. The best available evidence, moderated by user needs and preferences, is applied to improve the quality of professional judgements”

(After McKibbon et al, 1995)

Summary - Some of the definitions• For quality judgment of library practice

– utilize the best available evidence• combined with

– library observation and working experiences

• Evidences are – Produced from

• either quantitative or qualitative research design– depending on the EBL question – prefer rigorous forms over less rigorous forms of evidence

» In making decisions

EBL is summation ofFocused question

+Valid and rigorously tested research evidence

+Librarians observed evidence

+Adding personal experience in application

+moderated by user needs

Preference is to improve quality of decisions

Expertise required

Focusing question

+

Critical appraisal skills

+

Implementing the evidence appropriately

EBL combines:

Professional Expertise

User PreferencesResearch Evidence

Adding observed evidence + implementation

OtherwiseEmpirical Research• Based on observation and experience

– Traditional methods • enhanced by using up to date empirical information

• Can it serve the purpose: – To determine whether process is

• actually doing – what it has set out to do

Barriers

1. Where to find the evidence?

2. Lack of pertinent evidence;

3. Narrow evidence base;

4. Lack of good indexing • Lack of time

• Management that doesn't support this approach

• Lack of research skills; or, lack of confidence in research skills

• Access to resources

In case of researchers – do they have this knowledgeMajority of research are empirical

Not on valid evidence

• We can also go for • Best practices

– But they are not vigorously tested

» Evidence demands

» Rigorous process

Rigorous Process

Step 1: Formulate a Question

Step 2: Find the Evidence

Step 3: Appraise the Evidence

Step 4: Apply the Evidence

Step 5: Evaluate the Results

Step 6: Disseminate the Results

Step One: Formulate a Question

• Most important step• Foundation of the EBL process• The question needs to be answerable:

– not too broad, yet not too narrow.

• Multi-faceted questions – need to have a focus

• There are methods of developing good evidence– PICO– SPICE

PICO

Focus Concept Question Root

Population Among, in (who, what)

Among students who search the catalogue

Who= students

What= catalogue

Intervention Does (how) With the help of librarian

Comparison Intervention

Versus Without help of librarian

Outcome Impact (affect) impact the time it takes to find material?

SPICE

Focus Concept Components

Setting Where? In libraries,

Perspective For whom? do patrons

Intervention What? who use the internet

Comparison As opposed to… as opposed to the print collection

Evaluation How well? What result?

perceive they have found comparable information?

Search for evidence

• Identify terms to fit your PICO question – Look for secondary sources – Search for Primary Sources

• Use methodological filters to target the right type of study. For instance, PubMED filters for:

• therapy • diagnosis • prognosis • aetiology

• Scenario: A 64 year old obese male who has tried many ways to lose weight presents with a newspaper article about ‘fat-blazer’ (chitosan). He asks for your advice.

• Your question in PICO format might be:• Population/problem obese patients• Intervention/indicator chitosan• Comparator placebo• Outcome decrease weight • Question: In obese patients, does chitosan,

compared to a placebo, decrease weight.

• Now convert this PICO question to a search strategy

• To do this, you should do three things:– Underline the key terms – those most specific

to your question – Number the PICO elements in order of

importance from 1-4 – Think of alternate spellings, synonyms and

truncations

• You might end up with: – Population/problem obes* OR overweight (2)– Indicator (intervention, test, etc)chitosan (1)– Comparator placebo (4)– Outcome decrease weight OR kilogram* (3)

• If we had used all terms the search may looked like this:

• Search– #1:chitosan – #2:obes* OR overweight – #3:weight OR kilogram* – #4:placebo – #5:#1 AND #2 AND #3 AND #4

Step Two: Finding the Evidence• What kinds of evidence?• Where is the evidence?• What if there’s no evidence?

What Kinds of Evidence?– Qualitative research– Quantitative research

The concept of the “best available” evidence

• Where is the Evidence?– Fee resources (EBL publications)– Open source resources– Library literature

• LISTA: http://www.libraryresearch.com

– Literature of other disciplines

Domains of Inquiry

• It’s been suggested that every LIS practice question falls within one or more of the following domains:

• collections • education • management • professional issues • information access and retrieval • reference/enquires

(Crumley and

Koufogiannakis)

What If There’s No Evidence?• Take the question you’ve formulated

– by using PICO or SPICE and • design some research around it.

• Consider publishing your findings – to increase the body of evidence.

• Don't be intimidated by the idea of "research“– projects can be small and practical.

Step Three: Appraise the Evidence

• Critical appraisal is the process of – assessing and interpreting evidence

• by systematically considering its relevance, validity and reliability.

Critical appraisalBasically, critical appraisal is based on 3 steps:

1. Internal validity (How well is this study performed?)

2. Results (What does it show?)

3. External validity (Can I use it?)

Step Four: Apply the Evidence

Applicability: "whether a study is generalizable or relevant to your situation" (Koufogainnakis and Crumley, "Applying Evidence to your Everyday Practice." in Booth and Brice, 2004, 120)

The evidence will usually be one of three things:– directly applicable

– needs to be locally validated (i.e. replicate the study at the local level)

– improves your understanding of the situation

Determining Applicability

Variables - determining applicability: – User group– Time lines– Cost– Politics

– Severity

(Koufogiannakis and Crumley, 121-123)

Step Five: Evaluate the Results

Evaluate the success of use- on two levels:– Practitioner - were all the steps of EBL followed

successfully?

