The Library’s annual fall Scholarly Communication Symposium, Assessing Impact: Altmetrics, will address the questions facing faculty, administrators, librarians and publishers about how we can best measure the quality and impact of scholarship in a world where the way in which scholars and researchers communicate has evolved far beyond the printed book or journal article. There are many metrics that attempt to measure the impact of research and scholarship, from the traditional journal impact factor to a variety of newer options known as altmetrics, that consider the use of downloads, tweets, blog commentaries, and social media in the assessment metric. Questions we will consider include:
- What do altmetrics measure, and why are there so many different tools?
- Who is using altmetrics?
- How well do traditional metrics and altmetrics assess the quality and impact of a scholar’s contributions?
- How are measures of impact used in promotion and tenure decisions?
Join our panel of experts for the Fall Scholarly Communication Symposium for a thoughtful discussion of what metrics are currently available, their value and limitations, and how they are used to assess the quality and impact of scholarship at Georgetown.
Ample time will be provided for Q&A with the panelists.
If you are unable to attend in person, this event is available via livestream. To view the livestream, click on this link, download the Zoom software, and join the event.
Panelists
Rachel Borchardt is the Science Librarian at American University’s Bender Library. Prior to her appointment at American, Ms. Borchardt was the Biology and Neuroscience & Behavior Biology Librarian at Emory University. She is co-author of a new book, Meaningful Metrics: The 21st Century Librarian's Guide to Bibliometrics, Altmetrics and Research Impact, published by the Association of College and Research Libraries. Rachel is a graduate of Oberlin College and holds an MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh.
Blaise Cronin is Rudy Professor Emeritus of Information Science at Indiana University Bloomington and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Society for Information Science. Much of his research focuses on collaboration in science, scholarly communication, citation analysis, the academic reward system and cybermetrics - the intersection of information science and social studies of science. He is the co-editor of two recent books on metrics, Beyond Bibliometrics: Harnessing Multidimensional Indicators of Scholarly Impact and Scholarly Metrics Under the Microscope: From Citation Analysis to Academic Auditing. In 2006, he received the Award of Merit from the American Society for Information Science and Technology, the Society's highest honor. Professor Cronin has an M.A. from Trinity College Dublin and holds a Ph.D. and D.S.SC. from Queen’s University Belfast. In 1997, he was awarded the degree Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., honoris causa) by Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh, for his scholarly contributions to information science. In 2013, he received the Derek de Solla Price Award and Medal for outstanding contributions to the field of quantitative studies of science.
Richard Brown is Director of the Georgetown University Press. Prior to his tenure at GU Press, he spent nine years in religion publishing, first as an editor at Pilgrim Press and then as director of Westminster John Knox Press. Previously, he was an editor at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, a research institute studying international affairs and the presidency. Dr. Brown was a member of the board of the Association of American University Presses for five years, and president of that organization in 2010-2011.He was a member of the advisory board of Project MUSE from 2012-2015, and is currently treasurer and board member of the Theological Book Network, a nonprofit that facilitates the donation of scholarly print and digital resources to libraries in the developing world. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, an MTS from Emory University, and an MBA from the University of Louisville.
Scholarly Communication Committee
Richard Brown, Director, Georgetown University Press
Meg Oakley, Director, Copyright & Scholarly Communication, Lauinger Library
William Olsen, Social Sciences Bibliographer, Lauinger Library
Carole Sargent, Director, Office of Scholarly Publications
Ken Scott, Associate Director; Qatar Library
Morgan Stoddard, Research Services Librarian, Georgetown University Law Library
Yianna Vovides, Director of Learning Design and Research, CNDLS & Professor of Practice
Laura Bishop, Head of Academic Programs, Kennedy Institute of Ethics