newsletter - elsevier

Always, as information professionals, we seek to communicateclearly the value of our services and products. Especially now,in the midst of difficult economic times, communicating our

value becomes even more important.

So how can we best communicate our value? There is, of course, no one-size-fits-allanswer. First, we must understand our customers' needs and how we fulfil those needs,as well as how we define and measure our impact. Then we must each tell our valuestory in a compelling and real way that others can easily understand and appreciate.

To help address the fascinating but complicated topic of communicating value, this issuebrings together various viewpoints. Among articles published here, you’ll find:

� Daniel Calto talking about Elsevier’s upcoming performance planning andfunding solutions;

� Jack Maness discussing how academic libraries save researchers time and money;� Denise Pan advocating taking a leadership role in the academic enterprise;� David Tyckoson explaining why and how Fresno State opened a new library

this year; and� Xiaoguang Yang offering advice on how to lobby your governing body for

library funds.

And you’ll find Ian Rowlands pointing out, in his interview regarding the connection betweenreadership, expenditure and research outcomes, “The entire scientific community (scholars,publishers and librarians) could improve its promotion of the added value it provides.”

On that inspiring call to action, let me conclude. I trust you, as I have done, will find thisissue full of advice and insights useful in navigating the waters of this turbulent time.Please join me in thanking all the contributors to this issue. And, now, let’s read!

Shira Tabachnikoff

Volume 1 � Number 1 � April 2003Volume 7 � Number 2 � April 2009 � ISSN: 1549-3725

newsletter

Library Connect Editorial Office � 525 B Street, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA 92101, USA � Phone +1.619.699.6283 � Fax +1.619.699.6380 � [email protected]

WelcomeTheme: Communicating Value

In this issuefeatures2 ScienceDirect turns 10 in 20093 Finding the connection: Readership, expenditure

and research outcomes3 Health science eBooks launch on ScienceDirect4 Grant funding workshops help faculty,

staff and graduate students5 Elsevier introduces SciVal: Performance planning

and funding solutions6 Opening a new library in tough times: Here’s why and

how we did it7 Lobbying your governing body for library funds:

Communicate clearly and deploy library champions

center of attention8 Academic libraries save researchers time and money8 Five questions with "hottest" dean9 Communicating the value of libraries and librarians:

Take a leadership role in the academic enterprise

research watch[Find this section online only!]

www.elsevier.com/libraryconnect

Disaster preparation is critical to libraries in West Africa

Postgraduate students are relying on Internet forresearch purposes

community connections10 OARE: A green initiative helping better our global environment11 2008 Elsevier Foundation awards support libraries

and scholars across the globe

behind the scenes13 BrainNavigator helps you view the brain like never before

on the road14 Scopus Awards in Jordan bring together

national leaders and researchers14 Academics exchange tips on publishing success[Find this article online only!]


Nine receive 3rd Annual Scopus Young ScientistAward in India

staying connected15 Rights Spot:

What is Elsevier’s position on publishing ethics?15 Ask UCD:

How do we communicate value in our website design?16 Upcoming Events 2009

Kind regards,

Shira Tabachnikoff, Director Corporate Relations,Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

[email protected]

In conjunction with the centennial of the Special Libraries Association,its BioMedical & Life Sciences Division (DBIO) has identified the 100most influential biology and medicine journals over the last 100years. To arrive at the list, called the DBIO 100, the DBIOconducted a poll of its 680-plus members.

The list includes 20 Elsevier journals, many published on behalf ofrenowned societies. Among Elsevier journals named on the list arethree from Cell Press, an imprint of Elsevier. These three are CellPress’ flagship journal, Cell, as well as Current Biology and theAmerican Journal of Human Genetics.

On June 16, during SLA’s Centennial Conference in Washington,DC, the DBIO will announce the top 10 journals from among the100 already selected and will announce the biology or medicine“Journal of the Century.” LC

www.sciencedirect.com www.elsevier.com www.sla.org

20 Elsevier journals earn a place on top 100 list

89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:39 AM

FEATURES

It’s hard to believe 10 years have passed sinceScienceDirect, then the new baby on theblock, was launched. Access to the world’sliterature via the World Wide Web hasrevolutionized the work of researchers.

For those of us who worked on ScienceDirectway back in the mid ’90s and the commerciallaunch in 1999, it was a very exciting time.There were no blueprints on how to build such a database, andno benchmarks to tell us what to expect from users, so theadrenaline ran high as we watched the usage go through theroof, breaking our expectations every few months.

