Providing Information to Support COVID-19 Pandemic Response: Academic Medical Librarians’ Roles in Creating an Intelligence Report

Health sciences librarian research and instruction services in pandemic information environments

“…Survey respondents reported new services such as preparing COVID-19 evidence reports to help support evidence-based response efforts, facilitating access to curated COVID-related research and datasets, finding relevant funding opportunities for researchers, and providing grant writing support. These findings are similar to the efforts reported by one academic medical library and their involvement in creating COVID intelligent reports for clinicians ( Sullo & Brody, 2021 ). Indeed, these findings demonstrate that health sciences librarians are rapidly responding to the explosion of COVID-related literature and demonstrate the level of demand for these services.…”

“…A few studies explored the impact of COVID-19 specifically on academic health sciences library instruction services, focusing on the shift to online instruction ( Hickner et al, 2021 ; Patterson & Hull, 2021 ; Shin et al, 2021 ). While these examples from the extant literature largely describe how either an individual library or a group of regional academic libraries provided services during the COVID-19 pandemic ( Gotschall et al, 2021 ; Howes et al, 2021 ; Koos et al, 2021 ; Lindsay et al, 2021 ; Mazure et al, 2021 ; Sullo & Brody, 2021 ), more research is needed to specifically document how academic health sciences librarians nationwide across the United States (U.S.) adapted research support and instruction services for their respective communities during this time of crises. Additionally, a discussion of how academic health sciences librarians perceive the lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the future of library services would provide a guidepost for tracking the long-term impact of the global pandemic on librarianship.…”

“…In literature focused specifically on the health sciences library setting, Sullo and Brody (2021) discussed the development of a COVID-19 Intelligence Report, which served as a concise, authoritative source of COVID-19 information for clinicians, the Incident Management Team, and operational leaders. A common approach librarians took to supporting research was through the creation of a COVID-19 LibGuide ( Clifton et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Yet, keeping up-to-date with constantly changing surveillance data, laboratory testing information, population data, and environmental exposure research presented a formidable task ( Iskander & Bianchi, 2021 ). In response to these unique challenges, librarians expanded research support offerings to help monitor COVID-related information, identify new findings, and share the best available evidence with clinicians and organizational leaders ( Sullo & Brody, 2021 ). Hence, the rapid transformation of the information landscape and library workplaces created a new pandemic information environment.…”

The impact of COVID-19 on reference services: a national survey of academic health sciences librarians

“…These reference questions present an opportunity to help patrons build their skills at evaluating information sources and verifying COVID-related information in a variety of forums. This may be achieved by locating the best available evidence at the time to combat misinformation regarding COVID-19 as reported by librarians in this study, as well as developing COVID-19 intelligence reports delivering concise, authoritative information updates [ 14 ]. Seminars and Q&A sessions as explored in other settings, such as public libraries [ 15 ], may also be useful ways to counter the spread of misinformation.…”