The Role of Librarians

Librarians are important resources during the review process, and their contributions can take many forms. It is recommended that you explore what options are available at your institutional library prior to starting your review. Libraries may have a formal service for supporting systematic review projects, which could include a more standardized level of support.  Regardless of the level of support available, the advice and support of a librarian, particularly at the outset of a review project, is highly recommended, and supported by best practices.

There are a number of service models in existence, but the most common approaches are the Consultant Model or the Co-Authorship Model.

In the Consultant Model, the Library provides advice and support to a review project through an in-depth consultation, or a series of consultations. This model provides a time-limited level of support and advice, which could include:

• Recommendations on relevant databases and grey literature sources
• Advice on developing search strategies
• Guidance on the use of citation management tools or systematic review software

Where extensive support has been provided, it is common to ask the librarian how they would like their contributions to be acknowledged. This would typically include a written acknowledgement of their contribution in the published version. See an example:

Inglis, S. C., Clark, R. A., McAlister, F. A., Stewart, S., & Cleland, J. G. (2011). Which components of heart failure programmes are effective? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the outcomes of structured telephone support or telemonitoring as the primary component of chronic heart failure management in 8323 patients: Abridged Cochrane Review. European journal of heart failure, 13(9), 1028–1040.

In the Co-Authorship Model, a librarian joins your review project team as a co-author. This model provides a more substantial level of support to the project, and could include:

• Selection of databases and grey literature resources
• Developing the search strategy
• Translating the search strategy across all databases
• Exporting results to a citation management tool or systematic review software
• Writing the methods section specific to searching

See an example:

Stotz, S. A., McNealy, K., Begay, R. L., DeSanto, K., Manson, S. M., & Moore, K. R. (2021). Multi-level Diabetes Prevention and Treatment Interventions for Native People in the USA and Canada: a Scoping Review. Current diabetes reports, 21(11), 46.