U of A Tops the Nation in Articles Advancing Librarianship in Both Agriculture and Science

University Relations

Students find books at Mullins Library, where librarians are not only providing help to students but also leading the nation in publication about librarianship in science and agriculture.

Librarians at the University of Arkansas were the authors of 1 in 9 articles in science librarianship published in the United States from 2011-2015.

The Special Libraries Association announced winners of "Best in Nation in Science" and "Best in Nation in Agriculture" at its conference in Philadelphia. The awards are given for schools that dominated research output in one of 10 different subject specialties during 2011-2015. The University of Arkansas won two categories: science and agriculture.

The Special Libraries Association's Academic Division sponsored the study on which the awards were based, written by U of A's Amy Hardin of the office of vice provost for research and economic development, along with Tony Stankus, Distinguished Professor and life sciences librarian.

Their study revealed that 278 U.S. universities contributed 1,255 articles in journals critical to each field. The U of A contributed 35 articles, more than double the output of the nearest ranking Southeastern Conference school, Texas A&M University, and ranking fourth nationwide.

While most of the authors and coauthors of the current crop of U of A articles in these journals are current or former University Libraries' personnel, U of A also had cooperating contributions from the Department of Food Science in Bumpers College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the Center for Food Safety, the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing in the College of Education and Health Professions, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Authors and coauthors include: Philip Crandall, food science; Amy Hardin, research and economic development; Corliss A. O'Bryan, Sean Pendleton, Steven C. Ricke, and Steve Seideman, U of A Center for Food Safety; Anna Jarrett, Eleanor Mann School of Nursing; Deb Kulczak, Jozef Laincz, Kathleen Lehman, Necia Parker Gibson, Kate Dougherty, Jordan Nielsen, Tim Nutt, Diane Worrell, Tony Stankus, and Jeremy Smith, University Libraries; Susan Steelman and Sheila Thomas, UAMS.

SLA is the international professional organization of more than 6,000 members worldwide that includes subject specialized librarians of a wide variety of types: from art librarians to those serving zoos.