Whose Metrics? On Building Citation, Usage and Access Metrics as Information Service for Scholars

"As the Internet has enhanced the collection and provision of citation, usage and access metrics, the challenge lies neither in the technology nor the method, but in constructing databases that deliver services of value to the scholar. However, the development of metrics has hitherto been driven by the needs of external research assessment (governments and funders), while publishers and libraries have focussed on their own needs (e.g. journal impact and usage factors).
Scholars often criticize research assessment and the use of particular metrics as a zero-sum game whose undesirable consequences far outweigh the benefits. However, this is not to be confused with a general prejudice against metrics, which are principally compatible with the scholarly recognition and rewards system. But it does indicate that current metric information services often do not serve the needs of scholars.
The question everybody should be asking is: What kind of metric information services would serve scholars?"

(source: Chris Armbruster, SSRN, 31/08/09)