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The Centre for Evidence Based Library and Information Practice

(C-EBLIP) is a Type A centre under the auspices of the University

Library, University of Saskatchewan that was approved by University

Council on December 20, 2012 and officially opened on July 15, 2013.

C-EBLIP’s mandate is to support librarians as researchers and to

promote evidence based library and information practice.

The Centre for Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (C-EBLIP)

Director’s Report to the Dean on 2014/15: Forward Momentum

• Supporting University Library librarians as researchers and evidence based practitioners.

• Raising the profile of librarians as researchers on campus and beyond.

• Enhancing the University Library’s national and international reputation as a research organization.

• Developing peer mentoring relationships to augment research and evidence based library and information practice.

• Sustaining established activities such as the Dean’s Research Lecture Series and the Researcher-in-Residence Program.

The Centre for Evidence Based Library and Information Practice will be the nexus for research and evidence based library and information practice at the University Library. C-EBLIP is devoted to the idea that practitioner-researchers make a vital contribution to the University Library, the University of Saskatchewan, and the field and discipline of librarianship.

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FROM THE

Membership in the Centre for Evidence Based Library and Information Practice is open to all University Library librarians. Associate members include those who provide support for evidence based practice and research activities undertaken by the librarians in the University Library. Adjunct members are members external to the University Library who are contributors to Brain-Work, the C-EBLIP blog.

Membership

DIRECTOR

MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS

• An enhanced research profile locally, nationally, and internationally.• Potential for collaboration locally, nationally and internationally.• Research support.• Support for evidence based library and information practice.• Peer mentorship .

MEMBERSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES

Members will be expected to take an active part in C-EBLIP activities to further the goals of the Centre.

The Centre for Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (C-EBLIP) continues to make substantial strides forward in its mission of supporting librarians as researchers and promoting evidence based library and information practice (EBLIP). 2014/15 was the second full year of operation

for C-EBLIP. Following the building year of 2013/14, this past year has continued

to see new growth as well as the solidification of initial activities,

and we have come even further in terms of creating a tone and an identity for C-EBLIP.

In last year’s report, I made reference to the “dual nature” of

C-EBLIP – supporting librarians in their researcher roles

and promoting EBLIP throughout the

library. I stated that while supporting

librarians as researchers is a fairly straightforward piece to move forward, promoting EBLIP is somewhat more nebulous. I’m pleased to report that by virtue of Centre activities and the Centre’s presence in the Library, and by utilizing the EBLIP process in select Library projects, there seems to be more of a focus on EBLIP in general Library matters with more of a higher profile for the process.

Centre members continue to be engaged in the mission of C-EBLIP. This engagement was seen in the new activities that were rolled out in 2014/15 as well as continued participation in exploring where the Centre needs to go. C-EBLIP is a vital and active entity, and continues to be an exciting intellectual space that encourages University Libraries to explore their own roles in the research process and in EBLIP.

Virginia Wilson, DirectorCentre for Evidence Based Library and Information PracticeNovember 30, 2015

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Virginia Wilson, Director, C-EBLIP

Vicki Williamson, Dean, University Library (on administrative leave)

Charlene Sorensen, Assistant Dean, Services to Libraries

Diane (DeDe) Dawson, Librarian, Science Library

Maha Kumaran, Librarian, Leslie and Irene Dubé Health Sciences Library

Ken Ladd, Acting Dean, University LibraryRachel Sarjeant-Jenkins, Assistant Dean, Client Services

Jane Lamothe, Librarian, Collection Services

Carolyn Doi, Librarian, Education & Music Library

Crystal Hampson, Librarian, Collection Services

Karim Tharani, Information Technology

Librarian, Library Systems & Information TechnologyDonna Frederick, Metadata and Cataloguing Librarian, Services to Libraries

Angie Gerrard, Librarian, Murray Library

Shannon Lucky, Information Technology Librarian, Library Systems & Information Technology

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS Carolyn Pytlyk, Research FacilitatorCarisa Polischuk, Assessment Analyst

2014/2015 In 2014/15, C-EBLIP had 16 members including 14 members and 2 associate members.

C-EBLIP also had 13 adjunct members. These members are librarians from outside of the University Library who contributed blog posts to Brain Work, the C-EBLIP blog. The blog will be described in more detail below.

Frank Winter, Librarian Emeritus, U of S

Denise Koufogiannakis, University of Alberta

David Fox, Librarian Emeritus, U of S

Margy MacMillan, Mount Royal University

Lorie Kloda, McGill

Christine Neilson, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto

Selinda Berg, University of Windsor Heidi Jacobs, University of Windsor

Pam Ryan, Edmonton Public Library

Marjorie Mitchell, UBC Okanagan Campus

Kristin Hoffmann, University of Western Ontario

Kathleen Reed, Vancouver Island University

Tasha Maddison, Saskatchewan Polytechnic

SCHOLARLY ACTIVITY

To support librarians as researchers by showcasing their research and scholarly activities, two platforms were developed in 2014/15.

• C-EBLIP Fall Symposium: Librarians as Researchers: The one-day symposium was held on October 15, 2014. Fifty-three librarians from across Canada and the United States attended. A single-track program of 12 sessions, including the opening keynote address by Margy MacMillan from Mount Royal University, focused not only on research outputs, but also on the research process. Based upon the positive feedback it appears that there is an appetite for this type of colloquium focusing on librarians in their researcher roles. Increasing the the engagement of the researching librarian community can foster partnerships, collaboration, confidence, and output.

