MORE THAN MEETS THE “I” Helping your scholar-practitioners demonstrate impact in the academy & beyond Rosie Croft, Royal Roads University Kathleen Reed, Vancouver Island University Dana McFarland, Vancouver Island University

INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT Vancouver Island University ‘Special purpose’ university offering programs solely in applied and professional fields of study with research activity that supports these programs. a student pop. of 2000 FTE, programming primarily delivered via distributed learning. Full time faculty of 50 Mostly graduate programs Royal Roads University Known as a centre of excellence for teaching, applied research and learning a student pop. of 8150 FTE, 4 campuses Full time faculty of Masters programs: MBA, Tourism, 3 Education Nationally funded undergraduate research projects

PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT And what we did Wanted to gauge faculty and student interest in a library service that would help them to measure and define their research impact, publicly or privately Individual 45min interviews with faculty Asked about current understanding of services that measure impact and what they have or have not done to promote their work Also asked more general questions about their engagement with social media

CONNECTING WITH FACULTY And faculty connecting with the library Invitation process Researchers curious about their work Faculty see you in a new light ‘Flipping through the photo albums’ Create avenues to other services (Institutional repository, collections, access)

“I’VE SEARCHED FOR MYSELF IN GOOGLE…” From specific papers to self-promotion All faculty had at least run their names through Google for professional purposes Some already knew about Google Scholar profiles, some didn’t. Some very savvy and strategic. All understood the concept of journal impact factor Generally only physical scientists knew about Web of Science and/or Scopus Some (again, scientists) only interested in Web of Science, or only interested if works with Endnote

HOW FACULTY SEE THEMSELVES IN THE SYSTEM Stage of their career Field of research Informality of institutional requirements around promotion Focus of their work (research, teaching, service) Funding

ALT-METRICS RELATIONSHIP WITH SOCIAL MEDIA Demon or deliverer Awareness of tools Time Time (again) Which tools to use for what purpose Stage of development of those tools How the tools are viewed within their field Advantages and disadvantages of engaging with or reporting out results from social media

PROMOTION OF RESEARCH How faculty publish Publishing by formula Publishing as a game, or a hazing Idea of disseminating research beyond academe – knowledge mobilization and how to demonstrate community impact Institutional/professional accountability Knowledge of and interest in Open Access initiatives

ALT-METRICS TOOLS THAT ARE OUT THERE A selection Reader Meter

GOOGLE SCHOLAR

MENDELEY

IMPACT STORY

PLUM ANALYTICS

FACULTY RESPONSE Cautious to uncontained enthusiasm “I would book an appointment tomorrow” “I think I got more out of this than you did” Some tools more mature than others Cool factor Skepticism How to make comparisons across disciplines Threat of being reduced to just numbers Promise of measuring something they’ve tried to capture for years

OPEN ACCESS OR PROPRIETARY? The temptations (Not the singers) Impact journals vs open access journals Refworks vs Mendeley vs Endnote Impact story vs Plum Analytics

SERVICE IMPLICATIONS Anticipating challenges Copyright issues How to build an audience on a case by case basis Helping people be intentional about profile choices

THANK YOU! Questions?