Evidence Syntheses Services Essentials: Foundations of Review Selection and Search Design

Evidence syntheses services are increasingly central to library research support, yet choosing the wrong review type or designing a weak search can derail a project from the start. This interactive 3‑hour course equips librarians with practical tools to confidently match research questions to the most appropriate evidence synthesis method and to design transparent, reproducible search strategies. Through brief lectures, case studies, and hands-on exercises, participants will practice review-type triage, question framing, and search design aligned with current standards. Attendees will leave with concrete workflows they can immediately apply in consultations and evidence synthesis services.

Course URL: Pending

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Differentiate common evidence synthesis types (systematic, scoping, rapid, living, umbrella, etc.) and articulate when each is appropriate
• Conduct a “reference interview for reviews”: identify the decision points that drive review type selection (purpose, scope, feasibility, timeline, team capacity)
• Match a research question to a review type and an appropriate question framework (e.g., PICO/PEO/PCS/PIRD) and guide clients to draft initial eligibility criteria
• Design a transparent search approach: choose concepts, decide on controlled vocabulary + keywords, and structure a core database strategy
• Select appropriate resources to be searched
• Utilize tools (AI and more) as appropriate for designing a search
• Describe how to improve strategy, including peer review, client feedback, and testing against identified relevant articles.

Agenda

• Welcome (5 min)
• Part 1: Review type selection and reference interview (80 min total)
• Mini lecture: Review types and frameworks with standard interview questions (30 min)
• Paired exercise with case study (30 min)
• Reporting out case study (20 min)
• –Break 10 min–
• Part 2: Designing a search (80 min total)
• Mini lecture: Translating eligibility criteria to search concepts (15 min)
• Paired exercise (15 min)
• Mini lecture: techniques for evaluating searches (15 min)
• Paired exercise (15 min)
• Discussion on selecting appropriate resources to search (20 min)
• Close (5 min)

MLA CE Credits: 3