Evidence-Based Librarianship: An Opportunity for Research Collaboration

Objective: To encourage health sciences librarians in Taiwan to submit structured abstracts in English that summarize their library-related research projects to the periodical Hypothesis. These abstracts are intended to raise awareness about relevant Taiwanese research primarily among health sciences librarians in the US. This awareness might result in US librarians citing Taiwanese library science journals more frequently and lead to greater US-Taiwan research collaboration in the future. Method: Narrative essay. Presents elements of a standard structured abstract and a sample structured abstract based upon one of the primary author's recent publications. Result: Pending. Goal will be to increase awareness about relevant health sciences library science research in Taiwan among health sciences librarians in the US. Increased awareness of library-related research in Taiwan potentially will improve systematic reviews for all health sciences librarians. Conclusion: Increased awareness and collaboration might lead to more effective library practice in both countries. This increased awareness also can contribute to the Evidence-Based Librarianship (EBL) goal of conducting thorough systematic reviews (Mulrow & Cook, 1998) of all research, regardless of national origin of the authors.