A persistent lack of international representation on editorial boards in environmental biology.

The scholars comprising journal editorial boards play a critical role in defining the trajectory of knowledge in their field. Nevertheless, studies of editorial board composition remain rare, especially those focusing on journals publishing research in the increasingly globalized fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Using metrics for quantifying the diversity of ecological communities, we quantified international representation on the 1985-2014 editorial boards of 24 environmental biology journals. Over the course of 3 decades, there were 3,827 unique scientists based in 70 countries who served as editors. The size of the editorial community increased over time-the number of editors serving in 2014 was 4-fold greater than in 1985-as did the number of countries in which editors were based. Nevertheless, editors based outside the "Global North" (the group of economically developed countries with high per capita gross domestic product [GDP] that collectively concentrate most global wealth) were extremely rare. Furthermore, 67.18% of all editors were based in either the United States or the United Kingdom. Consequently, geographic diversity-already low in 1985-remained unchanged through 2014. We argue that this limited geographic diversity can detrimentally affect the creativity of scholarship published in journals, the progress and direction of research, the composition of the STEM workforce, and the development of science in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia (i.e., the "Global South").

Evaluation of a liaison librarian program: client and liaison perspectives.

OBJECTIVES: This paper describes a survey-based evaluation of the five-year old Liaison Librarian Program at the University of Florida. METHODS: Liaison librarians, faculty, students, staff, residents, and post-doctoral associates were queried via Web-based surveys. Questions addressed client and liaison perspectives on a variety of issues, including program and service awareness and usage, client-library relations and communication, client support for the program, and liaison workload. RESULTS: Approximately 43% of the 323 client respondents were aware of liaison services; 72% (n = 163) of these clients had had contact with their liaison. Ninety-five percent (n = 101) of faculty and students who reported contact with their liaison supported the continuation of the program. Liaison services were used by a greater percentage of faculty than students, although they had similar patterns of usage and reported the same "traditional" services to be most important. Liaisons indicated that communications with clients had increased, the reputation of the library was enhanced, and their workloads had increased as a result of the Liaison Librarian Program. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Survey results suggest that the Liaison Librarian Program has a core set of clients who use and highly value the services provided by liaisons. Recommendations addressing workload, training, marketing, and administrative support are provided.

Development and assessment of specialized liaison librarian services: clinical vs. basic science in a veterinary medicine setting.

In 1998, the University of Florida Health Science Center Libraries (HSCL) developed and implemented a Liaison Librarian Program, dedicated to providing customized, subject-specific services to the faculty, students, clinicians, researchers, staff, and administrators of the six Health Science Center Colleges (Dentistry, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Medicine). Subject- and role-specific (clinical vs. basic sciences) liaisons were assigned. This paper describes the HSCL liaison program, exemplified by the liaisons' work with the College of Veterinary Medicine. Preliminary program evaluation, a pilot project developed to discern the needs of the veterinary medicine clientele and facilitate awareness of liaison services, and subsequent re-evaluation of patron awareness and satisfaction are also discussed.