***Purpose:*** The authors developed a toolkit (https://osf.io/5eu36/) to empower fellow libraries to effectively evaluate ES support levels at their institutions based on the authors’ findings of their own ES support investigation. The provided evidence-based toolkit highlights various levels of support librarians can implement in their libraries to assist ES methodologies from low to high levels. The toolkit outlines how librarians can assess how they might support ES in both large and small institutions from training and resources needed for librarians to various support strategies. A strength of this toolkit is that libraries of all sizes can replicate the assessment process and scale their ES support based upon their university’s needs. Although this toolkit is to help librarians assess the viability of ES support, it is not a training on ES methodology. Nor is this toolkit an exhaustive list of training or resources available to librarians from a wide variety of places. We recognize that as the landscape of librarian support of ES is growing and evolving, links to current training resources available now may not be part of the conversation in the future. Within this toolkit, you will find details on how we gathered our data so others may replicate the data gathering approach, links to foundational ES resources, and finally a worksheet to help libraries assess the viability of an ES program with the reality of resources in mind.
This toolkit is comprised of 3 components: 1) Gathering ES Evidence: Community Interest & Library Resources, 2) Baseline Recommendations for Low, Medium, and High Levels of ES Support, and 3) an ES Assessment Worksheet.
**Component 1 (Gathering...)** provides several methods to investigate your community’s (campus, institution, etc.) ES interest in addition to your library’s interest and resources ES methodology. The methods provided are not the only options of evidence gathering, but rather a foundation to begin your investigation and represent the course of action the authors completed in their own ES investigation. Component 1 includes considerations for library time, money, tools, and expertise to support ES projects.
**Component 2 (Baseline...)** defines the three levels of ES support as described by the authors (low, medium, and high). Each level defines the baseline library needs, baseline community needs, and offers other things to consider to flourish in that level or move to the next level of support.
**Component 3 (ES Assessment...)** acts as a tool for you to match your level of library resources/time/expertise to the level of community interest in ES projects. You will need to have gathered data as laid out in Component 1 and understand the various support levels in Component 2 to utilize this worksheet.
***Background:*** In June of 2023, the authors’ libraries experienced a reorganization within their division, the authors were placed within a newly created department emphasizing research support for university stakeholders. With the changed focus of the new department, the authors needed to investigate what research support meant, who their stakeholders were, and how much evidence synthesis (ES) support their institution desired. To do this, the authors gathered data points from four areas: Reference and consultations; ES LibGuide views/usage; Environmental scan results; Current ES project workload assessment. Given the results and comparison to other libraries’ ES programs, the authors defined three different levels of ES support: low (LibGuide and consultations), medium (additional librarian time, workshops, selective co-authorship), and (full-time dedicated ES librarian). The three levels listed above represent the various levels of ES programs across institutions the authors studied, were trained by, or encountered. Additionally, these three levels build upon each other while allowing for growth to the next level of ES support. Through the use of the methods in this toolkit, a library may realize the need to start at a lower level of support. Using this toolkit will build the foundations to move into a higher level of ES support in the future through effective data collection and reflective practice.
