Research support in health sciences libraries: A scoping review

Abstract

Background: As part of a health sciences library’s assessment of its research support services, an environmental scan and literature review were conducted to identify existing research services offered in Canada. Through this process, it became clear that a formal review of the academic literature would be a helpful base from which libraries could identify new models for their own services. To address this gap, we conducted a scoping review of research services provided in health sciences libraries. Methods: Searches were conducted in Medline, Embase, ERIC, CINAHL, LISTA, LISS, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Google for articles that described the development, implementation, or evaluation of one or more research support initiatives in a health sciences library. We identified additional articles by searching reference lists of included studies and canvassing medical library listservs. Results: Our database searches retrieved 7134 records, 4026 after duplicates were removed. Title or abstract screening excluded 3751, with 333 records retained for full-text screening. Seventy-five records were included, reporting on 74 different initiatives. Included studies were published between 1990 and 2017, the majority from North American and academic health sciences libraries. Major services areas reported were the creation of new research support positions, and services for systematic review support, grants, data management, open access, and repositories. Conclusion: This scoping review is the first review of our knowledge to map out research support services provided by health sciences libraries beyond “traditional” library services as well as forms of service evaluation conducted.