Librarian Engagement with the Cochrane US Network

Background: Established in 2019, the Cochrane US Network “works to promote evidence-based decision making in medicine, public health, and healthcare.” The Cochrane US Network is comprised of sixteen affiliate institutions, three review groups, and three satellite review groups, many of them located on medical or health sciences campuses across North America. At the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, an affiliate and a satellite review group were established.


Description: The CU Anschutz affiliate director and co-director reached out to campus librarians at the Strauss Health Sciences Library, and a fruitful collaboration coordinating and organizing a successful lecture series of Cochrane-related topics was the result. The CU Anschutz review group director also initiated conversations with the Strauss Library, with an eye towards future collaborations. Curious as to if, and how, other librarians were becoming involved with their own affiliates or review groups, the presenters, who are the deputy director and the head of the Education & Research department, created a survey to investigate librarian involvement at other Cochrane US entities located on academic health sciences campuses. This poster presents the results of that survey.

Conclusion: Three-quarters of the survey respondents indicated that they were engaged with the non-librarian Cochrane groups on their campuses; they indicated that they attended meetings, worked on reviews/evidence synthesis projects, and taught or presented about related skills. One-quarter of the respondents indicated that they were not involved with their Cochrane entity, citing the following reasons: lack of time/capacity, gaps in knowledge, and lack of communication. Free text responses were also gathered, and common themes included the opportunity for collaboration, both with the Cochrane units and among health sciences librarians generally; demonstrating the value of librarians’ skills and work within the larger Cochrane community; and concern about capacity to support the Cochrane units in addition to the “normal” work of librarian positions and work/library units.