HSLS Update

HSLS Develops Responsible Literature Searching Module

HSLS has been awarded a $25,000 Grants and Contracts to develop a self-paced interactive educational program, titled Responsible Literature Searching for Research. This contract was granted through a cooperative agreement between the Association of American Medical Colleges, and the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

HSLS’ application was sponsored by the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries.

This program will be an instructional tool to teach researchers the fundamentals of responsible literature searching for research practice. The content will be available as a curriculum module titled Responsible Literature Searching on the University of Pittsburgh’s “Education and Certification Program in Research Practice Fundamentals (RPF) available at rpf.health.pitt.edu. Charles Wessel, HSLS coordinator of Affiliated Hospital Services, will be responsible for development and evaluation of course content.

Though the primary target audience of this program will be researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, the content will be based on principles that are applicable in most research-oriented settings, and will be freely available to other academic health sciences libraries and medical centers for adaptation to their local settings and resources.

Responsible Literature Searching will consist of 10 chapters with accompanying quizzes to test proficiency. After completing this program, participants should be able to:

• describe generally accepted practices and principles associated with the biomedical literature search process,
• identify and use major information resources appropriately for literature review and for current awareness,
• appreciate the role of reference librarians in the literature search process,
• understand the limitations of information resources, and
• determine what is an adequate literature search for topics such as animal use, drug safety, and identification of adverse events.

Watch future issues of the HSLS Update for more information about this classes.

--Barbara Epstein