Scholarly Metrics Recommendations For Research Libraries: Deciphering the Trees in the Forest

The use of scholarly metrics is one of the most challenging in the current research field. The proliferation of new models of scholarly communication, the changes in the research assessment field and the extensive use of social media applications have shaken the foundations of traditional metrics paradigms.

Open Science — which is at the heart of LIBER’s 2018-2022 Strategy — requires some brave transformations in this field. This includes an emphasis on next-generation metrics based on transparency, openness and collaboration: both for traditional and emerging scientific areas.

To foster this vision of a transformed research landscape in 2022, LIBER’s Innovative Metrics Working Group has published a new report: Scholarly Metrics Recommendations for Research Libraries: Deciphering the Trees in the Forest.

The report sets out recommendations on how research libraries and information infrastructures can deal with scholarly metrics, and how to get started with the development of services to support this. The recommendations are grouped into four important types of activities relating to metrics:

1. Discovery and Discoverability
2. Showcasing Achievements
3. Service Development
4. Research Assessment

LIBER recognises that not all libraries start from the same point. The research context within European countries is quite diverse, with libraries operating at many different levels of expertise and with varying levels of resources at their disposal. The recommendations in the report are therefore organised into three levels for Initial, Intermediate and Advanced levels of engagement. Libraries can choose which recommendations to adopt, based on their current level of engagement with scholarly metrics.

The recommendations were written by the working group, and were presented, discussed and rearranged — in terms of priority and interest — by participants at the metrics workshop during the LIBER 2017 Annual Conference.

The order in which the recommendations appear correlate to the potential importance they can have for an institution. They are there to assist in prioritizing, but are not mandatory to follow and are not dependent on each other.

More About The Working Group

Anyone working in a LIBER library is invited to follow the progress of the Innovative Metrics Working Group, and to get involved. Participating in a Working Group is a wonderful way to exchange experiences and challenges with your professional peers, while at the same time making a valuable contribution to the wider research library community. To learn more about participating, simply contact the Working Group Chair or Steering Committee Chair.