Systematic Review Research Guides and Support Services in Academic Libraries in the US: A Content Analysis of Resources and Services in 2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18438/eblip30405Abstract
Objective – The purpose of this research project was to examine the state of library research guides supporting systematic reviews in the United States as well as services offered by the libraries of these academic institutions. This paper highlights the informational background, internal and external educational resources, informational and educational tools, and support services offered throughout the stages of a systematic review.
Methods – The methodology centered on a content analysis review of systematic review library research guides currently available in 2023. An incognito search in Google as well as hand searching were used to identify the relevant research guides. Keywords searched included: academic library systematic review research guide.
Results – The analysis of 87 systematic review library research guides published in the United States showed that they vary in terms of resources and tools shared, depth of each stage, and support services provided. Results showed higher levels of information and informational tools shared compared to internal and external education and educational tools. Findings included high coverage of the introductory, planning, guidelines and reporting standards, conducting searches, and reference management stages. Support services offered fell into three potential categories: consultation and training; acknowledgement; and collaboration and co-authorship. The most referenced systematic review software tools and resources varied from subscription-based tools (e.g., Covidence and DistillerSR) to open access tools (e.g., Rayyan and abstrackr).
Conclusion – A systematic review library research guide is not the type of research guide that you can create and forget about. Librarians should consider the resources, whether educational or informational, and the depth of coverage when developing or updating systematic review research guides or support services. Maintaining a systematic review research guide and support service requires continual training and maintaining familiarity with all resources and tools linked in the research guide.
Downloads
References
American Council on Education. (2024). Carnegie classifications of institutions of higher education. https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/index.php
Bergstrom-Lynch, Y. (2019). LibGuides by design: Using instructional design principles and user-centered studies to develop best practices. Public Services Quarterly, 15(3), 205–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/15228959.2019.1632245 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15228959.2019.1632245
Beverley, C. A., Booth, A., & Bath, P. A. (2003). The role of the information specialist in the systematic review process: A health information case study. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 20(2), 65–74. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1471-1842.2003.00411.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1471-1842.2003.00411.x
Bullers, K., Howard, A. M., Hanson, A., Kearns, W. D., Orriola, J. J., Polo, R. L., & Sakmar, K. A. (2018). It takes longer than you think: Librarian time spent on systematic review tasks. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 106(2), 198–207. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2018.323 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2018.323
Chalmers, I., & Fox, D. M. (2016). Increasing the incidence and influence of systematic reviews on health policy and practice. American Journal of Public Health, 106(1), 11–13. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302915 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302915
Charrois, T. L. (2015). Systematic reviews: What do you need to know to get started? The Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy, 68(2), 144–148. https://doi.org/10.4212/cjhp.v68i2.1440 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4212/cjhp.v68i2.1440
Cochrane. (2016, January 27). What are systematic reviews? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egJlW4vkb1Y
Cochrane. (2020, January 3). Evidence synthesis - What is it and why do we need it? https://www.cochrane.org/news/evidence-synthesis-what-it-and-why-do-we-need-it
Cornell University Library. (2023, May 19). A guide to evidence synthesis: Types of evidence synthesis. https://guides.library.cornell.edu/evidence-synthesis/types
Grant, M. J., & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: An analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 26(2), 91–108. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x
Harwood, T. G., & Garry, T. (2003). An overview of content analysis. Marketing Review, 3(4), 479–498. https://doi.org/10.1362/146934703771910080 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1362/146934703771910080
Hoffmann, F., Allers, K., Rombey, T., Helbach, J., Hoffmann, A., Mathes, T., & Pieper, D. (2021). Nearly 80 systematic reviews were published each day: Observational study on trends in epidemiology and reporting over the years 2000-2019. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 138, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.05.022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.05.022
Kim, I., & Kuljis, J. (2010). Applying content analysis to web-based content. Journal of Computing and Information Technology, 18(4), 369–375. https://doi.org/10.2498/cit.1001924 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2498/cit.1001924
