Plans, Updates and Musings (Editorial)

• Main Author: Lindsay Glynn
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Alberta 2008-06-01
• Series: Evidence Based Library and Information Practice
• Online Access: http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP/article/view/1808/1239

EBLIP5 is just around the corner. Time to plan your research paper or poster and prepare a submission. How often do you getthe chance to present your work and mingle among international colleagues in Sweden? This is a great opportunity to showcase your projects, see what others are doing and discover opportunities for collaborations. The Call for Papers will be announced this summer. Further information can be found on the EBLIP5 blog at<http://blogs.kib.ki.se/eblip5/>.<br>The Editorial Board of EBLIP is excited about the upcoming feature issue on evidence based practice in school librarianship. The two guest editors, whose names many of you will undoubtedly recognize due to their huge body of work, Carol Gordon and Ross Todd, have animpressive and fascinating list of articles lined up as well as several evidence summaries and commentaries. This feature issue will be published in December 2008.<br>Plans are also underway for a feature issue on evidence based practice in public librarianship for December 2009. Julie McKenna, many of you will know from her work in both academic and public libraries, has agreed to be the guest editor. <br> Informal discussions at conferences and meetings seem to indicate that, although people are interested in evidence based practice, the skill sets necessary are often lacking. To address this, EBLIP will feature a new column titled EBP 101, debuting in the 3(3) issue. This regular column, co-authored by Su Cleyle (EBLIP co-founder and former Editor-in-Chief) and Julie McKenna, will highlight and focus on one specific skill per issue. While Su and Julie have several ideas already, it would be highly useful for EBLIP readers to indicate skills that they would like to see addressed. Feel free to send your requests and suggestions to me at [e-mail].<br>If you read my last editorial, you’ll recall my EBP anxiety regarding the construction of the new computer lab in my library. Many people have been asking about the progress, and I’m happy to provide a report. Since asbestos abatement was necessary to prepare the space, there is a temporary sealed wall surrounding the construction site, and therefore, there is nowhere to peep through to see what’s happening inside. At this point in the process, then, all I can do is assume that there is something going on behind the sealed walls. This blind trust is most definitely an unexpected part of the evidence based process and it is slightly surreal. What I have noticed during the process, however, is that one of the most important aspects of such a large endeavoris not planning or designing, but communication. As you can imagine, this project requires decision making and communication on multiple levels and among multiple teams including librarians, staff, technical consultants, architects, electricians, faculty, administration, etc. Without constant and transparent communication, any attempt at an evidence based process may as well be thrown out the window. To illustrate, and I am embarrassed to write this, the tender for construction was awarded and work had begun when it suddenly came to light that nobody on the planning committee hadactually seen the final blueprints. We had all assumed that the proverbial someone had seen them and that all was fine. It turned out that the approved blueprints were not exactly what we had planned and, as a result, some backpedaling was required. Had we been communicating properly with all involved, this would not have happened. Note to self: always communicate and never assume. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.<br>There are few tools available with which to evaluate the impact or use of an open access journal such as EBLIP. Some statistics can be utilized in terms of download counts and registered users/readers, however these do not provide any information regarding how the articles are being used, who is using them or the impact that our published research is having on practice. I would be most interested to entertain suggestions on how to measure this or even an offer to take on such a project (hmm...what an idea for an EBLIP5 paper or poster…), but in the meantime it would be very useful to hear individual narratives on how information from this journal was applied in practice. This would be welcome in the form of a letter to the editor, a commentary or a brief “what we did” narrative.<br>I’m sure that you will enjoy this summer issue of Evidence Based Library and Information Practice and will find the commentary, articles and evidence summaries both interesting and useful. The evidence summaries touch on everything from collaboration to institutional depositories to e-books; the articles describe librarian’s evaluations of bedside evidence based tools and students’ non-use of library services. The commentary will get you thinking about the historical and social culture of knowledge. There is, undoubtedly, something here to pique everyone’s interest. <br> There must be a research paper somewhere that proves the emotional and mental benefits of reading trashy books and drinking mojitos in the summer sunshine. With that in mind, be sure to take a few days off and enjoy your summer!