A bibliometric services workshop for subject librarians
| Date | 10 June 2019 |
| Published date | 10 June 2019 |
| Pages | 305-312 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-03-2018-0014 |
| Author | Kimberly R. Powell,Jennifer J. Elder |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,HR in libraries,Library strategy,Library promotion |
A bibliometric services workshop
for subject librarians
Kimberly R. Powell and Jennifer J. Elder
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to report on the developm ent and analysis of an inte rnal
bibliometric service s workshop for subject lib rarians. Primary goals o f the workshop were to create a n
opportunity for colle gial knowledge and skill s haring, and to identify discipline specific g aps and future
support requirements.
Design/methodology/approach –Two campus librarians who typically offer bibliometric support
services used pre- and post-surveys to plan and assess the workshop for subject liaison librarians.
Findings –Subject librarians from across the university expressed interest in developing bibliometric
support services. The 12 workshop participants (30 percent of subject librarians) support diverse areas
including the humanities, social sciences, life sciences, education and outreach, and the school of business.
Post-workshop survey respondents highlighted the contextualization of available measures and the
appropriate application of metrics in different disciplines to be the most helpful topics covered. Finally, while
the institution subscribes to several citation analysis databases, more familiarity with Google Scholar
citations was requested to address user needs and preferences across the various disciplines. Most
participants expressed interest in attending additional workshops.
Originality/value –This study showcases the expe rience of campus librarians working together a cross
academic schools and di sciplines to respond to the i ncreasing demand for biblio metric and scholarly impac t
support services. While services such as citation analysis have typically been siloed in specific job
descriptions or subjec t areas within the librar y, these are service are as that can benefit from int ernal
library-collaborat ion opportunities and knowledge sharing .
Keywords Bibliometrics, Altmetrics, Citation analysis, Library services, Workshop, Peer-to-peer training
Paper type Case study
Introduction
Librarians have been involved with citation analysis and tracking publication impact since
its foundations. The Journal Impact Factor, widely recognized as a cornerstone of
publication impact assessments, originated as a tool for library journal selection and
collection development (Garfield, 2006). Librarians select, recommend and maintain citation
databases for measuring researcher impact, each of which have been shown to have
differences in disciplinary coverage (Bar-Ilan, 2008; De Groote and Raszewski, 2012; Harzing
and Alakangas, 2016; Mongeon and Paul-Hus, 2016; Powell and Peterson, 2017; Vieira and
Gomes, 2009). Author disambiguation strategies, required for reliable author summary
metrics, rely on carefully crafted search queries and author identifiers commonly
championed by librarians (Carley et al., 2017; Elliott, 2010; Kendall et al., 2017). The growing
complexity of tracking publication impact and rising interest in these metrics at an
institutional level have only increased librarians’involvement (Bronars, 2016; Corrall et al.,
2013; Kear and Colbert-Lewis, 2011). For example, several recent social sciences librarian job
postings advertised on the Association for College and Research Libraries’Education and
Behavioral Sciences Section listserv have described position responsibilities related to
citation analysis services (ebss-1@lists.ala.org). A job description for a Scholarly Impact
& Social Sciences Librarian included the responsibility: “Serves library users by helping
them navigate various research metrics associated with their field and by helping users to
enhance their digital identity”(University of Texas-Arlington, 2016). An advertisement for a
Social Sciences & Scholarly Communications Librarian stated: “The successful applicant
will…assist faculty with tools to measure their scholarly output”(University of North
Dakota, 2016). A listing for a Social Sciences and Professional Programs Department
Library Management
Vol. 40 No. 5, 2019
pp. 305-312
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/LM-03-2018-0014
Received 5 March 2018
Revised 28 August 2018
Accepted 10 September 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
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Bibliometric
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workshop
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