Adapting to Changes in Publishing When Searching for Alternatives and Reporting on Animal Research: A Librarian's Perspective.

Since the inaugural issue of ATLA, many changes within publishing have occurred, impacting when, where, and how researchers conduct literature searches for non-animal alternatives. Such changes include increased rate of growth in scientific publications, greater number of databases and online resources available to search, opportunities for open and almost immediate dissemination of research outputs such as preprints and method protocols, and the development of reporting guidelines for animal research. Here we offer a librarian's perspective on these changes and advice on how to manage them to enable robust and diverse alternatives to be implemented in future research.

Leaving the Lecture Behind: Putting PubMed Instruction into the Hands of the Students.

This column describes the development of a one-shot PubMed instruction class for medical students at a health sciences library. Background information on the objective is presented and discussed in the context of educational practice literature. The new course design centers on a guided group method of instruction in order to integrate more active learning. Surveyed students reported that the method was an effective way to learn how to search PubMed and that they preferred it to a traditional lecture. Pros and cons of the method are offered for other health sciences libraries interested in presenting PubMed instruction in a similar manner.

Development of a Web-based repository for sharing biomedical terminology from systematic review searches: a case study.

Requests for comprehensive searches, such as searches to support systematic reviews, seem to be evolving into routine practice in the health sciences library environment. Collecting terminology for these searches is often a time-consuming process. This case study reports on the development of a searchable Web-based repository, MedTerm Search Assist, as a means for librarians to share biomedical terminology from systematic review searches.

Grey Literature Searching for Health Sciences Systematic Reviews: A Prospective Study of Time Spent and Resources Utilized.

OBJECTIVE: To identify estimates of time taken to search grey literature in support of health sciences systematic reviews and to identify searcher or systematic review characteristics that may impact resource selection or time spent searching. METHODS: A survey was electronically distributed to searchers embarking on a new systematic review. Characteristics of the searcher and systematic review were collected along with time spent searching and what resources were searched. Time and resources were tabulated and resources were categorized as grey or non-grey. Data was analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis tests. RESULTS: Out of 81 original respondents, 21% followed through with completion of the surveys in their entirety. The median time spent searching all resources was 471 minutes, and of those a median of 85 minutes were spent searching grey literature. The median number of resources used in a systematic review search was four and the median number of grey literature sources searched was two. The amount of time spent searching was influenced by whether the systematic review was grant funded. Additionally, the number of resources searched was impacted by institution type and whether systematic review training was received. CONCLUSIONS: This study characterized the amount of time for conducting systematic review searches including searching the grey literature, in addition to the number and types of resources used. This may aid searchers in planning their time, along with providing benchmark information for future studies. This paper contributes by quantifying current grey literature search patterns and associating them with searcher and review characteristics. Further discussion and research into the search approach for grey literature in support of systematic reviews is encouraged.