A new journal on Evidence-based library and information practice has appeared. Sounds promising. Librarianship is a rich field of practice, but it lacks intellectual rigor. There is a severe imbalance between values (strong), personal views (many), case studies (scattered), theory (slim) and systematic data collection and analysis (too much work ….).
We can learn more from facts. Provided we struggle with them. Cases are soft evidence. - My slender abstemious vegetarian aunt died in her forties, people say, while her chain-smoking, gin-soaked tub of a husband survived till ninetyfive. So let us eat, drink and be merry!
It is tempting to select the evidence we like - and discard the rest. That may be good political advice, but rational management it is not.
