Designing a framework for curriculum building in systematic review competencies for librarians: a case report

Librarians play an important role on systematic review teams because of their expertise in information organization, database searching, and records management. Many systematic review training opportunities exist, but not all are tailored to the needs of librarians. The Medical Library Association, along with a workgroup of experts on systematic reviews and review services, developed a Systematic Review Services Specialization (SRSS) that was launched in 2022. One of the required courses in the specialization was developed by the authors, who set out to build a value-added curriculum that would provide essential searching skills for librarians working in evidence synthesis domains.

The authors present a case report on creating a framework for developing a new course in the Medical Library Association's Systematic Review Services Specialization. The objectives of the course were intended to align with six systematic review competencies for librarians developed and published by a group of health science librarians from the University of Michigan in 2017, which include 1) conducting a reference interview, 2) performing preliminary searches, 3) selecting appropriate resources to search, 4) building an extensive, comprehensive, and documented search strategy, 5) peer reviewing search strategies, and 6) reporting search methods. With these objectives in mind, the instructors created four separate modules and an activity.

Systematic review skills for librarians are essential to many health science library jobs since librarians are considered important collaborators within systematic review teams. Through eleven cohorts of the course held over 2022-2024, the authors constructed and delivered a comprehensive curriculum.