Our role as librarians is changing from an advising, supportive role to teaching students, researchers, and faculty systematic review methodology. Specifically, we teach how to conduct comprehensive systematic search strategies (i.e. data collection) during instruction sessions or workshops and, more often, during one-on-one consultation. Librarians are finding it difficult to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for assistance and instruction. As well, researchers and students frequently seek librarian assistance for guidance on all aspects of the systematic review methodology including managing the data, data extraction, and quality assessment.

Librarians often develop online pathfinders or research guides, called LibGuides, in response to this increased demand for guidance and assistance. LibGuides are web-based content management systems that are extremely simple and user-friendly to set up and are currently used throughout academic libraries worldwide. Funded by a Teaching and Learning grant from our University, we were interested in learning how academic libraries used their LibGuides as a means for building capacity for systematic reviews. We wanted to discover best practice LibGuides that provide online (videos, tutorials, written) instructional support for conducting systematic reviews.

We will discuss the results from our recent content analysis of 19 academic libraries’ LibGuides which focused on systematic reviews. The LibGuides were from Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States. The guides were analyzed for the type of resource: educational (internal), education (external), tools (educational), tools (informational), service, or informational, within each phase of the systematic review methodology. We discovered interesting trends which we will use as a springboard for discussion during the workshop.

The aim of our workshop is to engage with participants on ways to add more instructional resources and content to systematic review LibGuides, and to develop guides that will help build capacity for systematic reviews in their own institutions.

Learning outcomes : Participants will have a greater understanding of how LibGuides support systematic reviews. They will be able to analyze systematic review LibGuides/pathfinders to determine the type of content. They will be able to create and redevelop their own systematic review LibGuides to be more instructional.

Type of interactivity : Interactivity is woven throughout the workshop. We will first ask participants about their experiences designing and developing LibGuides. Participants will be asked for their reflections on their own systematic review LibGuides, as well as on our results from our content analysis. We will also share participants’ best practice LibGuides (provided to the presenters in advance). We will then have a Knowledge Café, where small groups of 5 or 6 participants will discuss how to design and develop a LibGuide for systematic reviews that focuses on education, not only information. Participants will move from one group to another 2 times, and then will come back together as a large group for a final exchange of ideas. The final group discussion will focus on the key elements needed to develop a LibGuide that can build capacity for systematic reviews.

Level : Introductory

Target audience : Participants with an interest in further developing their online resources/pathfinders/LibGuides for supporting systematic reviews.

Preparation for the session : Yes (will be communicated by presenters prior to the conference via email.)