A Proposed Framework for the Evaluation of Academic Librarian Scholarship

Abstract

The ACRL Impactful Scholarship and Metrics Task Force has created a framework draft that is designed to help librarians and libraries contextualize their impact within academic librarianship. To create this framework, the task force studied existing disciplinary models, institutional guidelines, and surveyed academic librarians. The task force discovered few standard practices regarding impact measurement from disciplinary societies or in institutional documentation, but did find some larger models outlining distinct impact areas. The proposed framework outlines evaluation in two primary impact areas for academic librarians, scholarly and practitioner impact, with suggested metrics for a range of research outputs in each category. It is envisioned that this framework will help initiate conversations at institutions with the aim of reviewing and revising existing documentation, alongside complementary ACRL initiatives that will similarly affect scholarly production and evaluation. The first framework draft was revised based on academic librarian feedback, and could be finalized as an ACRL document in 2020.