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Librarian Gives Straight Talk, Provides Insights and Inspiration

Dr. Diana Leitch, Deputy University Librarian at the University of Manchester’s prestigious John Rylands University Library, was on hand to address Elsevier staff at a recent global Account Development retreat in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

“I’m here to say what I think”

Diana spoke frankly to an audience that included CEO Arie Jongejan, ScienceDirect Product Manager Joep Verheggen, Managing Sales Director Frank Vrancken Peeters, Vice President of Account Development Chrysanne Lowe and Felix Haest, EMEA Head of Account Development and Channel Marketing, on the issues and challenges libraries face in the ever-expanding realm of digital information, offering constructive criticism and personal insight as more than just food for thought.

In a time where ‘keeping contact with our users’ is one of the great challenges facing librarians, Diana has found new and innovative ways to keep them logging on, if not dropping by.

From facilitating the implementation of the ATHENS authentication system so that users can access information from virtually anywhere to offering valuable feedback when, for example, currency and access issues arose with Trends & Current Opinion titles, Diana manages to stay one step ahead of the game, which is essential in her role at a library which currently boasts more e-resources than any other in the UK.

Where have all the journals gone?

And she certainly knows when to do things completely differently. Recently she took all the Elsevier and Academic Press printed journals which were in ScienceDirect off the shelves at the university library. On the empty shelves, Diana placed notes saying, “Check the e-journals on ScienceDirect at www.sciencedirect.com.”

In addition to encouraging access to ScienceDirect, this initiative has also freed up valuable shelf space in the library, space which can be retained for print-only titles. As more backfiles become available, and Diana has bought all those available, more printed material is being moved out to make way for 10 km of special collections material that will need to be housed in the Main Library, while the historic rare books and manuscripts library in Deansgate, Manchester City Centre is being renovated as part of a two-year £15 million project.

What do users have to say about this change? So far, reports Diana, there have been ‘virtually no complaints’. Not only have there been no complaints, but traffic on backfiles has increased significantly and now accounts for 15% of overall usage on ScienceDirect.

Along with seeing real growth in usage since the backfile collections have been made available, Diana also cites the inclusion of IDEAL titles on ScienceDirect as a contributing factor to the increase in usage.

Measuring Value for Money

As an increase in usage is tantamount to an increase in value for money, measuring usage is of key interest to librarians. Diana acknowledges the ScienceDirect usage reporting functionality, using the daily activity reports as an example of information she “would never have known” without the tool. But information has demands as well, and Diana is quick to give voice to areas where there is room for improvement, expressly that she would like to see what titles are not being used. Yearly reporting capabilities and revised alphabetical listings are other features on her wish list.

Usage research manager Lotte Sluyser comments that these enhancements, along with a number of others, will indeed become available later this year, as Elsevier moves towards COUNTER compliance.

Diana also sees a need for a succinct user guide for the SD usage reporting tool as “there is not enough information to explain the sophistication that is there” for layout, printing and display options.

Although Diana gives a proportionate amount of time to generating and customizing usage reports, she admits that time is a luxury and most librarians simply can’t take the time to sift through help files.

Partnering in Education

One way to increase value for money would be to take advantage of access to html (versus PDF) versions of articles, but the user culture hasn’t changed enough yet to recognize the added-value, and users still want the ‘print- look’.

Diana is confident that change will come, but it is still a process, one in which there has been and still needs to be a “tremendous amount of user education.” Although librarians have been typically cast in the training role, and likewise publishers in the sales role, Diana sees training as a joint effort.

Elsevier is excited about current and future partnerships in training and education, and is already on board with initiatives like Library Connect, customer website usability study sponsorships and grants like the recent one awarded to the University of Edinburgh library to rebuild after a fire.

The effort begins with reaching out to users. The “Never underestimate the value of a librarian” campaign is, according to Diana, the “best thing [Elsevier] has done in helping libraries to reach their users and improve the professional standing of librarians and information professionals.”

More information about John Rylands University Library of Manchester, the University of Manchester’s library and information service, appears at
http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/.

Contributed by Jennifer Arcuni, EMEA Marketing Events Manager, Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands