A bibliometric approach to evaluating the impact of national libraries

Authors

  • David Hunter
  • Paul Hambelton

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/lirg474

Keywords:

impacts, evaluation, bibliometrics, performance measurement

Abstract

In order to understand the value to society of a national library, it is essential to go beyond counting usage figures and understand impacts; 'the difference that the library makes'. The paper suggests that, for the National Library of Scotland (NLS), a key impact is the generation of new knowledge. A viable proxy for measuring this impact is establishing the number of publications produced in which the authors cite the use of NLS collections or services. The paper proposes a simple methodology for estimating the number of such research outputs through a bibliometric analysis of Google Scholar and other research resources.

Author Biographies

David Hunter

Strategy and Performance Manager

Paul Hambelton

Strategy and Performance Assistant

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Published

2012-01-11

Issue

Vol. 35 No. 111 (2011)

Section

Invited Contributions

License

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