HSLG Virtual Journal Club, 24th April 2026, 11:00 – 11:45am

Our next journal club meeting will be hosted by Caitríona Lee, Information Specialist at the Health Research Board.

Article:
Ross-White A. Search is a verb: systematic review searching as invisible labor. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Jul 1;109(3):505-506. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.20211226  PMID: 34629983; PMCID: PMC8485967.

Discussion Questions

1. What aspects of literature search-related work, if any, are invisible, erased or undervalued in our own HSLG librarianship work? (Potential examples: Reference interviews; researching, planning and conducting searches – alone or with researchers; data management of results; write-up/documentation; management of search results; search methods training; more?)

2. Health librarianship work is specialist professional work. Is it recognised as such in general? In the Irish context?

3. If our search work is perceived as basic or simple, how are we placed with regard to AI? Is professional search work at risk of being replaced with cheaper, less rigorous AI search if it is ‘invisible’ work?

4. Are there times when the librarian may not want to be credited with a literature search, re authorship or acknowledgements?

5. Posts where the majority of workers are female, such as librarianship posts, have often been under-recognised as professional – has this changed in the past decades?

6. Librarianship is not a vocation (or not only a vocation): it’s a job, it is professional work. Does the perception of library work as a noble vocation contribute to or enable its invisibility?

7. Are there practical things we can do to ensure that our work is recognised as complex, intellectual, rigorous work, that our organisations and professional ecosystems value health librarianship appropriately, and that we remain visible as a profession?