Altmetrics and Their Potential as an Assessment Tool for Digital Libraries

Altmetrics is a set of new metrics to measure the impact of digital scholarship on the Internet. They have been used successfully in promotion and tenure process, grant applications, and award nominations. However, this paper discusses another newly discovered use of altmetrics, namely, as an assessment tool for digital libraries. Following a brief introduction, the authors present findings from a study and analyze the NISO standards and provide recommended best practices for effective use of altmetrics by libraries.