# Presentation: 007654

## Making a Commitment to EBLIP: the Role of Library Leadership

- Susan Whitmore
- Chief, Information & Education Services Branch
- NIH Library
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- May 2008

## Factors Leading to Research(Hiller et al.)

- Library leadership
- Organizational culture
- Responsibility for assessment
- Library priorities
- Sufficiency of resources
- Data infrastructure
- Assessment skills and expertise

## Employers Responsibilities for EBLIP(Hallam and Partridge)

- Provide opportunities and resources
- Encourage development of skills
- Provide training opportunities
- Advise library & information science faculty on needs
- Serve as guest lecturers for graduate programs
- Include evidence based practice in appraisals
- Encourage experienced staff to mentor novices
- Provide opportunities for collaboration with researchers

## Factors Leading to Publication(Fennewald)

- Organizational expectations and culture
- Personal motivation
- Intellectual curiosity
- Demands of promotion and tenure
- Support – time and money
- Mentoring, peer support, research clubs
- Educational training esp. writing and research

## NIH Library Setting

- National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland
- NIH has 20,000 employees, about half are in scientific or clinical positions
- Library has 54 full-time employees and 20 contractors
- Biomedical research library that supports U.S. government agency engaged in translational bench-to-bedside research
- Library services available through website and informationist service

## NIH Library Factors

- Unanswered questions that did not fit into biannual customer satisfaction/user needs surveys or transactional surveys
- Need for evidence to support changes in service and budget
- Environmental scan recommendation

## NIH Library Staff Survey

- NIHL staff motivational factors (n=33)
*Training – 64%*
*Opportunity to collaborate with library staff – 61%*
*Opportunity to present at professional meetings – 58%*
*Release time – 45%*
*Mentoring – 39%*
*Opportunity to present to other library staff – 33%*
*Inclusion in performance appraisal – 33%*
*Special funding – 21%*

## Staff Support

- Formal training in research skills
*Research methods class*
**Posing the question**
**Selecting the methodology and study participants**
**Analyzing the data and reporting results**
**Mentoring**
*Qualitative research methods class*
**University affiliated graduate course with on-site and distance learning**
**Lectures, readings, practice, design and implement study**
**Mentoring**
- Release time
- Recognition for accomplishments

## Practice Questions – Six Domains(Crumley and Koufogiannakis)

- Reference/enquiries
- Education
- Collections
- Management
- Information access and retrieval
- Marketing and promotion

## Information Access & Retrieval

- Q. What features and capabilities do NIH researchers want in a federated search engine?
- Method: Exploratory formative research using focus groups and key informants.
- Results: Focus group conducted with six nurse informaticians in one 90-minute session. Results analyzed and will be used to generate questions for usability study.

## Reference

- Q. Did selective purchase of articles vs. borrowing from other libraries impact customer satisfaction with document delivery services?
- Method: Program evaluation with a comparative study of customer satisfaction as measured by an online survey administered for two weeks each in 2005 and 2007.
- Results: The timeliness factor showed significant improvement.  In 2007, 90% rated timeliness outstanding compared to 86% in 2005.

## Management

- Q. Did the transition to paraprofessional staffing at the Information Desk affect customer satisfaction and/or staffing efficiencies?
- Methods: Comparative study of customer satisfaction with services as measured by a survey in 2006 and 2007; and a cost/time analysis by sampling paraprofessional and librarian support of desk services during 2007.
- Results: High customer satisfaction ratings for both years sampled; cost/time analysis verified efficiency of paraprofessional staffing.

## Reference

- Q. What is the value of an informationist assigned to a health sciences team?
- Methods: Exploratory research using the diary method to record critical incidents related to their work; and key informant interviews to discover perceptions of informationist roles and their contributions and challenges as member of research teams
- Results: Building a database of critical incidents; interviews with informationist customers presented as NIH Research Festival poster and will be written up for publication.

## Collections

- Q. Which subject areas of print monographs are the most frequently used at the NIH Library?
- Method: A baseline retrospective study of monographic collections by examining 2006 circulation and interlibrary borrowing records.
- Results: A “tree map” showing the relative sizes of subject collections and their usage. Generally, the size of the collection correlated with usage.

## Conclusion

- Staff can find valid answers to questions that arise in practice.
- Organizations can enable and encourage staff to engage in evidence based practice.
*Identify existing skills*
*Understand motivational factors and respond to them*
*Provide a supportive training and mentoring environment*
*Celebrate successes*

## References

- Hiller, Steve, Martha Kyrillidou and Jim Self. “When the Evidence Isn’t Enough: Organizational Factors That Influence Effective and Successful Library Assessment.” Evidence-based Library and Information Practice 4th International Conference, Durham, North Carolina, United States. 7 May 2007
- Hallam, Gillian Clare and Helen Partridge. “Evidence Based Library and Information Practice: Whose Responsibility Is It Anyway?” *Evidence Based Library and Information Practice* 2006, 1(3):88-94.
- Fennewald, Joseph. “Research Productivity Among Librarians: Factors Leading to Publications at Penn State. *College and Research Libraries* March 2008:104-116.
- Crumley, Ellen and Denise Koufogiannakis. “Developing Evidence-based Librarianship: Practical Steps for Implementation.” *Health Information and Libraries Journal* 2002, 19(2):61-70.

## Contact Information

- _[Susan_whitmore@nih.gov](mailto:Susan_whitmore@nih.gov)_
- 301-496-1157