by Virginia Wilson
Director, Centre for Evidence Based Library and Information Practice

The Centre for Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (C-EBLIP) at the University Library, University of Saskatchewan would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very happy holiday season and all the best in 2016. Brain-Work will continue to feature stimulating blog posts from C-EBLIP members and adjunct members in the New Year.

Looking back on 2015, we were again pleased at the national response to the second C-EBLIP Fall Symposium: Librarians as Researchers, held on October 14, 2015. Librarians from across Canada gathered in Saskatoon to explore what it means to be librarians who are also researchers and to share research projects and experiences in a collaborative and collegial one-day event. This year, we were extremely pleased to have our Researcher in Residence, Selinda Berg from the University of Windsor, facilitate a pre-symposium workshop on the topic of turning an idea into a researchable question. Other activities in 2015 originating from C-EBLIP were the writing circle where U of S librarians meet for accountability and protected writing time and the C-EBLIP journal club, now into its second year.

2015 also saw the hiring of a full time Research Facilitator (RF). Previously, we had been sharing an RF with the College of Education, but the results of having such support (manifesting in successful grant applications, including a SSHRC!) led the University Library to commit resources to hire a full time RF. In addition to the grant and funding support for our librarian faculty members, the RF will provide assistance for sabbatical and ethics applications, coordinate the Research Mentorship Team program (new this year to C-EBLIP), and provide effective advice and assistance to librarians in many areas of the research enterprise including but not limited to: articulating and developing a program of scholarship; research project design; managing research projects; developing C.V.s; publishing and disseminating research. Carolyn Pytlyk was hired effective July 1, 2015 as the full time University Library Research Facilitator.

2016 will bring new challenges and new opportunities. The potential of a new year is always exciting. I hope to connect with many more librarians in the year ahead as C-EBLIP continues its mission of supporting librarians as researchers and promoting evidence based library and information practice. Happy New Year!

This article gives the views of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of the Centre for Evidence Based Library and Information Practice or the University Library, University of Saskatchewan.