What SCIE researchers need from Social Care Online & Library

Information Service

Deborah Rutter

Nadira Sharif(research analysts)

What do we do/need?

Library & information support for:

• Commissioning of systematic maps, reviews, knowledge briefings (different commitments)

• Bidding for research funding

• Internal briefing on programme topics

Challenges

Constantly changing policy environment; Need for up to date, reliable & relevant

information on social care; 5 types of knowledge (organisations;

practitioners; the policy community; research (gathered systematically with a planned design); service users and carers) – not traditional ‘health service hierarchy’;

Breadth of info/databases needed for topic areas;

Search terms very challenging.

SCOPING

Scoping supports initial systematic activity; Have to use databases from health & social

care & children’s, adults’, older people’s, educational, etc;

Endnote libraries/Mind maps; Pull together resources on programmes

(LACs) as well as research questions; Identify gaps – what might be commissioned Enough to support bids?

Library & Information Services

Basis of most SCIE work; Scopes identify key themes & gaps: what is

possible, what is intelligent! For systematic maps/reviews, apply

in/exclusion criteria; Library organises retrieval (SCIE has Athens

password), advises on cost (British Library); Information trawl can be updated/expanded

because well documented.

Social Care Online

Database of 90,000 refs & abstracts, all types of material;

Resource of first call in social care (cuts through wide no. of databases);

Used by SCIE, by policymakers, academics, practitioners;

Simple – advanced searching possible; Links to online documents – we often need

the full texts (as quickly/cheaply as possible)

What next for Social Care Online?

Complements National Social Care Research Register (some challenges to iron out: not used widely enough; no capacity to chase final reports; reports not published, but could go onto database)

Quality ratings or kitemarking for SCO material; Challenges: variability of material; could not be

retrospective; contested schemes for rating (academic/practice) & SCIE must be rigorous (source of evidence base); meaningful to all, including practitioners; difficulty rating innovative practice.