Advocating for the Role of Library and Information Specialists in Evidence-Based Toxicology

The judicious use of high-quality evidence in decision-making and policy formation is an essential practice across disciplines. Organizations such as the Cochrane Collaboration, JBI, the Campbell Collaboration, and the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence have made it their primary mission to promote the creation and application of trusted evidence to improve individual health outcomes and public health. These organizations focus on evidence synthesis, which has become a cornerstone of multidisciplinary evidence-based practice. Keeping pace with, making sense of, and organizing relevant evidence can present challenges to researchers, which is why these organizations have long advocated for the expertise of library and information specialists (LIS) in evidence-based work. LIS possess exceptional proficiency to support evidence synthesis workflows, such as constructing sensitive, reproducible searches, providing methodological guidance, and supporting the use of numerous research tools and software. LIS also maintain skills in other important areas, such as information and data management, writing and publishing, research impact, evolving technologies, and more. We propose that LIS are valuable contributors to evidence-based toxicology.