ABSTRACT
Evidence based practice is a model for ongoing professional development that has enjoyed increasing prominence since 1994 (McKibbon 1998). From its early origins in medicine and associated healthcare disciplines its influence has extended to such fields as social care, education and management (Trinder and Reynolds 2000). Those benefiting from evidence based practice share certain characteristics – they occupy professions with a focus on practical day-to-day decision-making, they face increasing pressure to justify expenditure on their activities or services and they need to remain engaged with an ever-changing body of knowledge – an ‘evidence base’ (Ford et al. 1999). Library and information practice not only shares these characteristics but also has a further unique role in not only requiring that its own professionals practise this process but also that they are able to support these activities in other professions (Bexon and Falzon 2003). This can lead to ‘an inevitable confusion between librarians supporting evidence based practice and librarians practising evidence based practice’ (Booth 2006a).