– Practice implications - was the decision you made after consulting the research a good one?

Step Six: Disseminating the Results

Ways of dissemination:– Workshops, continuing education, conferences, training,

journal club discussion groups

– Organizational policy/guidelines, meetings

– Publishing/writing, the internet

– Word of mouth, focus groups, leadership, sharing articles, e-mail, list-serv, networking, mentoring

Open Access Journals• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

http://www.doaj.org/

• Evidence Based Library and Information Practice http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP

• Partnership: the Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Researchhttp://journal.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/perj/index

• LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal http://libres.curtin.edu.au/

User Centered Library/ information service

• I feel – Librarians are behind users– Users are behind web

– Then conclusion says – why not we also go behind web

• Where users are• With little more knowledge

– Particularly web 2.0

• Very Frequently asked questions– Why should users prefer

• Library

– Why not • Webs

Web is also a library – Virtual libraryEverything is not just available free

We need to select, acquire and manage

• If users are literate about the library, information resources and service

• They use library and approach librarian

• Literacy of click, click and click technology– is driving them to web – (which is nowadays have become easy and thrill)

• Majority of ignorant users – just go to web – Not information literate

• go web where there is correct resource- useful to them

How to achieve infolitaracy to all

Information literacy experts

• Communicate - conversation or collaboration?

• Create - craft or consume/copy?

• Describe - data or decoration?

• Filter - fact or fiction?

• Share - self or somebody else?

• Sift - scholarship or spin?

• Trust - tried or trendy?

• Otherwise

• User go for search (on trail and error), collaborate, get guidance from friends/seniors, video guidance, event management ….. Many more

• See http://www.go2web20.net/

• Seekers will come – if there is a chance for their participation– Otherwise (one sided) they avoid

Learning is community-based– learning from peers and community

– finding others who share your interests

– criteria for joining an online community

– how do groups work?

– social networking

– Changing behavior

Changing Behaviors

Recent Survey:Only 15.7% agreed with the statement “The Internet has not changed the way I use the library.”

Note. Digital Library Federation and Council on Library and InformationResources. (2002). Dimensions and Use of the Scholarly Information Environment.

“…everyone in class try to get those articles on line and some people do not even bother to go to the stacks when theycouldn’t Google them.” Graduate Student NYT Online 6/21/04 (Katie Hafner, “Old search engine in the

the library tries to fit into a Google world”)

Research Behavior: Personal Control

When searching for print journals for research:

• Only 13.9% ask a librarian for assistance• Only 3.2% consider consulting a librarian a preferred way of identifying information

Note. Digital Library Federation and Council on Library and InformationResources. (2002). Dimensions and Use of the Scholarly Information Environment.

Google™ Services

• Google™ Scholar• Google™ News• Google™ Images• Google™ Maps• Google™ Local• Google™ Groups (includes all of Usenet)• Google™ Desktop• Google™ Ride Finder• GMail• SMS Interface• Google™ API• And on and on…

Google™ Labs

Google™ Isn’t Everything

• Yahoo– From search, to portal, and back again. Now where?

• A9– Offering from Amazon, includes “Search Inside the

Book®” and Google™ Web searching.

– Requires a login to move your search history and preferences inside their servers.

• Microsoft– MSN Search

• Many other niche tools

Public view VLE Website Other modules User- specified

Resource list

Authorization

Administrationmodule

Librarian’s view

Own interface

Authorization

Creator’s view

OPAC Digital assets Federatedsearches

Linking toe-full text

Webpages

Storage/access layers

Integrated E-Learning tool development?

Content

A new information landscape

• Collaborative

• Creative and shared

• Community-based

• Personal

• Virtual

New literacies

• Exchanging

• Participating

• Mashing

• Rating

• Searching

• Tagging

.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Where do we fit in Web 2.0?

Who participates and what are people doing online BusinessWeek, 11 June 2007

www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_24/b4038405.htm

• Creators publish web pages, write blogs, upload videos to sites like YouTube

• Critics comment on blogs and post ratings & reviews

• Collectors use RSS and tag web pages to gather information

• Joiners use social networking sites

• Spectators read blogs, watch peer-generated videos, listen to podcasts

• Inactives are libraries / librarians but don’t yet participate in any form of social media

• Libraries = places of high service: • Experts interested in individual needs, provides

knowledgeable aid, expert retrieval of info, personal relationships. Become high end consulting centers.

• Print collection areas • will be repurposed.

• Push toward “federated” • searching in libraries.

• Professionals need to be • aware of these tools

• Do not need to be experts,• but recognize impact on info, profession, & society.

Influence Over Info Profession

• As Librarians – We talk big words

• Which users does not understand– Let us try to with users

» At their level of synchrony

Thank you