Using Standards and Guidelines to Inform Support for Systematic Reviews[TG2/sys-reviews]

Systematic reviews are important summaries of knowledge used to appraise research and provide evidence for decision-making. Widely used in health and medicine, they increasingly seen in a number of other disciplines. Systematic review methodology relies heavily on the quality of the search strategies to identify and select relevant research material. Librarians and information specialists are key in providing support to researchers carrying out systematic reviews, but how can they best support systematic searching that meets methodological standards, and advocate for the importance of search techniques?

This session is aimed at librarians supporting researchers in carrying out systematic reviews, and providing guidance on systematic search techniques. Delegates will explore a range of reporting and search standards and guidelines before applying these standards in a variety of ways, including: testing search strategy efficacy; peer-review of search strategies; keeping adequate records; and advocating for best practice in systematic review search strategies. Delegates will be encouraged to share experiences and discuss their experiences throughout the day.

Prerequisites for this course: This course assumes knowledge of advanced literature search techniques such as the use of proximity operators, subject headings, search filters and search translation across multiple databases. These techniques will not be taught as part of this course.

Programme
09.30 – 10.00 Registration
10.00 – 11.30 Introduction to the relevant standards and guidelines
11.30 – 11.45 Break
11.45 – 13.00 Testing the efficacy of a search
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 15.15 Peer review of search strategies
15.15 – 15.30 Break
15.30 – 16.30 Communicating best practice in search strategies
16.30 – Close

Speaker: Jane Falconer, User Support Services Librarian, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Library

Jane Falconer has been a medical librarian for over 20 years, working in the NHS, medical charities and HE. She has over 15 years’ experience in supporting researchers in the production of systematic reviews through the provision of teaching or individual tutorials. Her current role at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has given her the opportunity to become part of the systematic review team, responsible for constructing and running the searches as well as contributing to the final manuscript.

Jane has contributed to systematic reviews published by Cochrane and those informing World Health Organization guidance, Lancet Commissions and health technology assessments (see https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7329-0577). She is an advocate for improving the quality of search strategies in systematic reviews and has recently been working with organisations such as the CILIP Information Literacy Group and EAHIL (European Association for Health Information and Libraries) to explore mechanisms to achieve this.

Venue:
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Keppel Street
London
WC1E 7HT

Cost:
£200 for members and £300 for other institutions.
Includes lunch and refreshments

To book a place please use our online booking form. Please remember to include your PO number as bookings cannot be confirmed without this.

Cancellations less than one week before the event will be charged a 50% cancellation fee. In the event of a ‘no-show’ on the day, the full fee will be charged.