2018 Charleston Library Conference

While digitized news research databases have been available to researchers for nearly 20 years, measuring the value of this content on teaching and research outcomes remains a known challenge. Usage statistics may only convey part of the story. Increasingly, libraries want to know the value of such investments on research funding and on the quality and quantity of research outcomes.
Expanding upon a previous project quantifying the impacts of investment in humanities archives (Meyer, 2016; Meyer & Eccles, 2016, 2017) that looked at The New York Times in comparison to two digital collections: Early English Books Online and The House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, this project examines the scholarly uses of four leading newspaper titles: The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.
What is the impact of digitized newspaper titles in research outcomes? The earlier study suggested that The New York Times-- when considered as a scholarly resource—had a much broader influence across disciplines than the other digital collections resources examined. What is the comparative impact of other newspaper titles across disciplines? Do the titles perform similarly across disciplines or are there significant differences?
In this presentation, we will share the methodology, outcomes and next steps from the research project, and make recommendations for those wishing to conduct similar impact studies at an individual institution level.

1. Meyer, Eric T. (2016). Quantifying the impacts of investment in humanities archives: Early English Books Online, House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, and The New York Times. Paper presented at the The Charleston Conference, Charleston, SC, USA.

2. Meyer, Eric T. and Eccles, Kathryn. (2017). From Engagement to Knowledge Machines: Understanding how digital resources are transforming knowledge. Paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries, Oxford, UK.