Today we celebrate the 2billionth downloaded article,which translates to a staggering

925 articles every minute, somewhere in the world! Ten yearsago we calculated that the average CPA (cost per article used)was approximately US $16. Today, because ScienceDirect isaccessible anytime, anyplace, anywhere, the average CPA isdown to $2.40. That’s good news for librarians, as it representsincreased use of scholarly resources they make available to users.

Facing backfile challenges

During ScienceDirect’s history, one of the most daunting projectsundertaken has been the backfile program which has digitizedthe majority of Elsevier-owned journal content prior to 1995.Just to give you an idea of the content involved, the Lancet goesback to 1823 and has published nearly half a million articles.

The project has taken 6 years so far, and now ScienceDirect offersmore than 4 million backfile articles. Just trying to find the sourcematerial has proven a Herculean task: Basements have beenraided, editorial offices plundered and chief editors sent beggingletters for that elusive missing volume 1, issue 1. The firstshipment to the digitizing agency filled four sea containers andtwo air cargo containers, and that was just the start. Six yearson and we are still looking for some missing issues (0.2% orabout 500 issues); we are working with international libraries anduniversities, and we won’t give up! Of course, once we find missingback issues, sometimes they have to be treated before they canbe digitized. See the above images of pages from the Lancet.

Sizing up ScienceDirect today

Numbers play a big role in ScienceDirect, but can lose theirmeaning with all those increasing zeros. So what might today's9 million articles in ScienceDirect actually look like? Well, ifyou were to build a tower of all the article pages, it would be45 times as tall as Elsevier’s Radarweg building in Amsterdam.

Ten years ago we launched a website that resembled somethingvery similar to a library with a catalog system, and a lot of oureffort was educated guesswork. Since then much has changed.Today we work closely with users and have built up a developmentpartner program spanning more than 30 institutes and corporationsaround the world who regularly help us develop new concepts andtest our solutions so that they reflect the needs of our users.

ScienceDirect itself has changed and evolved tremendouslyover the last 10 years, not just with new features, but also withfunctionalities that match the changing behavior of our users.For example, 10 years ago we had to indicate that if you clickedon a particular button something would change — the type ofonline action we take for granted today. Most important overrecent years has been adding more value to articles than ispossible in the print world, e.g., presenting additional filesrelated to an article such as video, audio or background data.

Looking into the future

Currently we are looking to partner with companies specializingin semantic search technologies and visualization techniques toenhance the intrinsic value of our content. So what willScienceDirect look like 10 years from now? According to ElsevierVice President, Product Management, ScienceDirect Rafael Sidi:“One thing is for sure: It will be different. Technological changeis opening up new opportunities and innovative ways of workingwith researchers and research workflows. It’s an incrediblyexciting time to be working in this industry, helping to shapeand build the solutions of the future.” LC

[email protected]

http://info.sciencedirect.com

If stacked up, the 9 million articles in ScienceDirect today would be morethan 4 kilometers tall, or 45 times the height of Elsevier's Radarweg buildingin Amsterdam.

9 Million Articlesin Perspective

9 million articles=

75 million pages=

37 milliondouble-sided pages

=>4 kilometers

=45 Radarwegbuildings

The Lancet, Volume 1, Number 1, 1823

Before Treatment After Treatment

Lindi Belfield

Elsevier's Radarweg building in Amsterdam:98 meters & 25 floors

2 www.elsevier.com/libraryconnect

ScienceDirect turns 10 in 2009By Lindi Belfield, Senior Product Manager, Elsevier, Amsterdam,The Netherlands

89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:39 AM

3 |April 2009 Library Connect newsletter

FEATURES

Over 600 clinical medicine, veterinary medicine, and healthprofessions book titles are launching in Health ScienceeBook Collections on ScienceDirect in May 2009.

Elsevier’s health science books are published under theimprints W.B. Saunders, Mosby, Churchill Livingstone, andHanley and Belfus, publishers with a medical and health sciencepublishing heritage dating back to 1688. Prior to now, Elsevier’shealth science books have only been available through MDConsult for clinical practitioners and medical education, EvolveeBooks for health professions education, and VeterinaryConsult for veterinary medicine education.

Now that over 600 of Elsevier’s health science books are onScienceDirect, more researchers across the world can accessthese valuable content resources. And their authors can benefitfrom greater visibility, increasing the potential for researchcollaboration and recognition.

