General advice and education about systematic reviews
- Medical students and staff members will often ask for library support with systematic reviews
- In most cases they are not doing a systematic review, but rather a literature search with a systematic approach
- With the exception of co-authorship, the librarian's role is limited to education about review processes, usually starting with a search tutorial
- Extensive online resources are available here - https://library.svhm.org.au/systematic-reviews/introduction
Reviewing search strategies - not a library role outside co-authorship
- With the exception of the co-authorship service, Library staff do not "approve" search strategies for systematic reviews as this involves a great deal of background research
- Librarians CAN provide quick feedback (face to face - not via email) on whether a search generally makes sense or not eg uses subject headings and textwords, boolean logic applied correctly
- See https://library.svhm.org.au/systematic-reviews/searchfaq
Librarian co-authorship (SVHM staff only)
- https://library.svhm.org.au/systematic-reviews/librarian-coauthorship
- Librarian co-authorship of systematic reviews is a long term commitment. There are often years between taking initial instructions, developing a search, writing up methodology, updating searches, then working on the final publication. Only one librarian can take responsibility for following through on a particular review.
- As at 2024 Helen is the only librarian providing a co-authorship service for systematic reviews.
- In Helen's absence this service will not be available. If queries are received in this time:
- let applicants know they will have to wait for Helen's return, and that we cannot promise their application will be accepted
- applications can still be submitted by staff, and when Helen returns they will be considered in the order received
- offer other supports such as linking to online resource and offering tutes
