Evidence‐based practice for information professionals: a handbook

Abstract

Evidence-based practice for information professionals: a handbook Andrew Booth and Anne Brice (eds) . London : Facet Publishing , 2004 . ISBN 1-856004-471-8 , 320 pp , £44.95 ( £35.96 to CILIP Members) . This is a very detailed review of evidence-based practice, considering the subject from its beginnings through to its use in professional practice. The contributors come from a variety of countries, including Canada, the USA and Australia and include academics and practitioners. The foreword acknowledges that evidence-based practice has arisen primarily within the health library sector, but argues that the tools and techniques are transferable to other sectors. The book is divided into three parts. The first considers the context for evidence-based practice, looking at the history, pre-history, quality of evidence base and why librarians don't use research. The second part reviews the skills and resources for evidence-based information practice, including identifying sources, searching the literature, appraising, applying and disseminating the results. The final part looks at using the evidence base in practice, with the chapters interspersed with special topic contributions. As a detailed investigation of this subject, and as a review of the literature, this book is a valuable contribution to the professional literature and is well worth reading. However, as a handbook—which I would define as a practical reference to the core elements and processes—its academic approach seriously limits its usefulness. It is frustrating, for example, to be told (p. 167) that the difficulties in using ERIC are highlighted by Hertzber and Rudner and not to have the actual difficulties summarized, forcing one to obtain and read the cited paper. At times it was a dissertation, at times a literature review, at times an academic article, but never a handbook. Despite its general title and the promise of the foreword, this book is primarily for and about health librarianship and I question whether the tools and techniques, as presented here, can be applied to other sectors of the profession. Although there is an acknowledgement of the importance of educational and management literature, its inclusion appears to be the result of focused literature searches rather than any deeper understanding of these disciplines. This is disappointing. Management research in particular has much to offer us (libraries are, after all, a service industry) and deserves a more prominent place in our professional knowledge base. Referencing practice within the book was strange, both in style and application. Both Harvard and Vancouver are used within different contributed chapters. Some of the papers appear to have been constructed around the available citations, rather than being led by the author's own views and opinions, and this had the effect of obscuring many of the key themes. Many of the contributions have far too many references, making them difficult to read and obscuring the key themes. There are multiple instances of gratuitous referencing and of citations to secondary sources. For example, four citations—none from the Cochrane Collaboration—were felt necessary to support the short explanation of the Collaboration's logo. Overall, the book suffers from a lack of conclusions: many chapters close by merely restating the topics covered rather than drawing out the key themes. The research overview on the information needs of practising nurses, for example, lacks a summary of the key results and the guideline on the provision of current awareness services for research staff may be a guide, but certainly isn't a guideline. Case studies and scenarios were brief and not followed through, serving as illustrations, rather than case studies. I would have welcomed some fully worked-through, practical examples. The text is illustrated by figures, boxes and tables all, confusingly, using the same numbering system. Trying to understand textual references to Table 3.1, then realizing you are actually looking at Box 3.1, is not helpful. So much for the deficiencies, most of which are linked to the claim to be a ‘handbook’. This is not a primer on evidence-based practice. Its strengths lie in its detailed, academic coverage and I would expect it to become a core text for many undergraduate and postgraduate health librarianship modules.