Librarian Contributions to Evidence Synthesis Programs: Addressing the COVID-19 Infodemic

The purpose of this article is to examine the role of health sciences librarians in emerging evidence synthesis programs during the COVID-19 global health pandemic. This environmental scan aims to showcase a range of emergent and responsive library evidence services. The scope of contributions by health sciences librarians in evidence synthesis innovations is highlighted, along with examples illustrating how health sciences librarians helped mitigate the spread of inaccurate or incomplete COVID-19 information. New evidence services emerging in response to the COVID-19 infodemic included preparing evidence summaries, curating research on COVID-19, providing expert searching services to monitor the evolving research evidence, and helping individuals build critical appraisal skills to assess the increasing amounts of COVID-19 information. In addition, resources for locating published evidence syntheses on COVID-19 topics are provided.