Masterclass in Library Impact: Quantifying the Humanities Research Impact of Your Academic Library

Sponsored by Gale, part of Cengage Group
Recorded on 05/29/2025

Posted in Scholarly Communication and Research

How can libraries better quantify the impact of humanities and social science research that references library resources?

Access the presentation slides.

Summary:

Quantitative measurement of research data remains challenging in many humanities disciplines. Citations to digital historical primary sources are often mis-cited or missing entirely, meaning libraries often rely on usage data as a proxy for research impact, despite knowing there is more to uncover.

Join Professor Mike Thelwall from the University of Sheffield School of Information for an overview of how libraries can better quantify the impact of their investments and resources on the humanities and social science research output of their institutions. Using recent studies developed in collaboration with Gale, notably Eighteenth Century Collections Online and The Times Digital Archive as examples, Professor Thelwall will demonstrate practical methodologies for assessment research output that references library resources.

In this session, Professor Thelwall will describe his methodology and guide you through his approaches using common tools such as Scopus and Web of Science to better understand the research uses and applications of digital primary sources acquired by libraries, even when citation data are missing. This webinar will enhance your understanding of the applications of library resources that do not typically appear in significant volumes in citation data, uncovering fascinating and unexpected examples along the way. We’ll also talk through how these principles can potentially be applied so that libraries can more effectively demonstrate their value to research, and provide deeper insights into the overall research impact of their institutions.

This webinar is suitable for all academic librarians and is especially recommended for collections, faculty/subject liaison, and electronic resources librarians, as well as those involved with research data management. We will offer a recording to all registrants after the session.

Speakers:

  • Professor Mike Thelwall

    Professor of Data Science in the School of Information, Journalism and CommunicationUniversity of Sheffield

    Professor Mike Thelwall is a distinguished data scientist specializing in scientometrics, metascience, and social media analysis, currently leading international projects on research evaluation and scientific misinformation. With a prolific career spanning over three decades, he has supervised 22 PhD students, founded the Statistical Cybermetrics and Research Evaluation Group, and received the de Solla Price Medal for his contributions to scientometrics. His work in bibliometrics, which involves the statistical analysis of bibliographic data to evaluate research impact and trends, has been widely recognized and applied in various international projects and organizations.

All Choice webinars offer Zoom’s auto-generated AI captioning. If you have any questions, please contact: scofer@ala.org.

This webinar will be recorded. All registrants should receive a follow-up email with a link to the recording. Webinar recordings are also available on Choice’s YouTube channel.

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