• Brain-Work, the C-EBLIP Blog: Launched in July 2014, Brain-Work broadly covers topics related to research, evidence based library and information practice, and librarianship. The intent of this blog is to be a space for thoughts and ideas that run beyond or prior to the traditional journal article or conference presentation. The blog is written by and for C-EBLIP members – librarians from the University Library – and is also contributed to by guests from other areas and other institutions (C-EBLIP Adjunct Members). In 2014/15, Brain-Work had 24 authors: 11 U of S librarians and 13 Adjunct Members. Each contributed 2 posts during the year. Brain-Work is published Tuesday mornings at 10am. http://words.usask.ca/ceblipblog/

LECTURES

Building a research culture in the University Library necessitates a variety of activities to

spotlight the importance of research in the practice of professional skills to audiences both internal and external to the library.

• The Dean’s Research Lecture 2014: Dr. Bruce Kingma - economist, academic entrepreneur, and Professor in the School of Information Studies and Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. Dr. Kingma ultimately could not attend in person for his lecture due to emergency medical reasons. He provided the Library with his video lecture in 3 parts which is posted on the C-EBLIP website.

• The 8Rs Visit: C-EBLIP was pleased to welcome Kathleen DeLong from the University of Alberta Libraries and Marianne Sorensen from Tandem Social Research Consulting on February 19 and 20, 2015. These researchers have been the driving force behind both the original 8Rs study first conducted in 2003/04 as

Activities

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well as the 8Rs Redux study which has just wrapped up. These studies provide valuable longitudinal data on the human resource landscape of academic libraries across Canada and they also serve as an excellent illustration of research being done for libraries by libraries and librarians. During the visit, University Library staff heard a presentation on the latest 8Rs research and librarians participated in an interactive session which allowed us to speak in greater depth with Kathleen and Marianne about the data and the research process used in the study.

RESEARCH AND EBLIP SUPPORT

C-EBLIP’s mission is to support librarians as researchers and to promote evidence based library and information practice (EBLIP). Many of the activities undertaken by the Centre cover both parts of this mission, as conducting research has deep links to EBLIP and many of the activities can support both areas.

• C-EBLIP Journal Club: Beginning in June 2014, the club is managed by rotating convenors that choose the articles and book the space for the meeting. The convenors contribute a blog post about the meeting to Brain-Work, the C-EBLIP blog after their journal club meeting. Journal Club takes place every six weeks. Articles, convenors, and blog post links can be found here: http://library.usask.ca/ceblip/activities/c-eblip-journal-club.php

• Education Writing Circle: In 2014/15, librarians were invited to participate in the Writing Circle held at the College of Education. As Education and the Library shared a research facilitator at the time, it seemed like a good chance to test the writing group concept for the Library.

While uptake was relatively low, a few librarians took part in the regular writing circle, found the concept valuable, and came away with ideas on how to implement a writing circle specifically for the Library.

• University Library eCommons: The goal was to give all librarians the self-serve capabilities to upload their research submissions to the eCommons. This was realized in 2014/15, by facilitated coordination with LS&IT and the librarians.

• Research Facilitator: In 2015, Carolyn Pytlyk was hired as the full time University Library Research Facilitator (RF).Carolyn’s role continues the RF work on grants and funding that was the focus of the OVPR Research Facilitation program. As well, the role would be expanded in the areas of providing assistance and support for sabbatical and ethics applications; coordinating the Research Mentorship Team Program; providing advice and assistance to librarians in many areas of the research enterprise including but not limited to: articulating and developing a program of scholarship; research project design; managing research projects; developing C.V.s; publishing and disseminating research.

• EBLIP New Model Working Group: New research by Denise Koufogiannakis suggested an amended process for evidence based library and information practice predicated on the idea that librarians make decisions and work on projects in groups. The original EBLIP process suggested more of a solo endeavor. Based upon this research, a small group of C-EBLIP members met to look at a specific issue in order to test the new

model of EBLIP. This work was undertaken in early 2015. And while a solution to the issue was determined, further work needs to be done reflecting on the process and commenting on the new model in order to create a review to be disseminated for wider information.

• Open Access Week: C-EBLIP contributed funds to the University Library Open Access Week 2014 activities in order to bring Andrea Wirth in from the US to give a well-attended authors’ rights workshop.

INFRASTRUCTURE

C-EBLIP needs a certain level of infrastructure maintenance to remain current and relevant. The C-EBLIP member meetings combined with the Centre’s online presence ensure that a mechanism for dialogue is in place which allows the Centre to be responsive to changing needs.

• C-EBLIP member meetings – continued to be held monthly in 2014/15 with a hiatus over July/August. Meetings dealt with administrative issues, planning, and focused discussion on a variety of topics pertinent to the group.

• C-EBLIP website http://library.usask.ca/ceblip/index.php The website is refreshed on a regular basis to keep the homepage fresh and engaging.

• Twitter account: @CEBLIP – C-EBLIP uses Twitter as a mechanism to promote Centre activities, Brain-Work blog posts, and member activities and accolades, as well as a way to share information such as conference calls for proposals, journal article calls, and workshops. The C-EBLIP Twitter account has 260 followers from around the world.

• 2014 Dean’s Research Lecture, September 16, 2015 (Dr. Laura Mandell)

• C-EBLIP Fall Symposium 2015: Librarians as Researchers, October 14, 2015

• C-EBLIP Journal Club (continuing)

• C-EBLIP Writing Group (pending)

• Establish Research Mentorship Teams for new and newer faculty: the goal

for 2015/16 is to roll out four research mentorship teams

• Continued support and encouragement for research grants including President’s SSHRC and SSHRC

• eCommons: further work includes encouraging librarians to upload their research outputs and creating additional supporting documentation such as advice

on which version of the manuscript to post

• The internationalization of C-EBLIP – Work is in the early stages to engage with groups, organizations, and individual librarians on a national and international scale. This work is envisioned to be a multi-year endeavor with the goal of building a fluid and participatory community around librarians as researchers and evidence based library and information practice.

Continuing Themes for the Year Ahead