A Scoping Review on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives for Health and Medical Library Workers

Objectives: Four librarians conducted a scoping review on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives for workers in health and medical libraries. The review’s objective was to map out how these DEI initiatives vary in terms of 1) how DEI is defined; 2) their focus, such as policies, programming, recruitment/retention, services, or space; 3) their stated impact; 4) how libraries advocate for involvement in DEI and the associated challenges they face; and 5) recommendations for practice or research gaps. The review encompasses the years 2014 onwards due to the globally emerging Black Lives Matter movement, which catalyzed awareness around DEI.

Methods: The project was guided by the Joanna Briggs Institute’s Framework for Scoping Reviews, as well as PRISMA Sc-R. A protocol was registered in the Open Science Framework in September 2021. The following databases were searched for a total of 7,360 results: ERIC, Library Literature & Information Science Full Text; LISTA, Library and Information Science Source, Library Science Database, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. De-duplication and screening took place in Covidence. After pilot screening, four reviewers independently carried out title and abstract screening of the 5622 results, with two reviewers per article. Full-text screening used the same process and screening disagreements were resolved through discussion. Twenty-eight articles progressed to the data extraction stage, where the pre-populated data extraction forms were filled out by two team members independently. Data extraction is still in process; once complete, the results will be analyzed thematically and summarized narratively.

Results: The review is still in progress, but it is anticipated that the results will encompass a map of the types of DEI initiatives conducted for workers in health science libraries over the past seven years in different countries, as well as levels of impact, the challenges and successes involved, and strategies for justifying and advocating for library involvement in DEI.

Conclusions: Once the review is complete, the co-authors will be able to provide evidence-based recommendations for other libraries who would like to create DEI professional development opportunities for their employees.