Topic description
A 2017 ARL SPEC Kit on library publishing found that, of 63 ARL member libraries that responded to a survey, the majority (57%) reported having not conducted any assessment of their publishing activities (Taylor et al., 2017). Although limited in scope, this data confirms anecdotal evidence that assessment is not yet a routine part of library publishing practice.
Existing literature on assessment in library publishing largely falls into two genres—assessment of the need for library publishing services on campus and assessment of existing programs and their impacts. The first includes case studies such as Craigle et al. (2013), in which staff at the University of Utah surveyed and interviewed faculty to assess needs and then undertook pilot projects emerging from those interactions. This area also includes how-to guides that walk library publishers through the process of assessing publishing needs on campus (LaRose & Kahn, 2016; Lippincott, 2017).
Much of the literature in the second genre focuses on the assessment of student outcomes related to involvement in publishing programs (Davis-Kahl & Seeborg, 2013; Weiner & Watkinson, 2014; Hare, 2019). Published examples of, and instructions for, the assessment of publishing programs more broadly exist but are rare. (See, e.g., Swoger, 2015; Molls, 2019.)
Developing assessment capacity in library publishing will require additional published examples of assessment activities that other libraries can use as models. Research building on the SPEC Kit data that surveys non-ARL libraries or investigates how existing assessment activities are structured would also be likely to have an impact in this area. Perhaps more fundamentally, research is needed on how to develop publishing programs that can be meaningfully assessed. McCready and Molls (2018) touch on this in the conclusion of their article on business plan development: “A library publishing business plan will provide a clear understanding of the program’s goals and services and will provide a path for growth and assessment in the long and short term” (p. 13). Library publishers who wish to assess their programs need to know what success would look like and what measures could be used to determine whether it has been achieved.
Research questions
- What does success look like in library publishing?
- How do we create publishing programs that can be meaningfully assessed?
- What assessment tools and techniques are currently in use by library publishers?
- Which tools and techniques could usefully be adopted or adapted for the field?
- What assessment tools or techniques can be used to better understand DEI in library publishing?
- How might library publishing practices and structures perpetuate the inequities created by traditional research metrics for the assessment of research impact?
Relevant resources
Albro, Maggie, et al. “Applying Librarian-Created Evaluation Tools to Determine Quality and Credibility of Open Access Library Science Journals.” portal: Libraries and the Academy, vol. 24 no. 1, 2024, p. 59-81. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2024.a916990.
Borchardt, R., Bruce, S., Click, A., & Roh, C. (2022). Are we walking the talk? A snapshot of how academic LIS journals are (or aren’t) enacting disciplinary values. the Library with the Lead Pipe, 19. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2022/walking-the-talk/
Cahoy, Ellysa Stern. “Embedding an Ethic of Care within the Editorial Process.” portal: Libraries and the Academy, vol. 24 no. 1, 2024, p. 1-5. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2024.a916986.
Hare, S. (2019). Library publishers as educators: Crafting curriculum for undergraduate research journals. Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, 7(1). http://doi.org/10.7710/2162-3309.2296
Lippincott, S. K. (2017). Starting or growing a publishing program: Considerations and recommendations. In Library as publisher: New models of scholarly communication for a new era (pp. 20–46). ATG LLC (Media). http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9944345
McCready, K., & Molls, E. (2018). Developing a business plan for a library publishing program. Publications, 6(4), 42. https://doi.org/10.3390/publications6040042
Molls, E. (2019). Assessing the success of library published journals. Against the Grain, 31(4). https://doi.org/10.7771/2380-176X.8414
Swoger, B. (2015, March 20). Getting started in assessment for library publishing [Conference presentation]. Publishing in Libraries Conference, Brockport, NY. http://hdl.handle.net/1951/72559
Taylor, S., Spilka, S., Monahan, K., Mulhern, I., & Wachter, J. (2020). Evaluating equity in scholarly publishing. Learned Publishing, 33(4), 353–367. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1301
Weiner, S. A., & Watkinson, C. (2014). What do students learn from participation in an undergraduate research journal? Results of an assessment. Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, 2(2), eP1125. http://doi.org/10.7710/2162-3309.1125
Yarden Katz & Ulrich Matter (2020) Metrics of Inequality: The Concentration of Resources in the U.S. Biomedical Elite, Science as Culture, 29:4, 475-502, https://doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2019.1694882