Approaches to evaluating clinical librarian services: a systematic review SPEAKERS

Introduction: Surveys in the UK have established a wide variability in clinical librarian (CL) service models and previous systematic reviews have suggested that there is little evidence of effectiveness or limited evidence of impact. The evidence that exists is mainly descriptive and comprises poor quality studies. To improve the evidence base and demonstrate the value of clinical librarian services, it is essential that more rigorous evaluations are undertaken. This is in line with a recent UK policy report that recommends evaluating the impact of NHS library services. However what is the best way of evaluating clinical librarian services? Given the various models of service provision, there is unlikely to be a “one model fits all” approach? A systematic review will be undertaken to examine these issues and provide guidance for future evaluations. Methods: Systematic review methodology comprising a search of 21 electronic databases will be used to determine: • What models of CL services have been evaluated • What outcomes have been measured and what outcome measures have been used • Whose perspective has been measured • The quality of the measures used Each relevant paper will be critically appraised by 2 members of a team of 8 librarians. Results and Conclusions: The results will be tabulated and presented as a narrative synthesis in order to draw conclusions about the methods of evaluation used in previous studies and suggest an evidence based way forward for future evaluations.