BOOK REVIEW / CRITIQUE DE LIVRE

Foster MJ, Jewell ST, editors. Piecing together
systematic reviews and other evidence syntheses: a
guide for librarians. Lanham, MD: Rowman &
Littlefield; 2022. Hardcover: 345 p. ISBN:
9781538150177. Price: USD $85.00. Available from:
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538150184/Piecing-
Together-Systematic-Reviews-and-Other-Evidence-
Syntheses.

As any librarian who works closely with health
sciences researchers is aware, systematic reviews and
other evidence syntheses are a rapidly-growing area of
research support requests today. Over the past few
years, evidence syntheses have also been growing in
popularity in fields such as economics, education,
psychology, and the social sciences. Given this
context, *Piecing together systematic reviews and other
evidence syntheses: a guide for librarians* (2022)
could not have been published at a better time. This
book is a follow-up to the editors’ previous book,
*Assembling the pieces of a systematic review: a guide
for librarians*, published in 2017. As mentioned in the
preface, *Piecing together* expands on the first book
and is also geared towards librarians who are closely
involved in supporting evidence syntheses in any of
the following ways: providing consultations and
workshops on the topic, contributing as co-authors, or
managing review support services at their libraries.

Each chapter of the book is written by librarians
who are widely considered to be experts in evidence
syntheses, with many years of experience under their
belts. Many of them have actively contributed to the
development of guidelines and standards for librarians
and non-librarian researchers who are interested in
working on evidence synthesis projects. The editors of
the book are themselves prolific in this regard: Foster
is a Professor at Texas A&M University and Director
and Founder of the Center for Systematic Reviews and
Evidence Syntheses at Texas A&M. Jewell is
Assistant Director of Clinical Services at Weill Cornell
Medicine and launched the systematic review service
at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Library. In
addition to the editing the book, Foster and Jewell
have both co-authored a few of the chapters.

The book comprises 22 chapters that have been
divided into 7 sections: (i) the big picture, (ii) plan,
(iii) identify, (iv) evaluate, (v) collect, combine, and
explain, (vi) summarize and share, (vii) the art of
puzzle solving. The chapters in section (i), the big
picture, cover the differences between the most
common evidence syntheses and introduce readers to
the PIECESS Framework. As outlined in chapter 1,
“the PIECESS Framework is designed to detail the
complexity of systematic, scoping, mapping, and other
research projects”. The Framework comprises 8 phases
(proposal of scope, protocol registration, preliminary
findings, paper completion, preservation of project,
promotion to stakeholders, impact compilation, update
review) that works through 8 processes that form the
acronym PIECESS: Plan, Identify, Evaluate, Collect,
Combine, Explain, Summarize, and Share. As readers
will note, the next 5 sections in the book are structured
following the PIECESS Framework. The last section
covers information relevant to developing and
managing a systematic review support service at a
library.

The book is organized in a way that makes it easily
digestible from start to finish, and also allows readers
to become familiar with the PIECESS Framework. It is
structured cohesively and flows through the natural
order of tasks that are involved in evidence synthesis
projects, all the way from picking a research question
(and framing it appropriately) to deciding how to store
and share the associated data that is created during the
project. Each chapter has references listed at the end of
the chapter which allows easy access for the reader.
Additionally, each chapter also has tables, checklists,
comparison charts, and other important resources that
make it easy for readers to go back to if they need to
refresh their memory. For example, chapter 6 has a
chart (Box 6.4) comparing select features among the
most common systematic review software programs.
This chart would be helpful for librarians who want to
recommend a software for purchase at their library, or
who are asked by researchers to recommend a
software for use for their project. The writing is easy
to follow and any jargon or acronyms are defined and
expanded upon.
There were a few aspects of the book that especially stood out to me. I appreciated the inclusion of case studies of searches for a few common types of evidence synthesis projects (chapter 10). They demonstrate what searches and documentation should look like and why they should look this way. I definitely could have benefited from reading something like this early on in my career! I also appreciate the last section of the book, the art of puzzle solving, as there is a wealth of information about organizing and managing new and existing evidence synthesis support services. Chapter 18 delves into the most common types of review services at libraries today and emphasizes the importance of assessing review services. That said, the section would be a great read for library administrators, librarians who are responsible for managing review support services at their libraries, or any librarian who wants to advocate for more funding, resources, staffing, and organizational support to develop and manage review support services at their library.

In conclusion, this book serves as a comprehensive reference on evidence synthesis support services in

libraries and provides an absolute wealth of information on the topic. I would recommend this book for all librarians who either currently support evidence syntheses as part of their job, or plan to do so in the future. Looking back, I could have used a book like this in previous jobs and on previous evidence synthesis projects, and will most definitely keep it as a reference to consult in the future! I would also recommend this book for library administrators, especially those who have not worked on evidence synthesis projects themselves. By reading it, they might gain a better understanding of the level of effort, time, and skill that goes into these projects. They could review recommendations and comparison charts for software and other tools. Finally, I would also recommend that librarians share this book as a resource with non-librarian researchers they are working with. While non-librarians are not the editors' intended audience for the book, it could be useful as a teaching tool during research consultations and workshops.

**Conflict of Interest Statement**

I have no conflicts to state.

**Chelsea Misquith, MI**

*Librarian*

*Toronto, Ontario, Canada*

Email: chelseamisquith@gmail.com