3. Proponents of EBM encourage managers to be more “scientific” by using research to gather data that is then used in making managerial decisions, but management is both a science and an art. In a recent article in Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, Denise Koufogiannakis argues that librarians need to recognize both elements.

She writes, We need to embrace both the science and the art of evidence based practice—otherwise, we will overlook important elements of the whole situation. . . . Doing so is not neat and tidy, but does that really matter?

LIS is a social science, and the ‘social’ implies ‘messy’ because people and real-life situations are not easily controlled. The art of our craft allows us to embrace the messy situation, find ways to be creative, put our professional judgements [sic] to use and find the best solutions to meet the needs of individual users by applying the best of what we find in the research literature together with the best of what we know is likely to help this person. My purely unscientific judgement as a practitioner is that LIS practice is probably 30% science and 70% art (more or less depending upon the specific topic). As such, I think that we cannot ignore the art of evidence based practice, and in fact should begin thinking about ways to be better artists as well as better scientists.68 How do you think managers should handle the conflict between art and science in their work? What happens if either element is ignored? Why do you think some managers favor one element over the other? Do you agree that 70 percent of LIS practice is an art?