The aim of this paper is to present bibliometrics as a discipline whose methods are often used in the field of librarianship and information sciences. Many research areas use bibliometric methods to explore the impact of their field, the influence of a number of scientists, the impact of a particular paper or to identify particularly influential papers in a particular field of research and as such is extremely important for evaluating scientific productivity. The paper will be structured and divided into two basic units. The first part of the paper will describe the basic theoretical knowledge, beginnings and development of the field of bibliometrics in the context of information sciences. As an alternative, but also a supplement to bibliometric indicators, there is an overview of altmetric indicators on papers published in journals that are based on, for example, the number of visits to an article in digital version, the number of downloads, sharing and mentioning on various social networks etc. In the second, research part of the paper, interviews were conducted with librarians dealing with bibliometrics on a theoretical and / or practical level in three different institutions in the Republic of Croatia. The methodological part of the paper will be based on the review and analysis of relevant literature dealing with the mentioned topic and on the research of the application of theoretical knowledge in practice. This paper will seek to contribute to a better understanding of the basic and specific concepts and procedures related to bibliometrics, as well as alternative metrics, and systematically show the many advantages and disadvantages of both disciplines.