114 - Addressing and Assessing Health Disparities Research Support at NIH

Background: Health disparities (HD) and health equity (HE) research has taken on renewed importance over the past few years, with extramural and intramural funding initiatives for HD/HE research within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). While the NIH Library has continuously supported the work of HD/HE researchers through collection development, literature searches, and more, a number of new NIH-wide initiatives centering on HD/HE, as well as feedback from a library focus group, have propelled the creation of a formal HD/HE research support initiative. We will describe the formation, goals, and next steps of this new library initiative.

Description: Amidst the implementation of an NIH-wide initiative related to HD/HE, renewed focus has been given to HD/HE research. In June 2021, a focus group comprised of NIH Library customers provided feedback about the services and resources of the library, and the need for a formal HD/HE research support initiative was requested. A working group of librarians formed to address this initiative. Listening to the needs of the researchers in this space was of key importance, so in response, a survey was created by the working group and distributed to a small group of primary researchers in the field, many of whom worked for the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). The survey sought to determine the most desirable components of such an initiative, as well as solicit additional resources for librarians to learn more about this area. The survey was distributed to 56 potential respondents, and 13 completed the survey in October 2021.

Conclusion: The most requested item reported on the survey was a webpage that pulls together many useful components for HD/HE research, including search terms, hedges, journals, books, and data sources. The second most requested item was identification of trending topics in HD/HE research and setting up alerts related to these topics. The librarians also received additional resource suggestions for professional development in this area. Librarians recognize the importance of listening to experts and continuing independent learning to increase competency in this area. The working group has transitioned into a project team and reported the complete survey findings to the Library Advisory Committee in April 2022, as well as started work on creation of a webpage related to HD/HE information resources.