Goddard Library Hosts Bibliometrics Conference

In partnership with the Maryland Chapter of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) and sponsored by Elsevier, the NASA Goddard Library (run by ZAI and Cadence) recently hosted a two-day conference on bibliometrics, drawing 60+ librarians and information professionals from organizations such as NOAA, the U.S. Army, RAND Corporation, U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, and FDA. The workshop agenda was developed and emceed by one of ZAI’s Library Directors.
Presentations covered topics such as data acquisition, procedures and tools used for “cleaning” data, and software options for visualizing data analyses, as well as soup-to-nuts ways to start and market a new bibliometrics service in a library. Goddard Librarians from both ZAI and Cadence Group co-presented on the NASA Goddard Library’s institutional repository, which is a special online collection of Goddard-authored research (https://gsfcir.gsfc.nasa.gov/), and the Goddard Program Manager (Cadence) presented on analysis of EOS data as referenced in peer-reviewed literature.
Bibliometrics is the analysis of bibliographic citations from peer-review materials, including articles and conference papers, which helps to provide insights into research output. Through visualizing this data, we can identify research strengths and weaknesses, opportunities for new collaborations, centers of excellence, and experts. Many organizations use bibliometrics to aid with strategic planning, benchmarking, and recruiting, and, increasingly, quantifying research expertise through bibliometrics is required when seeking funding from granting bodies, such as the NSF and the NIH. Because librarians both license and use bibliometric databases for research purposes, it’s a natural segue to apply “traditional” research skills for use in bibliometrics, which allows librarians to move “up the food chain” in offering more strategic services.