35

BOOK REVIEW / CRITIQUE DE LIVRE
Roemer RC, Kern V, editors. The culture of digital
scholarship in academic libraries. Chicago: ALA
Editions; 2019. Softcover: 240 p. ISBN: 978-0-83891897-5. Price: USD$71.99. Available from:
https://www.alastore.ala.org/content/culture-digitalscholarship-academic-libraries.
Like many other academic libraries, my home
institution has been reflecting on what role we should
play in the changing research ecosystem. The opening
of our new Riddell Library and Learning Centre in
2017 changed the services and spaces our campus has
come to associate with the Library. On any given day,
nursing faculty may be using our new 360 Degree
Immersion Studio to simulate a busy emergency room
while geography faculty take advantage of our
visualization wall to examine satellite imagery up
close with their students. As our faculty and students
take advantage of these new digital tools and platforms
in their research, teaching, and learning, we as
librarians wonder if we are doing enough to support
this work and what we should focus on going forward.
In The Culture of Digital Scholarship in Academic
Libraries, editors Robin Chin Roemer and Verletta
Kern have drawn together a collection of case studies
of how digital scholarship is being defined and
operationalized within one academic institution - the
University of Washington (UW). All but one of the
chapter authors are currently (or were recently)
employed by UW Libraries, a sprawling library system
with multiple locations, hundreds of employees, and a
budget of over 50 million dollars annually [1]. Each
author approaches the topic through the lens of their
particular role within the institution (e.g. subject
librarian, scholarly communications outreach librarian,
service director) and the populations they
support. Although a research-intensive institution,
Roemer describes the state of UW Libraries' support
of digital scholarship as “growing” rather than fully
developed [1]. For example, at the time of
publication, the institution did not have a digital
scholarship center, a service that is currently
offered at a number of Canadian institutions [2].
As such, the book does not position
UW
Libraries as a leader in digital

scholarship, but rather an illustration of how library
support of digital scholarship, even within a single
institution, varies widely and is shaped by local
practices, resources, and policies. This focus on
culture is said to set the work apart from previous
discussions of digital scholarship, although a more
detailed overview of existing literature early in the
work would have helped establish this.
At a slim 240 pages, the book consists of 10
authored chapters divided into the three broad sections
of Values, Practices, and Environments. In Values, 3
chapters address public scholarship, digital citizenship,
and scholarly communication. The section on Practices
includes discussions of assessment, digital storytelling,
and management and preservation of digital resources.
Finally, the Environment section looks at digital
scholarship in the context of learning technology, data
services, media services, and the relationship between
the university and the community that surrounds it.
Given the diversity of perspectives offered, the
book’s introduction advises the reader to view the text
as a “professional ‘choose your own adventure’” (p.
xiv). The chapters do not reference each other, and can
be read selectively rather than sequentially. However,
identifying which chapters might be of most interest
can be difficult. Many of the chapter titles are
brief (e.g.,“Stewardship,” “Learning Technologies”)
and do not fully convey what is covered. GarberPearson’s chapter “Digital Citizenship: Teaching
to
Research
Identity
and
Accountability
Undergraduates” is a notable exception. A more
detailed preview of each chapter in the
introduction may have addressed this concern, but
starting with the conclusion, which helpfully
draws connections between the chapters, would
have been useful. Readers may also wish to scan
the key takeaways provided at the end of each
chapter to get a sense of what is covered. What
sets each section apart is also unclear, as chapters
in the Values section include discussions of practice,
and all reflect the particular environment in which the
authors are working.
My own interest in the book was as an academic
library practitioner looking for examples of how other
libraries are supporting digital scholarship. Given the

Merkley.
This article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
JCHLA / JABSC 41: 35-36 (2020) doi: 10.29173/jchla29499

36

Merkley

size and resources of UW Libraries in comparison to
my own small undergraduate institution, I was not sure
how much I would relate to the case studies. The fact
that digital scholarship support is not fully established
at UW Libraries and that what is offered is sometimes
at an individual employee level made the content more
accessible to me, but might make it less interesting to
those at institutions with robust services already in
place.
What I found most helpful were the descriptions of
how the authors navigated some of the challenges
associated with identifying institutional needs in
relation to digital scholarship and launching
new services. For example, Verletta Kern’s
“Assessment at the University of Washington
Libraries” provides a useful overview of the
various assessment methods used to gauge interest
in digital scholarship and the limitations of each.
Her cautionary note about the potential for
assessment strategies to raise user expectations
that cannot be met undoubtedly resonates with many.
Those interested in assessment may also wish to
check out Chapter 1 “Public Scholarship,”
Chapter 3 “Scholarly Communication Education
and Outreach,” and Chapter 8 “Data Services”
for discussions of assessment in these particular
contexts. In “Stewardship,” Elizabeth Bedford walks
the reader through key decisions that need to be made
in relation to digital preservation and how they
played out at her institution. Her description of the
implementation of an open source repository will be
of particular interest to those unfamiliar with the
staffing and other resource costs associated with
such an undertaking. Beth Lytle’s description of
the Digital Scholarship Project Office Hours
service in “Learning Technologies”
Statement of Competing Interests

highlights common challenges encountered by users
embarking on digital projects along with helpful
guiding questions staff can use in such consultations.
“Digital scholarship” is a slippery term, with no
commonly accepted definition, and this led to some
surprises in what was (and was not) covered in this
book. The broad definition of digital scholarship used
by the editors was helpful in highlighting how library
staff across the institution can support this work even
if digital scholarship is not explicit in their job title or
duties. Garber-Pearson's discussion of how the
concepts of digital citizenship, researcher identity, and
the ethical obligations of scholarship are integrated
into their teaching of undergraduate students is one
example. On the other hand, some forms of library
support often associated with digital scholarship
received less coverage than expected given the
attention they have received in recent years, such as
journal and monograph publishing, data visualization
spaces and tools, makerspaces, and open education
promotion and creation. This may be a function of the
focus on a single institution and its offerings, differing
understandings of what constitutes digital scholarship,
or a reflection of who was participating in the project.
The Culture of Digital Scholarship provides an
interesting snapshot of how digital scholarship is being
supported at different levels within an institution, but
this singular focus makes it less helpful to those
seeking a primer on digital scholarship or a collection
of best practices. However, the individual reflections
of UW practitioners on their successes and failures
may be of value to those planning to offer similar
services at their own academic institutions.

References
1. Roemer, RC. The culture of digital scholarship
in academic libraries. Chicago: ALA Editions;
c2019. Introduction; ix-xv.

No competing interests declared.
Cari Merkley
Associate Professor,
Mount Royal University,
Calgary, Alberta Canada
cmerkley@mtroyal.ca

2. Hurrell, C. Aligning the stars: understanding
digital scholarship needs to support the
evolving nature of academic research. The
Partnersh. 2019; 14(2):1-17.
.

JCHLA / JABSC 41: 35-36 (2020) doi: 10.29173/jchla29499