By Alice Cann, Academic Liaison Librarian for Business at Brunel University London
This is the third in a series of blog posts reporting on an Evidence Synthesis Institute (ESI) delivered by the University of Minnesota, Cornell University, and Carnegie Mellon University. These posts expand on a post originally on Alice’s Researcher Librarian blog.
What the Evidence Synthesis Institute is
An Evidence Synthesis Institute is (or at least the one I attended was) a programme run for librarians, by librarians, to develop their understanding of and confidence in research methods such as systematic reviews and scoping reviews. The institute is specifically for librarians who work with areas other than health sciences, in which evidence synthesis is historically more prevalent.
History and logistics
The ESI is funded by the US Institute for Library and Museum Services, and has run multiple times since 2021; I attended the sixth institute in August 2023 – another is planned for March 2024. The institutes are run online, and are mainly for people in the US; there is some capacity for international participation though, and I was pleased, as a business librarian in the UK, to get a place.
The institute was held over four days, with a mixture of speakers and break out groups. We had daily facilitated meet-ups with librarians working in similar fields, where we had prompt questions to discuss; a great opportunity to get to know people, and to off-load when feeling a little overwhelmed with all the great content!
Each day we were given homework to help prepare for the upcoming discussions; this was usually videos to watch, so was manageable, though as a compulsive note-taker I did take some time processing the valuable introductory information.
The final day was a pic’n’mix of multiple sessions, some repeated, and we had to chose which to attend. This was hard, as they were on such important topics, and I wanted to attend them all. This is a common complaint apparently, but it was a great day, and it’s probably best to be left wanting more!
Before the institute we were given access to a website with slides and links to a wealth of information online, including from all the previous institutes. Along with dozens of recommended websites and articles I saved throughout the week, there is much to refer back to.
Contents of the institute
During the institute we learnt about many topics, including:
- The different types of evidence synthesis.
- The stages in a systematic review, and where librarians are most likely to be involved.
- Frameworks for systematic research questions (and there are many, of relevance to different subject areas).
- The importance of registering a systematic review protocol, and potential locations to register and find protocols.
- Searching systematically (an area of strength for many librarians, but one which there is always so much more to learn about), including identifying grey literature.
- Methods of recording and reporting your searches and processes.
- Systematic review software that can be used throughout many of the stages in a review, such as when screening.
- The importance of critical appraisal, and frameworks that can be used for this, such as CASP.
- Options and strategies for librarians’ involvement in evidence synthesis projects, including setting up an evidence synthesis service (this is my dream!)
I will discuss librarian activities following, and as a result of, training during the Institute in my fourth and final post in this series.