Salford, UK to Host 6^th International Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Conference in 2011

EBLIP6, the sixth in a series of successful International Conferences to promote evidence based approaches to library and information practice will take place in Salford, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom in Summer 2011.  A team based in Manchester and its environs successfully competed against three other high quality expressions of interest from around the world to secure a unanimously favourable verdict.

Sheffield, England, November 30^th 2009 -- The International Advisory Committee (IAC) for the International Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Conference Series [1] awarded the EBLIP6 Conference to the Salford bid [2], coordinated by Dr. Alison Brettle and Maria Grant of the University of Salford. Competing against high quality expressions of interest from Canada, the Middle East and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, Salford performed strongly against all the rigorous evaluation criteria.

This is the first time that an open competition has been used to select the successful hosting site. Criteria for selection included the location, facilities, regional and national support, the strength of the organising team and unique selling points. Salford achieved a first place ranking from each of the five voting members on the IAC [3]. In particular Salford was commended for the “strength of its local organising committee and the overall extent of national and regional support”.

Andrew Booth, Reader in Evidence Based Information Practice at the University of Sheffield, Convenor for the IAC, stated that “the International Advisory Committee is mindful of a continuing need to branch out to a wider international community. At the same time the responsibility to support an already active concentration of those involved in EBLIP remains fundamental to the ongoing success of the movement. These considerations, coupled with the undoubted quality of the four bids made our decision very challenging. Ultimately, however, the case for the Salford bid was an irresistibly compelling one”.

Welcoming the Committee’s decision Dr. Alison Brettle, Chair of the Local Organising Committee and one of only four participants to have attended all five Conferences to date, said “It is great to see such positive comments”. She described how Maria Grant, herself and the Salford team [4] would keep these comments in mind as they tackled “the hard work that lies ahead”.

"This is a wonderful and exciting prospect” enthused Biddy Fisher, current Vice President and President Designate for 2010 of CILIP, the UK Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals. She continued: “I will do all I can to assist the bid….in my official capacity, as EBP is an underlying theme in my Presidential Manifesto”.

For ongoing information during 2010 on the EBLIP6 Conference check the open access journal, Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, the principal organ of the EBLIP community and the evidence-based-libraries jiscmail (http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/EVIDENCE-BASED-LIBRARIES.html) discussion list. You can also contact Andrew Booth at the e-mail address given below.

About the EBLIP Conference Series:

The EBLIP Conference is a biennial conference designed to promote the use of best available evidence to improve library and information practice in all types of libraries and to thus address issues around inequitable use of resources, unacceptable provision of services and ineffective comprehension and use of information that continue to plague human society. It aims to bring together practitioners, researchers and students involved in critical and reflective information practice to think through new ways to address contemporary issues of evidence based practice in less isolated, more collaborative, ways. The first EBL(IP) Conference took place in Sheffield, UK in 2001. The success of this conference led to four further conferences in Edmonton (Canada, 2003), Brisbane (Australia, 2005), Chapel Hill (USA, 2007) and Stockholm (Sweden, 2009).

Contact:

Andrew Booth,

Convenor of the International Advisory Committee,

c/o ScHARR, University of Sheffield

+44(0)114 222 0705

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Notes for Editors:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.      <!--[endif]-->The International Advisory Committee for the International Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Conference Series is comprised of representatives from all five of the previous conference hosting sites – Andrew Booth [Convenor] (Sheffield, 2001), Denise Koufogiannakis (Edmonton, 2003), Helen Partridge/Gillian Hallam (Brisbane, 2005), Joanne Marshall (North Carolina, 2007) and Lotta Haglund (Stockholm, 2009).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.      <!--[endif]-->The region of Greater Manchester is composed of ten metropolitan boroughs which include the cities of Manchester and Salford – in total they form one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom. The University of Salford has a rich history stretching back to 1896. Just one and a half miles away from Manchester, the University of Salford is right on the doorstep of big-city diversity and fun. 83% of its research was judged of international class by the UK Government's latest Research Assessment Exercise.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.      <!--[endif]-->Salford and the wider Greater Manchester region is served by Manchester Airport which hosts 100 airlines flying from over 200 destinations worldwide and boasts one of the most comprehensive domestic route networks of any UK airport. It offers direct flights from many international cities including New York, Washington and Vancouver, as well as flights to nearly every major European city.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.      <!--[endif]-->Dr Alison Brettle, Chair of the Local Organising Committee is Associate Editor (Articles) for Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, the open access journal for EBLIP at: http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP/index . Maria Grant, Chair of the International Programme Committee, is Editor of Health Information and Libraries Journal (Formerly Health Libraries Review) one of the world’s premier health information journals.