The addition of the Elsevier Health Science eBook Collectionsfollows the successful launch of Elsevier’s Science & Technologybook titles on ScienceDirect in 2007, and contributes to theevolution of the ScienceDirect platform into a comprehensiveand complete source of global scientific knowledge. LC

Health science eBooks launch on ScienceDirect

Sign up for newScience ConnectnewsletterScience Connect is the new,freely available, bimonthlynewsletter delivering updateson ScienceDirect, Scopus,SciTopics, 2collab, Scirusand Elsevier’s new workflowsolutions launching in 2009and beyond.

See the inaugural issue of Science Connect:www.info.sciencedirect.com/science_connect/index.htm

Subscribe to Science Connect:www.info.sciencedirect.com/science_connect/subscribe

Chrysanne Lowe: Though you’re onlyhalfway through the study covered inyour new report, already you’ve releasedsome eye-catching results. Please, canyou share any with us?Ian Rowlands: One of the first things wenoticed was a strong correlation betweenlibrary spending on e-journals andusage. This correlation is not as obviousas it might first appear. Worldwide,approximately US $8 billion is spentannually on scholarly journals. Thestrong correlation between expenditureand usage demonstrated in our studyseems to suggest that e-journals are notsimply being subscribed to for the sakeof completeness of the library.

And you found a correlation betweenusage and research output?Yes. It seems that universities withhigher download figures also awardmore PhDs and publish more papers,

even when we take the size of theinstitution into account. Whether this ismerely coincidental remains to be seen.

Also, looking at your initial analysis ofthe data, you see a significant pattern inthe relationship between the number ofdownloads and the value of researchgrants awarded to universities.Yes. This apparent correlation, which isalso scale-independent, needs furtherinvestigation, but is certainly intriguing.

How did you come to investigate theconnections between readership,expenditure and research outcomes?I’ll tell you a story. We speak often to aUK university librarian who goes to herprovost each year asking, “Can I have5-10% more?” This year, her provost saidno. This year, the provost decided to putthe money into building a car parkbecause it has a much more immediatereturn. The point being is that we need

more evidence tomake the case as towhy the provostshould sign thosechecks for the library.

So far, are theresults of yourinvestigation meetingyour expectations?When we initiated this study, we simplydidn’t know what questions to ask,because the whole field of electronicjournals (e-journals) has been changingso quickly, both in terms of technologicaladvances and growth. Digital librarieshave only existed for 15 years, at themost, and represent the first majorchange in the library environment sincethe invention of the printing press. Inhistorical terms, we’re only just gettingused to this new environment.

What data did you have to work with?The rise of electronic publishing andelectronic access to resources meansit’s now possible to collect vast amountsof information about how universities,departments and individuals use these

Ian Rowlands

Finding the connection: Readership, expenditure and research outcomesDr. Ian Rowlands and Professor David Nicholas, with the Centre for Information Behaviour andthe Evaluation of Research (CIBER) study group, recently published a preliminary report entitledE-journals: Their Use, Value and Impact. Here, Dr. Rowlands shares with Library Connect readerssome insights relating to findings offered in that report.— Chrysanne Lowe, Vice President, Global Customer Marketing, Elsevier, San Diego, CA, USA

>> page 12

www.sciencedirect.com

www.mdconsult.com

http://evolve.elsevier.com/ebooks

http://evolve.elsevier.com/vetconsult

89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:39 AM

4

FEATURES


By Leslie Delserone, Julie Kelly andJody Kempf, University of Minnesota Libraries,St. Paul and Minneapolis, USA

At the University of Minnesota, librariansconduct workshops on the effective useof online resources to identify possiblefunding sources. This is a joint effort ofthe university’s libraries and the Office forthe Vice President for Research (OVPR).

During the recent ACRL 14th NationalConference in Seattle, we presented aposter to share the highlights of our grantfunding workshops. In sharing thosehighlights again, we hope to inspire otherlibrarians to consider similar projects.

The backstory

In 2006, campus-wide planning revealeda lack of support for the identificationand acquisition of external funding. Inprevious years, the libraries had taught aworkshop on the nuances of effectivelysearching various subscription databases

that index grant opportunities. Thelibraries approached the OVPR, andstaff from both offices collaborated toredevelop that existing workshop.Librarians brought search skills,instructional experience, personnel toteach the sessions, and connections toeach department on campus. OVPRstaff brought training expertise, anoverview of researchers’ currentneeds, funds to pay for the databasesubscriptions, and an effectivecommunication network.

The resulting workshop, “GrantFunding: Search Tools and Resources,”premiered in 2007 with the goals ofincreasing awareness of the tools,teaching basic but effective searchstrategies, and informing researchersabout the value-added services as wellas idiosyncrasies of each database.

