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

No competing interests declared.

**Cari Merkley**
*Associate Professor,*
*Mount Royal University,*
*Calgary, Alberta Canada*
cmerkley@mtroyal.ca

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.

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.