Developing the Librarians' Role in Supporting Grant Applications and Reducing Waste in Research: Outcomes From a Literature Review and Survey in the NIHR Research Design Service

ABSTRACT

Librarians and information specialists' involvement during the development of grant applications for external funding can save researchers' time, provide specialist support, and contribute to reducing avoidable waste in research. This article presents a survey of information specialists working for the National Institute for Health Research's Research Design Service within English applied health services research and a scoping review to identify other examples of librarians supporting grant applications. The survey found that support included: verifying proposed research has not already been performed; searching literature to provide background for the project; and advising on or writing systematic review methods. The scoping review found three examples where librarians were involved: in writing sections of the application; conducting reviews, and becoming a co-applicant. We recommend librarians engage with researchers by checking whether search requests are to support an application and by becoming familiar with resources and techniques to support grant proposal development.

KEYWORDS:

• Researchers
• funding
• grant writing
• embedded librarians
• health librarians
• sytematic review

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Research Design Service staff who contributed to our survey including RDS Information Specialists; Susan Bayliss, RDS West Midlands, University of Birmingham; Anthea Sutton and Suzy Paisley, RDS Yorkshire and the Humber, University of Sheffield; and Shannon Robalino, RDS North East, University of Newcastle.

Funding

All the authors are supported, at least in part, by the NIHR Research Design Service East Midlands or Research Design Service Yorkshire and the Humber. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.