Activities Abound at ALA Midwinter January, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

This year’s ALA Midwinter saw plenty of activity on the Elsevier booth. Delegates may have noticed the Scopus sweaters worn by our team.

The topic of the 7th ElsevierDigital Library Symposium, moderated by Karen Hunter

(far right), was archiving rare and historic digital materials. Speakers included (left to right) Richard Horton, Editor and Publisher of The Lancet; Chet Grycz, CEO of Octavo Publishing; and Paul Gherman, University Librarian at Vanderbilt University.

Paul Gherman described the history and development of video news digital archives at Vanderbilt University. Major American network news programs have been archived at Vanderbilt and copies of evening news segments are available on interlibrary loan. Chet Grycz presented a display of digitizing rare and historic books using software and equipment from Octavo. He demonstrated the ability to zoom in on portions of the scanned page to see minute details, often unobserved by the human eye. Richard Horton spoke about the importance of digital archives to the public and historical record, as well as in new discoveries and the advancement of medicine. The Lancet digital archives now go back to volume 1, issue 1.

Left to right: Warren Holder, University of Toronto; Richard Sweeney, New Jersey Institute of Technology; and Amy Knapp, University of Pittsburgh, discussed their experiences as Scopus Development Partners.

At the LC Editors Session, potential authors heard from LIS journal editors about how to get published. A lively Q&A followed. Left to right: Chris Pringle, LIS Publisher, Elsevier; John Carlo Bertot, Government Information Quarterly; Connie Foster and Beverly Geer, Serials Review; Tefko Saracevic, Information Processing & Management; Peter Hernon, Library and Information Science Research; and David Kohl; Journal of Academic Librarianship.

Third Annual CAT Forum Tackles eLearning

January, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Elsevier’s Customers and Technology (CAT) Group brings together digital information experts from around the world and helps forge solutions to challenges facing researchers, libraries and publishers. This year’s forum focused on eLearning and digital archives. Vijay Kumar, Assistant Provost and Director of Academic Computing at MIT, delivered the keynote talk, “The Future – Technology Enhancements of Teaching and Learning.” His comments covered MIT’s use of iLabs, tablet PCs and Magic Paper software, as well as the championing of open courseware.

Ann Okerson, Associate University Librarian for Collections and International Programs, gave an update on some new initiatives at Yale and talked about the emerging role of the library in instruction. From Harvard, Dale Flecker, Associate Director for Planning and Systems, discussed issues surrounding the use of digital library content through course management systems. Other speakers included Robert Zotti, Program Director Online Learning/CPE at Stevens Institute of Technology, and Warren Holder, Electronic Resources Coordinator at the University of Toronto. Contact Geoff Adams at g.adams@elsevier.com for more information.

Scopus a Hit at Information Online February, Sydney, Australia

Elsevier customers attended an exclusive breakfast launch event for Scopus, offering a sneak preview before a full demonstration of the product was unveiled at Sydney Online. The booth was abuzz with enquiries, as librarians gathered answers for the “Scopus. Find Out.” contest. The winner of a Casio digital camera was Ms. Lucy Cartmel from Monash University.

Throughout the show, librarians could be seen on the exhibit floor sporting Scopus badges as part of the “Be Spotted” campaign.

It All Started in Karlsruhe …February, Karlsruhe, Germany

February saw the start of the roll out of Scopus in Europe, the Middle East and Africa

with the first Scopus roadshow in Karlsruhe. Our picture shows Joris van Rossum, Scopus Product Manager Content (left), talking with participant Jaime Acevedo-Alvarez of the Fraunhofer Institute (right). Andrea Schweikert, Director Global Sales Scopus commented, “I was impressed by the interest and depth of questions we got from librarians and look forward to many such events in the region.”

GPS Aids PALINET/Elsevier Team Effort February, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, USA

West Virginia Wesleyan College was just one of the venues reached when Elsevier teamed up with PALINET to bring information to its members. PALINET is a cooperative member organization for libraries in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. During five events in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, Elsevier representatives spoke with more than 30 academic and corporate institutions about Scopus and other products. Chris Martire, Manager of Cooperative Purchasing with PALINET, was instrumental in planning and delivering the programs. She expressed her thanks to Elsevier for sponsoring “such an informative and user-friendly roadshow and … for ensuring we had the GPS route planner on hand to keep us on track through our journey!"

Building the Digital Collection, IFLA/RSCAO February, Damascus, Syria

An LC seminar attended by 65 Syrian librarians was included in the program of the International Federation of Library Association (IFLA/RSCAO)‘s event at the Asad National Library in Damascus — the first digital library congress held in Syria.

In a Click of a Mouse! Four-City Scopus Launch in India

February, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, India

Librarians and library directors from four major Indian cities attended Scopus launches in February. In New Dehli, Professor Arun Nigavekar (pictured right), Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), launched Scopus to the invited gathering. His speech highlighted the goals of the UGC. Equity of access is key to the UGC’s vision; no matter what part of India a researcher may be from  Thiruvananthapuram in the south or Gauhati in the northeast — it’s imperative they can access quality information.

Professor Ashok Raina, a renowned string theory scientist from India’s top fundamental research institute, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and Professor Gangan Prathap, Scientist In Charge, Centre for Mathematical Modeling and Computer Simulation, performed the honors in Mumbai and Bangalore respectively. Dr. Prathap’s recent paper on research assessment describes a study for which he used Scopus extensively.

Guest speakers also included Dr. S. Krishnan from the National Chemical Laboratory and Dr. E. Rama Reddy from the University of Hyderabad. Both were invited to share their experiences as Scopus customers.

Library Connect Seminar for Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) February, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Left to right: Charlotte Stewart, McMaster University; Lorraine Busby, University of Western Ontario; Tony Horava, University of Ottawa; and John Teskey, University of New Brunswick take part in a panel moderated by Ben Schmidt, Technical Director, CRKN. The LC seminar, attended by 28 librarians representing 13 universities and 2 consortia, provided a forum for sharing information, receiving feedback, and discussing topics of inrest to the CRKN.

One topic with particular resonance was the changing role of the librarian in the digital environment. With users accessing information from their workstations rather than coming into the library to browse and read, and similarly, with researchers now doing their own searches, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for librarians to understand users’ needs and priorities.