Introduction: In 2022, Research Information Specialists from CADTH (now Canada’s Drug Agency) presented at the CHLA-ABSC conference on modernizing our bibliographic and grey literature search tools. To build on this work and address the evolving information needs of Canada’s Drug Agency, Research Information Services investigated the current state of our grey literature search approaches and made recommendations for enhancement in 2024. In 2025, we began implementing these recommendations. Methods: We sought input from our Research Information Specialists about the value and efficacy of our current grey literature search approaches and tools through an internal focus group and survey. We also reached out to the HTA community on the visibility and usefulness of Grey Matters, our public-facing grey literature checklist tool, via a survey on the Health Technology Assessment International Information Retrieval Group email listserv. Results: Based on internal and external feedback, our recommendations for grey literature searching processes focus on 4 areas: (1) project initiation and consultation, (2) enhancements to our internal grey literature checklists, (3) reporting and internal documentation of grey literature search approaches, and (4) increasing awareness of Grey Matters. Project work to implement recommendations began in 2025 with delivering enhancements to our grey literature checklists and updating their maintenance processes. Discussion: The findings from our investigation informed recommendations to revitalize and enhance our grey literature search approaches and tools. We are currently implementing these recommendations and will repeat this evaluation within 5 years to ensure sustained viability of our grey literature search methods.

Introduction: Research Information Services at Canada’s Drug Agency has adopted a test-and-learn program to evaluate the performance of automation or Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for informational retrieval tasks in health technology assessment. Methods: We identified 51 promising tools using a targeted internet search, evaluated these tools with standardized criteria, tested 3 highly ranked tools against usual practice search approaches, developed implementation recommendations, and initiated a pilot to build custom AI tools for targeted search tasks with the potential for large efficiency gains. Results: Our program built an evaluation instrument for automated or AI search tools for use by any evidence synthesis producers. Comparative tool rankings allowed us to identify promising tools for further testing against usual practice. From our testing, we learned that available tools had low sensitivity for database searching but could assist with specific tasks (e.g., keyword generation for strategy development) for modest efficiency gains. Discussion: Our ongoing work builds on these findings to target AI app use for grey literature searching where we anticipate larger efficiency gains than with database searching. We are building custom AI tools to implement recommendations and to semi-automate established search approaches using checklists for grey literature.