On The Road

Library Connect seminars offer a unique mix of updates on industry issues facing librarians and publishers plus the latest on developments at Elsevier. Seminars provide opportunities for customers to discuss issues of common concern in a neutral, non-sales-oriented environment. Speakers include librarians and industry experts from Elsevier and beyond.

AUSTRIA, APRIL

Austria was one of the first consortia worldwide to sign up for Scopus. This April, Elsevier account development manager Ove Kähler provided an intensive series of Scopus trainings. "The Austrians like Scopus," he commented, "But their questions were tough. One should certainly never underestimate them!" Our picture shows (left to right) Pamela Täubert, Scopus product sales manager and Renate Klepp, Librarian at the University of Vienna, who very much appreciated her "Never Underestimate" t-shirt.

BUDAPEST, APRIL

The Budapest Scopus roadshow was just one of 60 stops in 10 weeks introducing Scopus to librarians and representatives of national ministries of education across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Pictured left to right are Eszter Szilassy, Translator; Ove Kähler, Elsevier Account Development Manager; Ágnes Téglási, Academic Library Coordinator at the Ministry of Education in Hungary; Ildiko Madi, Local Organizer; Andrey Kovatchev, Elsevier Account Manager; and Pamela Täubert; Scopus Product Sales Manager.

HOT TOPICS: COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING

VIETNAM, MAY

The first ever Library Connect seminars in Vietnam were held in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with participants from more than 50 institutes. Seminars were organized in collaboration with IGroup, Elsevier’s agent in Vietnam. Guest speakers, including Choy Fatt Cheong, University Librarian from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Ta Ba Hung, Director, National Center for S&T Information, Hanoi; and Nguyen Thi Bac, Director of the General Sciences Library, Ho Chi Minh City, discussed library collection development and marketing library resources.

Nguyen Ngoc BINH, Professor with the Department of Software Engineering in the Faculty of IT and Director of the Library and Information Network (Centre), LINC Hanoi University of Technology commented, “We hope we can establish a good club/group in Vietnam to promote library and study resource activities.”

TORONTO, MAY

Elsevier celebrated CLICK University with the SLA. At its annual conference SLA announced the launch of its "Continuous Learning to Improve Career Knowledge" or CLICK online program of courses for its members. Elsevier, a founding partner of CLICK University (www.clickuniversity.com), was represented by Daviess Menefee, Director of Library Relations for the Americas, who spoke about the importance of life-long learning.

HOT TOPICS: USER BEHAVIOR AND KNOWLEDGE MINING

AMSTERDAM, JUNE

Information specialists in biotechnology, pharmaceutics and engineering got the scoop on the latest from ScienceDirect (federated search gateway, Admin Tool and a pilot project on knowledge mining) and Scopus (integration of chemistry sources such as Crossfire Beilstein). Marthyn Borghuis of Elsevier’s usage research department provided insights into how users navigate ScienceDirect, highlighting the growing importance of linking technologies.

Ulrike Friebertshäuser from ZLB Behring GmbH Germany commented, “A yearly event on the update of Elsevier’s work and future plans is very useful.”

HOT TOPICS: RESEARCH OUTPUT AND USAGE GROWTH

IRAN, JUNE

At Library Connect seminars held in Tehran and Shiraz, librarians grasped the opportunity to discuss the rapid growth in use of electronic resources across Iran, as well as developments in the country’s research output.

For Hamid Saniie of the Integrated Information Network Group, “Iran is one of the world’s fastest growing countries in terms of articles published in academic journals… These events were a perfect opportunity for head librarians and vice chancellors of research to meet and examine the needs of their universities in building their digital libraries.”

UKRAINE, JUNE

Elsevier is now a regular at the annual international Crimea conference in the Ukraine. This year Neikon Consortia trainer Katja Polnikova provided demonstrations of ScienceDirect and Scopus. For Alex Mzhelsky, Elsevier account manager, it was a great success; Elsevier hosted a Library Connect seminar for librarians from five CIS republics and won a nomination for most creative booth.

HOT TOPICS: PUBLISHING TRENDS AND ONLINE ACCESS

ALGERIA, JUNE

Library Connect seminars in the cities of Annaba and Algiers provided opportunities for librarians across the country to exchange experiences. Publishing trends were a hot topic. The number of articles published in Algiers, for example, has increased by 110% since 2000. Online access in the country is limited due to low budgets and inadequate Internet speeds but things are changing and universities are impatient for electronic access to scientific research. In 2005, a group was formed by the Higher Ministry of Education to build a consortium to purchase electronic resources for research and academic institutions in Algeria.

Tourab Mohamed Salah, University of Annaba, explained, “Access to online scientific research is insufficient for most research institutes and universities in Algeria: We hope this seminar will contribute to the adoption of electronic resources by Algerian universities. That would boost research in the country.”

CHICAGO, JUNE

LIS journal editors Peter Hernon, Jim Mouw and Connie Foster answered questions about how to get published at the Library Connect Editors’ Session, held on the Elsevier booth at this year’s ALA.

HOT TOPICS: USER BEHAVIOR AND SERVICE IMPROVEMENT

JAPAN, JULY

Library Connect seminars held in Tokyo and Kyoto were supported by the National Institute of Informatics. Speakers discussed the importance of understanding user behavior vis-à-vis providing better library services and electronic products.

Carol Tenopir, Professor of Information Sciences at the University of Tennessee shared research findings in two presentations: “What Does Usage Data Tell Us?” and “Researching Researchers: How Electronic Journals Have Changed Reading Patterns of Researchers.”

Elsevier’s Chris Kluiters, Director of Bibliographic Databases, shared experiences gained from the user-centered design approach to the development of Scopus and key findings from recent ScienceDirect referrer analysis.

Ako Iizuka from the Information Technology Center at the University of Tokyo gave a case study on how her library goes about understanding users’ needs and applies findings to improve services. She commented, “It was my great honor to present at this seminar alongside Dr. Tenopir. I was moved by her passion and practical suggestions. Preparing my presentation gave me an opportunity to revisit, systematically, my daily work in understanding users.” In total more than 210 delegates attended the seminars and many have reported being inspired to start projects at their own institutions.

HOT TOPICS: USER BEHAVIOR AND USAGE DATA

SOUTH KOREA, JULY

The 4th Library Connect/Info Leaders Group seminar “Digital Library Management for Tomorrow’s Leaders: Knowing Your Users In the Electronic Age” was co-organized by Elsevier and KESLI. Carol Tenopir from the University of Tennessee addressed the question “What does usage data tell us?” and examined how electronic journals are changing reading patterns. She highlighted the close relationship between end users and usage data, and why such data is important. Korean librarians, including Kay-Sook Park from the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), felt the presentation was a “good chance to learn more on what usage data can tell us about end-user behavior.“

Joost Kollöffel, Elsevier Market Intelligence Manager, provided a detailed comparison of Korea’s scientific research output with that of other countries. Cheong-Ok Yoon, Professor, Chongju University, and Hui-Chul Kim, Librarian, Hanyang University, presented a case study which examined usage data and Korean user behavior.

Following breakout sessions, representatives from five groups presented on the topic of “How to gather data to help us build better collections and design better products and services?” Sook-Min Kim, a librarian at Sungshin University, “appreciated this group discussion, which allowed participants to examine real problems and issues with other librarians.”