Koffel, J. B. (2015). Use of recommended search strategies in systematic reviews and the impact of librarian involvement: A cross-sectional survey of recent authors. PLoS ONE, 10(5), e0125931–e0125931. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125931 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125931
Lackey, M. J., Greenberg, H., & Rethlefsen, M. L. (2019). Building the systematic review core in an academic health sciences library. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 107(4), 588–594. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2019.711 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2019.711
Laynor, G. (2022). Can systematic reviews be automated? Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries, 19(3), 101–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/15424065.2022.2113350 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15424065.2022.2113350
Lee, J., Hayden, K. A., Ganshorn, H., & Pethrick, H. (2021). A content analysis of systematic review online library guides. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 16(1), 60–77. https://doi.org/10.18438/eblip29819 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18438/eblip29819
Li, L., Tian, J., Tian, H., Moher, D., Liang, F., Jiang, T., Yao, L., & Yang, K. (2014). Network meta-analyses could be improved by searching more sources and by involving a librarian. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 67(9), 1001–1007. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2014.04.003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2014.04.003
Marshall, C., Sutton, A., O'Keefe, H., Johnson, E. (Eds.). (2022). The systematic review toolbox. http://www.systematicreviewtools.com/
Meert, D., Torabi, N., & Costella, J. (2016). Impact of librarians on reporting of the literature searching component of pediatric systematic reviews. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 104(4), 267–277. https://doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.104.4.004 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.104.4.004
Murphy, S. A., & Boden, C. (2015). Benchmarking participation of Canadian university health sciences librarians in systematic reviews. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 103(2), 73–78. https://doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.103.2.003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.103.2.003
Rethlefsen, M. L., Farrell, A. M., Osterhaus Trzasko, L. C., & Brigham, T. J. (2015). Librarian co-authors correlated with higher quality reported search strategies in general internal medicine systematic reviews. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 68(6), 617–626. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2014.11.025 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2014.11.025
Spencer, A. J., & Eldredge, J. D. (2018). Roles for librarians in systematic reviews: A scoping review. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 106(1), 46–56. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2018.82 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2018.82
Stone, S. M., Lowe, M. S., & Maxson, B. K. (2018). Does course guide design impact student learning? College & Undergraduate Libraries, 25(3), 280–296. https://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.2018.1482808 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.2018.1482808
Toews, L. (2019). Benchmarking veterinary librarians’ participation in systematic reviews and scoping reviews. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 107(4), 499–507. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2019.710 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2019.710
Townsend, W., Anderson, P., Capellari, E., Haines, K., Hansen, S., James, L., MacEachern, M., Rana, G., & Saylor, K. (2022). Addressing antiquated, non-standard, exclusionary, and potentially offensive terms in evidence syntheses and systematic searches. https://doi.org/10.7302/6408
Tsafnat, G., Glasziou, P., Choong, M. K., Dunn, A., Galgani, F., & Coiera, E. (2014). Systematic review automation technologies. Systematic Reviews, 3(1), 74. https://doi.org/10.1186/2046-4053-3-74 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/2046-4053-3-74
Wang, S., Scells, H., Koopman, B., & Zuccon, G. (2023). Can ChatGPT write a good Boolean query for systematic review literature search? https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2302.03495 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3539618.3591703
White, M. D., & Marsh, E. E. (2006). Content Analysis: A Flexible Methodology. Library Trends, 55(1), 22–45. https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2006.0053 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2006.0053
Yoon, A., & Schultz, T. (2017). Research data management services in academic libraries in the US: A content analysis of libraries’ websites. College & Research Libraries, 78(7), 920-933. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.78.7.920 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.78.7.920
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Elizabeth Sterner
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The Creative Commons-Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike License 4.0 International applies to all works published by Evidence Based Library and Information Practice. Authors will retain copyright of the work.
