From June 18 to 21, Drexel University Libraries hosted the ninth International Evidence Based Library & Information Practice Conference: Embedding and Embracing Evidence (
EBLIP9) in the Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building. The conference brought together librarians, researchers and practitioners to discuss evidence-based practice in libraries, present research and share best practices.
EBLIP is a biannual international conference for the library and information science community designed to promote the use of best available evidence to improve library and information practice in all types of libraries.
Attendees had the opportunity to participate in various conference sessions, view research posters, and network with other professionals in the library and information science (LIS) field.
Several Drexel University faculty and professional staff served on the conference’s local organizing committee, including CCI Professor and Dean of Libraries
Danuta Nitecki, PhD who served as conference co-chair.
CCI Dean and Isaac L. Auerbach
Professor Yi Deng, PhD provided the mid-keynote address on June 20. Deng’s lecture, titled “Data in the 21st Century Economy,” focused on the fusion of data, information and technology and its impacts on industry.
Other keynote speakers included
Pam Ryan, director for service development & innovation at Toronto Public Library (TPL), who spoke on June 19 on the importance of evidence-based practice in the library; and
Alison Brettle, PhD, senior lecturer and information specialist in the School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Work at the University of Salford, UK, who spoke on June 21 on collecting and using evidence for advocacy.
Conference events included a panel on “fake news,” and sessions such as: “Reading Ghosts – Monitoring in-library usage of ‘unpopular’ resources,” “Studying the Effectiveness of a Storytelling/Story-Acting Activity on Ugandan Preschoolers’ Emergent Literacy in Two Rural Ugandan Community Libraries,” and “Embracing evidence based collecting in the health and behavioral sciences,” among
others.
For recordings from the EBLIP9 conference and for more information, visit
eblip9.org.