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COLLABORATION CHALLENGES
USA, JANUARY
Microsoft's Cathy Marshall
(at the podium) captures
the attention of the audience
at the 2007 DLS.
Elsevier hosted its ninth Digital Libraries Symposium during the American Library Association’s midwinter meeting in January. This year more than 120 librarians came to hear three speakers address the challenges of collaboration in the digital world.
Speakers were Canadian Research Knowledge Network Executive Director Deb deBruijn, Microsoft Senior Researcher Cathy Marshall and Elsevier Senior Vice President Karen Hunter. Vigorous questions and answers followed the presentations. With many library directors in the audience, the symposium proved a stimulating and successful event. 
TRAINING THE TRAINER
FINLAND, JANUARY–FEBRUARY
Elsevier Account Manager
Sander Verboom (on the left)
and Account Development
Manager Chris James hand
out prizes at the University
of Helsinki.
Librarians at the University of Oulu, University of Tampere and University of Helsinki warmly welcomed Elsevier experts, even though in Oulu the temperature was minus 27oC! In all, 81 librarians turned out for updates on ScienceDirect — including e-books, Engineering Village and Scopus. A quiz and prizes for correct answers followed each session and generated even more interaction. Since the training sessions, librarians have asked to post the presentations on university intranet pages, so the slides can be used for additional training. Elsevier Account Manager Sander Verboom, Product Sales Manager Inez van Leuzen and Account Development Manager Chris James were glad to train the trainers and put information into the hands of librarians who in turn are training colleagues and end-users.
LIVE TRAINING IN LOCAL LANGUAGE
ROMANIA, JANUARY–MARCH
Elsevier Account Manager Endre Béky
(on the left) and Romanian Libraries
Concilium President Angela Repanovici
pause for photos at Transylvania
University during a full day of Elsevier
product trainings.
About 250 information professionals attended presentations and trainings on Scopus, ScienceDirect, EMBASE.com, Compendex, Geobase and Inspec. Except for a few brief updates, all the trainings were conducted in Romanian. The sessions took place in Bucharest, Brasov and Cluj. Elsevier Account Manager Endre Béky and Tiberius Ignat, serving as Elsevier’s agent in Romania, the new European Union member state, were among Elsevier colleagues leading the sessions.
BIBLIOMETRICS
AUSTRALIA, FEBRUARY
(From left) Elsevier’s Tony McSeán, University of
Queensland’s Keith Webster, University College London’s
Dr. Berenika Webster and Macquarie University’s Bill
Stinson huddle at the Elsevier Bibliometrics Seminar in
Sydney in February.
The Elsevier Bibliometrics Seminar in Sydney drew 57 participants who considered new bibliometric indicators, as well as the importance of synergizing traditional and new technologies of bibliometric analysis. Dr. Berenika Webster spoke on “Bibliometrics in Research Evaluation,” and Linda Butler with Australia National University spoke on “The Research Quality Framework.” Niels Weertman, head of Scopus product management, addressed “Elsevier’s Role as a Publisher and Database Provider in Research Output Evaluation.” Regarding what attendees liked best, answers included the customized Scopus reports provided for represented institutions, and this comment: “Publishers and customers working and learning in partnership.”
KEEPING UP TO DATE
SOUTH AFRICA, FEBRUARY
Elsevier Account Manager
Otavio Hoedjes (on the left)
and University of KwaZulu-
Natal Science and Engineering
Subject Librarian Hloni
Dlamini enjoy some sun in
South Africa.
Librarians seeking to stay current with changes in research products turned out in force at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, University of Johannesburg, University of the Witswatersrand, University of Pretoria, University of Zululand, University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Stellenbosch and University of South Africa – where representatives of the GAELIC consortium also participated. Librarians appreciated brushing up on their ScienceDirect knowledge and were impressed with Scopus. At the University of KwaZulu-Natal participants remarked, “It was interesting to note that ScienceDirect has the most coverage of South African journals” and “Nice changes to ScienceDirect. Definitely more user friendly options on the main page.”
European information professionals
packed the room at Elsevier’s annual
get-together for corporate librarians
in London, in December 2006.
