Australian Academic Libraries and Research Support

This chapter reports on a nationwide study into how university libraries in Australia are supporting researchers with information and services relating to research impact measures, specifically bibliometrics and altmetrics tools. A content analysis of all Australian university library websites was conducted to determine the extent and types of tools being promoted, the nature of supporting materials, and the inclusion of research impact tools in institutional repositories. The findings show that the majority of the libraries have developed web pages that provide descriptive information about research impact measures, and many offer research impact services. Two-thirds of the institutional repositories incorporate research impact tools. A number of recommendations are presented to guide best practice in supporting researchers in a research evaluation environment