Abstract
Introduction: Though it is well recognized that librarians bring value to knowledge synthesis teams, library technicians have largely been excluded from this process. This study was designed to determine the extent to which library technicians are currently participating in knowledge syntheses, to investigate where these two professional groups, librarians and library technicians, see opportunities for future collaboration, and to identify the challenges and successes perceived by both groups. Methods: An electronic survey, consisting of multiple choice and short answer queries, was distributed to targeted listservs. The target audience for survey participants was librarians, or library technicians, who worked in a library with any scale of knowledge synthesis service. Responses were collated, coded, and organized by themes. Results: 170 responses were received and evenly represented librarians (n=84) and library technicians (n=79), including 7 incomplete responses. 31% (n=50) of respondents stated that they currently collaborate or have collaborated in the past on knowledge synthesis projects with the other professional group. Tasks completed by the library technician included article retrieval, citation management, retrieving reference lists, and database searching. The major challenge reported with collaboration on knowledge synthesis projects was the library technician qualifications. Major successes included time efficiency for librarians, and the opportunity for technicians to develop new skills.
Highlights
Though it is well recognized that librarians bring value to knowledge synthesis teams, library technicians have largely been excluded from this process
When asked in a multiple-choice question which tasks library technicians are currently undertaking within knowledge synthesis projects, article retrieval was most commonly selected
Based on the lack of previous discourse on this topic, it was not surprising that the majority of respondents had not worked on a knowledge synthesis project in which a library technician was involved
Summary
Though it is well recognized that librarians bring value to knowledge synthesis teams, library technicians have largely been excluded from this process. This study was designed to determine the extent to which library technicians are currently participating in knowledge syntheses, to investigate where these two professional groups, librarians and library technicians, see opportunities for future collaboration, and to identify the challenges and successes perceived by both groups. The target audience for survey participants was librarians, or library technicians, who work in a library with any scale of knowledge synthesis service. The major challenge reported with collaboration on knowledge synthesis projects was library technician qualifications. Discussion: Librarians and library technicians collaborate on knowledge synthesis projects in several ways, and those expanding their services should consider library technicians as possible collaborators. Librarians are increasingly being asked to participate beyond searching, holding roles that
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