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Success Stories from the Field
During New York Medical College's 2002 event to
recognize authors, Michael Gewitz, MD, on behalf of
pediatrics faculty who published in the journal with
the highest impact factor, accepts a certificate and
bottle of sherry from Diana Cunningham, MLS, MPH,
Associate Dean and Library Director. Ralph A.O'Connell,
MD, Provost and Dean, shakes hands with Dr. Gewitz.
Photo by New York Medical College library staff.
Way #1: Throw a Party
Each January the Medical Sciences Library of New York Medical College hosts along with the dean and provost an Author Recognition Event - also known as a “Sherry.” The event recognizes university faculty members who have published in journals, books, and e-content during the previous academic year. This event, organized by staff from the library, attracts vendors and publishers as sponsors providing financial support.
According to Library Director Diana Cunningham, “From the very beginning of this annual event in 1993, Elsevier has been supportive. Our partnership has helped launch a tradition truly celebrating academic achievement with a joyful event held in our library. One faculty member noted that this is the one event where academic scholarship and publishing are acknowledged by one’s own institution and peers.
“In addition to the event, we publish a bibliography - listing works authored by our faculty and available through our library. And the day after the party, we put up on our Web site photos taken during the event. It’s a whole package, and we’ve had some fun with it. The current bibliography and photos are always available!
“Our Sherry is an affordable way for us to celebrate our published researchers and draw attention to digital offerings available through our library. All nine events are archived electronically. Individual departments and administrators have used the bibliography as part of their own accreditation or promotional activities. This celebration has proven a favorite among our faculty and staff.”
More information on the New York Medical College Faculty Authors Bibliography is available at
http://library.nymc.edu/bibliog/intro2002.htm. Or, contact Cheryl Silver at Cheryl_Silver@nymc.edu.
Way #2: Hold a Marketing Competition
The annual GAELIC and Friends Marketing Fair in South Africa featured its first Electronic Product Marketing Competition as the event focus in 2002. From among the six libraries presenting marketing plans for digital information products, the University of Pretoria emerged as the winner - thanks to its ambitious marketing plan for ScienceDirect. Anyone wishing to receive a copy of the winning plan may send an email to Ria.Groenewald@ais.up.ac.za.
Among attendees at the fair were library directors, publishers, vendors, and providers of marketing and client services. Products featured in the marketing plans included ScienceDirect, Emerald, and JSTOR.
“The competition is the direct result of a need for more focused and well-founded marketing,” remarked Monica Hammes, leader of GAELIC’s GAELMARK team. “All the participating teams spoke of a steep learning curve and a very gratifying experience. Because of South Africa’s unfavorable exchange rate, information products and their marketers need to work ten times harder than elsewhere.”
More information on this competition appears in the November/December 2002 issue of SD Connect, available at
www.info.sciencedirect.com.
Way #3: Take Training to End-Users
Often end-users can attend trainings in libraries to get to know online resources. Librarians with the Digital Library Division (DLD) at the University of Tokyo’s Information Technology Center have gone a step further by taking such trainings into laboratories and other locations to suit researchers’ convenience.
When the DLD receives a request for an end-user training session with details such as number of expected participants and needed content, a librarian then delivers a subject-specific and customized training onsite. A professor can even incorporate the training into a lesson or seminar. Each request for a customized training must be received two weeks in advance of the delivery date and involves DLD librarians working out arrangements in cooperation with individual departmental libraries in the University of Tokyo Library System.
Ms. Ichimura (standing) with the University of
Tokyo’s Digital Library Division delivers database
training to students in the university’s Graduate
School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, in
April 2003. Photo by N. Yamanishi.
At this university, end-users do not have to sit through standard courses at libraries anymore. Instead, they can request training sessions catering to their research needs - any time and any place. By offering such flexible trainings, DLD librarians are encouraging more people to use electronic journals, which will improve efficiency in the research process.
“And this has led to increased usage of our e-resources,” commented Ms. Ichimura with the University of Tokyo’s Information Technology Center’s Digital Library Division. The DLD plays the key role of supporting and promoting information literacy education at the university, ensuring that researchers fully benefit from information media.
More information about the DLD appears at
http://www.lib.u-tokyo.ac.jp/dl/index_e.html.
Way #4: Stage Open House and Invite VIP
US Secretary of Agriculture
Ann M. Veneman (left) and
Elsevier’s RSOA Account
Development Manager
Armond DiRado.
Photo by USDA.
In January 2003, the US Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Library staged an all-day event featuring an electronic cutting of the ribbon and a visit by US Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman.
This event - to launch the expansion of USDA’s digital library DigiTop, both in terms of resources provided and users served - attracted several hundred librarians, researchers and USDA administrators and proved a rousing success. The following month brought a significant increase in usage of ScienceDirect journals available to USDA researchers.
Participating providers included Elsevier, ISI, CSA, BIOSIS, and CABDirect, among others. The day included group demos presented by publisher and vendor representatives, in addition to one-on-one consultation opportunities - when librarians and researchers gained hands-on knowledge of DigiTop’s e-resources.
According to USDA Electronic Library Services Coordinator Stan Kosecki, who helped organize the day, “Our open house was worthwhile because vendor reps were on-hand to give our librarians and end-users a good look at the valuable tools available through our digital library. These are powerful information resources that are valuable to most everything the Department of Agriculture does, so it’s important we hold events like this to help get the word out.” 
Contributed by Daria DeCooman, Manager, Account Development & Channel Marketing, Elsevier, San Diego, USA
