ALAN BRADWELL

Biography: I have been with Anglia Polytechnic University (APU) as Education Librarian for 15 years. I have, therefore, experienced the impact on an education library of government initiatives in education from the arrival of the first National Curriculum folders through to the latest strategies for primary, key stage 3 and adult basic literacy and numeracy. I did have a life before APU and libraries and this involved, in reverse order, a series of archaeological digs in England and Scotland, a degree in History and Ancient History from the University of Lancaster, and teenage and child years that I prefer to blank from my mind. Currently I am completing a Master's in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and have a particular interest in how student teachers and students of education use texts from different knowledge communities in researching their assignments. This can be translated into being yet another strategy of ‘encouraging' education students to use books and articles of theory and research!

Title: Working with REEL at the EPPI-Centre

Summary: REEL (Research Evidence in Education Library) is part of EPPI-Centre (Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre) which in turn is of SSRU (Social Science Research Unit) at the Institute of Education, University of London.

And, if despite ‘reeling' out such a list of acronyms you are still reading, I will briefly summarise my talk. I will talk about the government's aim to base best-practice on systematic reviews of valid and reliable research, how one of these reviews was undertaken, and what other review teams have said about undertaking a REEL review. In slightly more detail:

About REEL

I will talk, no doubt with more acronyms, about the work of REEL and in particular what they are about. I will show parts of the web site, and suggest how and why we might search their database. If you don't currently know what a ‘systematic review' is, then I will try to explain.

Involvement with a systematic review

Next I will talk about APU's involvement in a systematic review. Particularly, I will talk about the impact on the Library.

Critiques of REEL