Academic libraries and development : A bibliometric analysis of LIS journals relating to funding

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine publication patterns of scholarly literature related to academic libraries and development (i.e. funding), including publication trends over a five-year period, core journals and authorship, so that library directors and library development officers will have a basic collection of relevant resources. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology consisted of journal article searches in three databases relating to the field of library information science with 2006-2010 as the date limiter. The primary search terms came from the topic of this study and were joined to secondary-level search terms by using the Boolean operator: AND. Secondary-level keywords originated from the literature review and the search process. Results were stored in an Excel file based on pre-determined categories and were evaluated based on the research questions. Findings – There were 106 articles published on the topic of academic libraries and development authored by 164 individuals, pairs, groups or associations during the five-year period of 2006-2010. In 2010, the greatest number of articles (35) was published on the topic, but in 2008, the least number (14) was published. Originality/value – This study takes the bibliometric analysis approach, which has rarely been used on the topic of academic libraries and development work with the specific focus on library funding. It provides a foundation for further research on the topic, as well as resources to be used by library practitioners.