Experiences of UK based health librarians collaborating with clinical research staff on systematic reviews and associated authorship.

Pip Divall, Clinical Librarian Service Manager at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

Abstract

The role of specialist clinical librarians has expanded from providing summaries and evidence to answer clinicians’ questions on patient care decisions to include active participation in research, particularly in systematic reviews, which are seen as the highest level of evidence in evidence-based healthcare.  A comprehensive scoping review identified six areas relating to librarian involvement in systematic reviews (quality of reporting; quality of searching strategies; the roles played by librarians; experiences of librarians in systematic reviews; prevalence of authorship; and processes and policies).  Included studies found that librarian involvement can increase the quality of published systematic reviews by clinical researchers. This scoping review underpins a mixed methods study  about contributing and collaborating on systematic reviews. For the quantitative phase, clinical librarians (n=153) and researchers (n=54) completed surveys covering these identified themes from November 2025-January 2026. Qualitative methods (semi-structured interviews) will  which explore participants’ experiences of collaborating on SRs. These  will take place throughout 2026. Preliminary data and analyses from the mixed methods data collection will be presented.

Biography

Pip Divall is Clinical Librarian Service Manager at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. She has worked in the NHS as a librarian since 2002, and as a Clinical Librarian since 2004. She leads a team of Clinical Librarians as well as supporting clinical teams in the Trust with their evidence-based healthcare needs. She is named as an author on a number of systematic reviews.

She is currently undertaking a Professional Doctorate at the University of Salford researching the value of librarians in healthcare systematic reviews..

Spring Forum 2026: Search Lightning! This review is automatic, systematic, hydromatic!

The 2026 UHMLG Spring Forum will once again bring together a fantasic line-up of speakers from around the UK, across two half-days in April (22nd & 23rd). There are a total of six talks on the overall theme of systematic reviews – some of which do, of course, discuss the use of AI in systematic reviews… but the focus is very much on the practical implementation, not on generalities or background.

Our core audience is UK / Republic of Ireland health and medical librarians from the Higher Education and NHS / health sectors, but we welcome delegates from any area of librarianship, and from anywhere in the world.

More information / Book your place

For full information about the forum and to book a ticket place, please visit our Spring Forum 2026 page. This year we are offering an institutional ticket, which allows unlimited access for all colleagues.