Faculty Bibliography

It can take a year or more to complete a high-quality systematic review. Automation tools have the potential to expedite the systematic review process, but could compromise review quality if not adequately evaluated. International collaborations have begun to address the need to evaluate, improve, and integrate systematic review automation tools. The librarian role in systematic reviews may shift from expert searcher to systematic review automation expert.

The flood of publications during the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the challenge of information overload. The pandemic heightened the need for technologies that can assist researchers in keeping up with the literature. Approaches to organizing the COVID-19 literature included curation of specialized databases, aggregation of articles into a repository of machine-readable data, and application of text mining to the literature search process. Technologies developed for keeping up with the COVID-19 literature may have potential for improving in general the ability of researchers to keep up with the literature.

Because of gaps in the offerings of Library and Information Science programs and librarian continuing education programs, library students and early-career librarians may not be aware of opportunities in health sciences librarianship. There is a need for introductory educational offerings on the foundations of health sciences librarianship. There is also a need to address barriers that may obstruct members of underrepresented groups from becoming health sciences librarians. The article explores the possibility that online education and mentoring can address gaps in introductory educational offerings in health sciences librarianship. The article describes the development of a pilot program for an online Introduction to Health Sciences Librarianship course and mentoring program, reflects on results from a survey of program participants, and identifies areas for further research and program development. The article also discusses the potential implications the program may have for addressing equity, diversity, and inclusion in health sciences librarianship.