Feature Editorial

EBLIP7: The Possibilities are Endless!

Virginia Wilson

Guest Editor

Director, Centre for Evidence Based Library and Information Practice

University Library

University of Saskatchewan

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

2013 Wilson. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons‐Attribution‐Noncommercial‐Share Alike License 2.5 Canada (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ca/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed, not used for commercial purposes, and, if transformed, the resulting work is redistributed under the same or similar license to this one.

The 7^th International Evidence Based Library and Information Practice conference (EBLIP7) was held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, on July 15-18, 2013. Eighteen months of planning came to fruition over four sunny summer days in Saskatchewan. Following in the illustrious footsteps of Sheffield, Edmonton, Brisbane, Chapel Hill-Durham, Stockholm, and Salford, the University Library, University of Saskatchewan welcomed 100 delegates to the evidence-based party.

Welcome to the EBLIP7 feature in Evidence Based Library and Information Practice. In this issue, you can get a good sense of the EBLIP7 conference if you were unable to join us in Saskatoon. And if you were a delegate in July, hopefully these pieces will bring back good memories of an intellectually stimulating and fun time. In this issue you’ll find Dr. Denise Koufogiannakis’s opening keynote address, in which she talks about different kinds of evidence and the idea that evidence based practice is a mindset. Also included in this issue is Charlene Sorensen’s summary of Dan Gardner’s closing keynote talk based on his chapter in a forthcoming book on forecasting.

The EBLIP7 lightning strikes were five minute, 20-slide talks on the topic “How I’ve Been Inspired by EBLIP.” The twist there was that the slides were set to automatically advance every 15 seconds. While it’s difficult to replicate the experience of actually being there to hear those exciting talks live, here you’ll find 6 out of the 8 lightning strikes talks. You’ll have to imagine the “edge of your seat” feeling of wondering when that slide will advance! Also in this issue, several conference delegates have jotted down their impressions of the conference, which are collected in a commentary piece. And then of course there are the People’s Choice Awards for best paper and best poster.

An international conference relies on many people generously putting in many hours of their time. As Chair of the local organizing committee for ELBIP7, I can safely say that EBLIP7 would not have happened without the efforts of the organizing committee members from the University Library, University of Saskatchewan: Lyn Currie, Angie Gerrard, Karim Tharani, Carolyn Doi, Rachel Sarjeant-Jenkins, Jen Murray, and Christine Neilson (who had to leave us just prior to the conference). Our many volunteers and session facilitators did a tremendous amount of work as well, and were crucial to the success of EBLIP7.

Of course, EBLIP7 assumes there will be an EBLIP8! The call for expressions of interest to host the 8^th International Evidence Based Library and Information Practice conference in 2015 went out in the fall and the location of EBLIP8 will be announced before the end of 2013. I can relate from personal experience that while planning a conference does take hard work and commitment, the rewards are astonishing.

Every conference has its own flavour and its own feeling when you look back on it. For me, EBLIP7 was this: research and evidence, colleagues and friends, learning and exploring, hootenannies and mosquitoes, dainties and pie, and laughter and collegiality. I hope that if you’ve never attended an EBLIP conference, there’s one in your future. I will see you at EBLIP8!