Journal Article

Usage and impact metrics for Parliamentary libraries

Authors

Publication date

Feb 2019

Summary

Parliamentary libraries are important in supporting informed decision-making in democracies. Understanding
Members’ information needs is important, but the usage and impact of these libraries have been less explored.
A particular example of the United Kingdom’s House of Lords Library is studied, collecting and analysing data
using techniques from the field of data science. These techniques are useful in extracting information from
existing sources that may not have been designed for the purpose of data collection. A number of data sources
available at the Lords Library are outlined and an example of how these data can be used to understand Library
usage and impact is presented. Results suggest that Member usage varies significantly and that there is a small
but significant relationship between usage and making speeches in the chamber. Further work should explore
other indicators of impact, but these methods show promise in creating library metrics, particularly in
Parliamentary settings.

Published in

IFLA Journal

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1177/0340035218821391

ISSN

16

Subjects

Information And Communication Technologies, Librarianship And Information Science, Public Policy, Government, and Research

Links

University of Essex, Albert Sloman Library Periodicals *restricted to University of Essex registered users* - http://catalogue.essex.ac.uk/record=b1655638~S5

Notes

Online Early

#525672