2012 Best Practices for Government Libraries

Figure 3 - Research Trends Chart
Louis’ Becker Medical Library provides a great
model
[http://becker.wustl.edu/impact/assessment/in
dex.html] for libraries to use to assess the
impact of research. Though focused on
biomedical research, it can easily be applied to
any research setting. Originally in a table,
they’ve now developed this tree-based
visualization. The model mentions several key
areas to measure research impact:
• By the numbers – counting how many
publications were made and tracking the
various outputs
• Referenced - determining if the research
was referenced or reused, including counting
how many references were made to those
publications
• Adoption - was this used in a patent, a
medical protocol, or in some other way
moved from research to practice?
• Difference – did the research result in
some difference in economics, efficiency,
effectiveness, or quality of life where it was
applied?
17
BEST PRACTICES 2012
Research assessment is multidimensional
and means something
different depending upon where you
sit. The view from the bench scientist
is very different from that of the
department head, the institution or
the funding agency – as the chart
from the Elsevier Research Trends
article demonstrates
[http://researchtrends.com/issue23may-2011/the-multi-dimensionalresearch-assessment-matrix/]
The Washington University of St.
• Official – did the research impact laws, policies, or regulations in their field or
discipline?
Off-the-shelf tools that are common in most research libraries now include citation
reporting as a part of the core product so some level of impact analysis of research can be
done with no additional investment.
Figure 5 - Web of Science Citation Report
Figure 4 - Becker Model