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Success Story: United Arab Emirates
Left to right (top): Widad Eljaly, Training Coordinator;
Olivier Diesnis, Elsevier Account Development
Manager; Dr. Husam Mohamed Sutlan Al Ulama,
Dean of the University Libraries; Salim Al Haj, Assistant
Librarian; Mr Walid Haj Ali. Left to right (bottom): Mary
Kay Rathke, Assistant Head of Public Services and
Mr Ali Dualeh Abdulla, Head of Public Services.
The UAE University is the oldest and most prestigious university in the United Arab Emirates. In January 2003, it moved to electronic-only access and now has over 3,200 full-text journals available online.
Dr. Husam, Dean of University Libraries commented, “The UAEU Library’s decision to cancel print journals and subscribe to a larger number of electronic journals was a strategic decision to meet our users’ expectations of unrestricted, convenient and remote access, in addition to having them benefit from the powerful searching tools and features that the printed journal could not offer.”
Students using the CD-ROMs
find links to resources,
tutorials and online help.
In order to ensure a smooth transition from print to electronic format, the university has deployed impressive marketing actions including print and electronic newsletters as well as subject-specific workshops. More recently, business card sized CD-ROMs promoting MBA research resources were distributed to students. In addition to providing comprehensive links to available online resources, they also contain tutorials on how to make the best use of databases and provide general information on library staff and services.
Mr Ali D. Abdulla, Head of Public Services, explained, “As ScienceDirect and other e-journal packages were made available, the University Libraries’ Deanship launched targeted marketing activities to raise users’ awareness of what is offered and stimulate the use of these resources by providing assistance in the reorientation of faculty and students accessing this information from their offices and homes.” 
Olivier Diesnis, Account Development Manager, Elsevier, Amsterdam