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
LONDON, DECEMBER 
Corporate librarians and Elsevier colleagues convened at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel and covered a lot of ground in one go. Linguamatics’ Business Development Director Phil Hastings spoke on “Discovering Hidden Knowledge in Scientific Information” and Shell’s Information Scientist Dennie Heye addressed “Drilling for Information: Using Data Mining and Visualization to Find Oil & Gas.” Elsevier speakers were Global Senior Product Sales Manager, Online Books, Karen Steele; Senior Product Manager ScienceDirect Lindi Belfield; Corporate Sales Market Development Manager Sheila Bennett; and Senior Vice President Karen Hunter. The first three spoke about e-books, ScienceDirect’s redesign and future, and Scopus. Karen gave an update on Elsevier’s archiving policy and Google projects. Michael Rai, director of corporate sales for Elsevier, facilitated.
HOT TOPICS: HOW TO GET PUBLISHED
USA, JANUARY
David Kohl (holding the mike), the editor-in-chief of
The Journal of Academic Librarianship, speaks in the
Elsevier booth at ALA Midwinter 2007 and offers tips
on how to get published.
The "Meet the LIS Editors" session in the Elsevier booth at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting brought together 20 current and prospective librarians and five editors of LIS journals published by Elsevier. The editors and audience discussed getting published in library and information science journals. Participating editors were James Mouw, the editor-in-chief of Library Collections, Acquisitions & Technical Services and the assistant director for Technical & Electronic Services at the University of Chicago; Connie Foster, the editor of Serials Review and the head of the Western Kentucky University Libraries’ Department of Library Technical Services; Beverley Geer, the associate editor of Serials Review and library/consortia sales manager with Sage Publications Inc. in San Antonio, Texas; David Kohl, the editor of The Journal of Academic Librarianship and university librarian emeritus with the University of Cincinnati; and Tefko Saracevic, the editor-in-chief of Information Processing & Management and associate dean for Rutgers University’s School of Communication, Information and Library Studies.
New Economic School Library Director Larisa Kruchko
(on the left) and Elsevier Account Development Manager
Galina Yakshonak discuss challenges relating to
scholarly resources in Russia.
PUBLISHER/LIBRARY COLLABORATION
RUSSIA, JANUARY
Twenty librarians turned out for Elsevier’s annual confab with representatives of the academic library consortium NEIKON. Held in Moscow, the event focused on "Collaboration Elsevier-NEIKON: Results, Changes, Perspectives." Attendees, including NEIKON Executive Director Alexander Kouznetsov and Coordinator Ekaterina Polnikova, discussed e-resources needed for Russian universities and options for accessing them. Elsevier colleagues Oleg Utkin and Vadim Sobolev presented world trends in the development of science. Elsevier colleagues Alexander Mzhelsky and Galina Yakshonak gave presentations on ScienceDirect and Scopus usage data and ways to drive usage. Feedback on Elsevier products expressed appreciation for multidisciplinary databases, high-quality scientific information, easy navigation and good support.
GETTING THE MOST FROM RESEARCH RESOURCES
IRELAND, FEBRUARY
Elsevier Account Manager Rogier van Erkel (on the left)
and University of Limerick Head of Information Services
Patricia O'Donnell pause in the university’s library.
Librarians ready to get the inside scoop on research resources turned their full attention to presentations by Elsevier colleagues visiting universities across Ireland. Universities participating in the sessions were the National University of Maynooth; Dublin City University; Trinity College Dublin; University College Dublin; the National University of Ireland, Galway; the University of Limerick; and the University of Cork. ScienceDirect sessions covered new features, Scopus sessions covered bibliometrics, EMBASE.com sessions covered how the indexing is done and search tips (e.g., getting fewer results in a search), Engineering Village sessions covered the tabbing functionality that has just come about and other new functions, and Admin Tool sessions covered usage statistics. The sessions were well received and generated much appreciative feedback, including the comment, “You demonstrated many new things on Science Direct that I was not aware of at all.”
SCOPUS
USA, FEBRUARY
This screenshot shows the online Scopus quiz generating
quite a buzz at five North Dakota tribal colleges recently.
Find the quiz at www.formdesk.com/scopus/INBRE
Students at five North Dakota tribal colleges recently competed for an iPod Nano by using Scopus. Encouraged by tribal college librarians to compete, the students completed a short online quiz and became familiar with the resource. They learned how Scopus can help create and format a bibliography, how many journals are covered in the database, and how many articles about the National Museum of the American Indian appear in the database (and much more). Erica Good Bear, the winner whose name was drawn from all correct entries, hails from Fort Berthold Community College and says she’ll continue to use Scopus. Congratulations go to Erica and thanks go to all the participants and the tribal college librarians who helped administer the quiz. ND INBRE Electronic Resources Coordinator Judy Rieke at the University of North Dakota Library of the Health Sciences in Grand Forks helped coordinate the quiz across the five colleges.
