Evidence-based Management as a Tool for Special Libraries

Authors

  • Bill Fisher
  • Dav Robertson

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18438/B8JC75

Abstract

Objective – To examine the evidence based management literature, as an example of evidence based practice, and determine how applicable evidence based management might be in the special library environment.


Methods – Recent general management literature and the subject-focused literature of evidence based management were reviewed; likewise recent library/information science management literature and the subject-focused literature of evidence based librarianship were reviewed to identify relevant examples of the introduction and use of evidence based practice in organizations. Searches were conducted in major business/management databases, major library/information science databases, and relevant Web sites, blogs and wikis. Citation searches on key articles and follow-up searches on cited references were also conducted. Analysis of the retrieved literature was conducted to find similarities and/or differences between the management literature and the library/information science literature, especially as it related to special libraries.


Results – The barriers to introducing evidence based management into most organizations were found to apply to many special libraries and are similar to issues involved with evidence based practice in librarianship in general. Despite these barriers, a set of resources to assist special librarians in accessing research-based information to help them use principles of evidence based management is identified.


Conclusion – While most special librarians are faced with a number of barriers to using evidence based management, resources do exist to help overcome these obstacles.

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Published

2007-12-07

How to Cite

Fisher, B., & Robertson, D. (2007). Evidence-based Management as a Tool for Special Libraries. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 2(4), 36–45. https://doi.org/10.18438/B8JC75

Issue

Section

Research Articles