How is your library helping users get the most benefit from digital resources?
Helmut Hartmann,
Austrian Consortia Management,
Graz University Library, Austria
To help our users achieve maximum benefit, our library provides three, equally important services — information, end-user trainings, and the latest linking and access technology.
To keep our users informed, our library’s homepage offers short descriptions for all kinds of resources. Folders explaining the basic functionalities of various resources are available at our reference and information desks. New products are announced in prime position on the library’s homepage, and via posters, leaflets, manuals and personalized emails to users.
End-user trainings are particularly important when new resources are being introduced. Inviting faculty as well as students to presentations and trainings by vendors’ experts has proved extremely efficient. General tutorials held by specialist librarians throughout the year help users develop skills. We also organize customized trainings for staff of individual departments.
When it comes to technology, seamless linking from our OPAC to e-resources and between e-resources has been a major incentive for science departments to go for e-only subscriptions. In terms of user acceptance, the importance of linking is equaled only by anytime, anywhere remote access.
Chaweewan Swasdee,
Serials Collection Development Division,
Library and Information Center,
Mahidol University, Thailand
We have used our library website as well as offering training as key means to help our users get the most benefit from our services.
Since most of our users are graduate students and professors in life sciences and health sciences, they tend to have favorite journal titles. Through our library website, we provide an A-Z list of electronic journals and a subject-area list, both searchable by journal titles as well as publishers and both leading with minimum clicks to users’ preferred titles. In addition, we make use of online guides provided by publishers and create our own customized guides appropriate for all levels of users.
For groups of graduate students we frequently deliver, upon request, training sessions on digital resources focusing on specific subject areas. For undergraduate students at the beginning of each semester, we arrange training courses on topics such as “How to use online journals and databases.” Our faculty librarians also provide specialized help to library users over the counter, by appointment or during classes.
Ysabel R. Bertolucci,
AHIP, Medical Center Manager, Library Services,
Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Oakland, CA, USA
Hospital library users run the spectrum of computer literacy. They all want to find and use information quickly. Digital resources are the preferred format so my job is teaching their use. I spend the majority of my day training and explaining the range of products available through our Clinical Library website. I never imagined that a telephone headset would be part of my daily attire, or that explaining toolbars would be more important than subject headings. It’s easy to get users excited about digital resources; it’s challenging to get them comfortable using them.
James Wiser,
Information Services Librarian,
Drescher Campus Library,
Pepperdine University,
Malibu, CA, USA
Marketing initiatives and library instruction sessions are undoubtedly effective at increasing awareness of digital resources for specific groups (classes, departments and so on). But I believe the best way to help users see the direct benefits of digital resources is to sell the product to all members of your library's staff — not just outreach or instructional services librarians — and let their enthusiasm flow to all library users with whom they interact. For example, if every employee of your library knows what's out there, they can often relate that information in casual conversations — which happen more frequently and have greater impact than official instruction or marketing sessions. When your student workers, for example, know there's much more to ScienceDirect than just the content that serves scientists and engineers, they can at times "make the sell" to their classmates more effectively than those of us who plan elaborate marketing schemes.
Luiz Atilio Vicentini,
Digital Library Coordinator,
Central Library,
Sao Paulo State University at Campinas (UNICAMP),
Brazil
New forms of access to information and knowledge have arisen since the invention of the Internet. Such innovation has, especially in the last five years, sped up research processes and brought great changes related to internal procedures at academic libraries. Researchers now need to be fully aware of available online resources and able to access these e-products. At our library, we ensure we achieve integration of technologies so researchers can easily take advantage of all available resources — such as electronic journals and reference databases. Also at our library, librarians provide researchers with guidance and training on the usage of digital resources.
Leslie Weir,
University Librarian,
University of Ottawa, Canada
About half of our collections budget is dedicated to digital resources. With 32,000 students and a digital-focused collection, ensuring users get the most benefit from digital resources is critical. We do this through Library Research Skills Clinics including “Get Catalogued!” (providing search tips and tricks to find digital and print materials) and “Article Finder” (providing an overview of key tools to identify and locate articles). We also provide a chat-based support service, classes given as part of academic courses with library assignments linked to course content, peer-to-peer interaction, and staff roaming to offer just-in-time support.
Promoting core digital resources, such as our Elsevier e-journals collection and Scopus, is also part of our strategy. For us, Scopus has become a key tool, bringing together this idea of core product and peer support through our two Scopus Student Ambassadors who teach and mentor other students.
Librarians Speak Up questions for future issues:
How is user behavior at your library changing?
How is your library adding value to content?
If you'd like to suggest questions or contribute, please drop a line to libraryconnect@elsevier.com. Answers to past questions appear at www.elsevier.com/libraryconnect
