Altmetrics in Practice: Librarian and LIS Faculty Views

Sarah W. Sutton, Emporia State University SLIM

Stacy Konkiel, Altmetric.com

Rachel Miles, Kansas State University Libraries

April 4, 2016

ER&L 2016, Austin, TX

What are altmetrics?

The volume and nature of

attention that research receives

online.

How often are people talking,

what’s being said, and who is

saying it?

@jeandraws

Lots of speculation, little evidence

Our studies

Academic Librarians

• 150 Carnegie-classified “R1” institutions

• 13,436 librarians

• 707 respondents (5.3% response rate)

Library and Information Science Faculty

• 55 ALA accredited LIS programs

• 2,312 faculty members

• 159 respondents (6.8% response rate)

Liaison/Subject32%

Reference8%

Schol Comm3%

Instruction/Info Literacy4%

Coll Dev2%

E-Resources2%

Serials1%

Lib Admin9%

Other39%

Job Title - Librarians (n=659)

Regular duties (librarians) (n=509)

Liaison Libs - Disciplines served (n=186)

humanities31%

social sciences16%

sciences33%

professions20%

Years on the job

Less than one year0%

1 - 5 years18%

6 - 10 years22%

11 - 20 years25%

More than 20 years35%

LIBRARIANS (N=438)Less than one year

6%

1 - 5 years34%

6 - 10 years22%

11 - 20 years20%

More than 20 years18%

FACULTY (N=160)

Part time27%

Full time71%

No answer2%

Is your LIS faculty position full time or part time (e.g. adjunct)? (n=159)

Academic Librarian31%

Public Librarian8%

School (K-12) Librarian or Media Specialist

4%Special Librarian11%

Other46%

Which of the categories below best describes your separate full time position? (n=26)

Familiarity with metrics:How do librarians and faculty compare?

• Overall

• Tenure track vs. non tenure track

• Years of experience

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

1 2 3 4 5

Familiarity with Journal Impact Factor

Librarians (n=381)

LIS Faculty (n=144)

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

1 2 3 4 5

Familiarity with citation counts

Librarians (n=381)

LIS Faculty (n=149)

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

1 2 3 4 5

Familiarity with usage counts

Librarians (n=381)

LIS Faculty (n=148)

Scale1 = I’ve never heard of them2345 = I’m an expert

1 2 3 4 5

Librarians (n=381) 11.5% 8.8% 22.1% 44.2% 13.3%

LIS Faculty (n=146) 12.3% 25.3% 24.7% 31.5% 6.2%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0%

50.0%

Familiarity with altmetrics

Librarians (n=381)

LIS Faculty (n=146)

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

1 2 3 4 5

Familiarity with Journal Impact Factors

Tenure tracklibrarians(n=211)Tenure trackfaculty (n = 94

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0%

1 2 3 4 5

Non tenuretrack librarians(n=252)

Non tenuretrack faculty(n=12

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

1 2 3 4 5

Familiarity with citation counts

Tenure tracklibrarians(n=211)

Tenure trackfaculty (n=99)

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

1 2 3 4 5

Non tenuretrack librarians(n=250)

Non tenuretrack faculty(n=12)

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

1 2 3 4 5

Familiarity with usage counts

Tenure tracklibrarians(n=210)Tenure trackfaculty (n=99)

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

1 2 3 4 5

Non tenuretrack librarians(n=252)

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0%

1 2 3 4 5

Familiarity with altmetrics

Tenure tracklibrarians (n=210)

Tenure trackfaculty (n=97

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0%

1 2 3 4 5

Non tenure tracklibrarians (n=48)

Non tenure trackfaculty (n=12)

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

1 2 3 4 5

LIS faculty familiarity with Journal Impact Factor

0 - 5 years of jobexperience6 - 10 years of jobexperience11 - 20 years of jobexperience21 + years of jobexperience

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

1 2 3 4 5

LIS Faculty familiarity with citations

0 - 5 years of jobexperience

6 - 10 years of jobexperience

11 - 20 years of jobexperience

21 + years of jobexperience

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

1 2 3 4 5

Librarians' familiarity with citations

0 - 5 years of jobexperience

6 - 10 years of jobexperience

11 - 20 years ofjob experience

21 + years of jobexperience

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

1 2 3 4 5

Librarians' familiarity with Journal Impact Factor

0 - 5 years of job experience

6 - 10 years of job experience

11 - 20 years of job experience

21 + years of job experience

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

1 2 3 4 5

Librarians' familiarity with usage counts

0 - 5 years of jobexperience6 - 10 years of jobexperience11 - 20 years of jobexperience21 + years of jobexperience 0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

1 2 3 4 5

Librarians' familiarity with altmetrics

0 - 5 years of jobexperience6 - 10 years of jobexperience11 - 20 years ofjob experience21 + years of jobexperience

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

1 2 3 4 5

LIS Faculty familiarity with usage counts

0 - 5 years of jobexperience

6 - 10 years of jobexperience

11 - 20 years ofjob experience

21 + years of jobexperience 0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0%

1 2 3 4 5

LIS Faculty familiarity with altmetrics

0 - 5 years of jobexperience6 - 10 years of jobexperience11 - 20 years ofjob experience21 + years of jobexperience

How are librarians and faculty using research impact metrics?

• In instruction and teaching

• Evidence for promotion and tenure

• To select a venue in which to publish

• Choosing what to read

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

Faculty: mentions during teaching

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

JIF CitationCounts

Author h-index

Expert peerreview

Altmetrics Qualitativemeasures

Librarians: mentions during teaching

1 - never

2

3

4

5 - always

When teaching workshops or classes, how often do you address the

following indicators of research impact?

12.8%

16.6% 16.6%

22.3%

15.2%

42.9%

24.5%

13.3%11.2%

33.7%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0%

JIF Citation Counts Downloads & pageviews

Altmetrics Qualitativemeasures

Use of metrics to support tenure and promotion

Librarians on tenure track

Faculty on tenure track

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

1 2 3 4 5

How often do faculty consider the following indicators of research impact in the course of selecting a venue in which to report the results

of your research?

JIF

Citatation counts

Expert peer review

Altmetrics

Qualitative measures

1 – never2345 - always

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

1 2 3 4 5

How often do faculty use the following indicators of research impact in the course of conducting library research and literature

reviews?

JIF

Citation counts

Expert peer reviews

Altmetrics

Qualitative measures

1 – never2345 - always

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0%

50.0%

1 2 3 4 5

How often do librarians evaluate materials using the following indicators of research impact in the context of collection development

Jif

Citation counts

Expert peer reviews

Altmetrics

Qualitative measures

1 – never2345 - always

Sarah W. Sutton, ssutton3@emporia.edu

Stacy Konkiel, stacy@altmetric.com

Rachel Miles, ramiles@ksu.edu

Thanks for your interest in our ongoing research!

Questions?