What’s happening today

Each 75-minute, hands-on “GrantFunding: Search Tools and Resources”session covers:

� Navigation of internalfunding resources;

� Identification of sources forawards earned recently byUniversity of Minnesota facultyor graduate students;

� Demonstration and practice inthe grants databases to which theuniversity subscribes; and

� Creation of email alerts, whenavailable, in each database.

OVPR posted the workshopmaterials online and has used itswide network to enthusiasticallypromote the training to faculty,staff and graduate students.Sessions have been well attended;to date, more than 300 people haveparticipated in over 30 sessions.Among the initial attendees weregrant coordinators fromdepartments and colleges, andmany commented that, despitepast use of some of the tools,they still learned new skills.

When announcing the sessions to itsnetwork of directors of graduate study,the OVPR encouraged many graduatestudents to come to the sessions,and, so far, graduate students havecomprised over 70% of sessionattendees. As a result, we’ve addedsessions specifically for graduatestudents, and for individual departmentswe’ve conducted sessions with anemphasis on topics of special interestto graduate students.

Our collaboration meets acritical need of the sharedconstituency of the librariesand the Office for the VicePresident for Research.

Given the continued demand fromgraduate students and individualdepartments, we recruited librarianswho have taught train-the-trainersessions to all liaison librarians.As a result, all of the University ofMinnesota’s liaison librarians now havethis additional “tool” — teaching howto search for funding opportunities —to offer their departments or colleges.

The keys to our success

Upon reflection, we’ve determined thatthe keys to our success are:

� Putting our search skills to usewherever needed;

� Cultivating relationships withsupportive campus partners,to enhance the institution’sresearch climate;

� Sharing well-establishedcommunication networks,to more effectively promoteresources and services; and

� Actively pursuing the libraries’involvement in campus strategicplanning initiatives, so thelibraries take an active role in bothplanning and implementation ofinformation-related areas of theuniversity’s plan.

Our collaboration meets a critical needof the shared constituency of thelibraries and the OVPR, supports thelibraries’ and university’s strategicplanning processes, and embeds thelibraries further in the research processat the University of Minnesota. Youcould say that our collaboration is awin-win, all the way around. LC

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

www.lib.umn.edu

www.collaborate.umn.edu/explore/searching.html

Grant funding workshops help faculty, staff and graduate students

(Left to right) Julie Kelly, Leslie Delserone andJody Kempf

89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:39 AM

FEATURES


In 2009, Elsevier isstarting to provideinformation andworkflow tools thathelp researchers andinstitutional decisionmakers evaluate,establish and executetheir research strategies.

These new tools will give institutionalleaders, researchers and administratorsinnovative solutions helping them tobetter achieve the aims of the researchuniversity or institute: namely, theproduction and advancement ofknowledge in critical areas rangingfrom cancer research to mathematics tothe economics of developing countries.

Under the new SciVal brand, startingthis year, Elsevier will offer a full spectrumof workflow solutions addressingperformance and planning needs at alllevels of research institutions. This suiteof solutions will allow universities andgovernment agencies to better understandand manage their research portfolios,and ultimately to improve the qualityand effectiveness of the researchenterprise at their respective institutions.

SciVal Spotlight andSciVal Funding

Launching this year, SciVal Spotlightand SciVal Funding are the first twoof Elsevier’s new solutions. As willbe the case with all of Elsevier’s SciValofferings, these two new solutions havebeen designed based on feedback fromthe research community, from individualresearchers to research administratorsto senior institutional leadership.

SciVal Spotlight allows institutionalleaders to identify distinctive areas ofresearch strength within their institutionsand make key decisions based onhigh-quality data derived from Scopus.

The information and insights gained bySciVal Spotlight will help leaders to:

� Identify specific areas of researchexcellence, and emergingstrengths, to use as comparativemeasures of performance amongother institutions;

� Identify new research opportunitiesby displaying areas of expertise ina multidisciplinary view;

� Review competitive standingby tracking performance againstmajor competitors for each areaof research, and determine areasof research leadership that are atpotential risk of being overtakenby competition; and

� Search for collaborators bydetermining potential sourcesfor research collaboration.

SciVal Funding addresses the urgent needto find comprehensive funding opportunityinformation for researchers at all levels ofthe institution, from graduate students tosenior faculty. It not only delivers targetedand relevant funding opportunities basedon prepopulated publication profiles, butalso gives the user detailed informationon successful grant recipients and whichpublications have resulted from thosegrants. This information can maximize a

researcher’s chances of obtaining fundingin a very difficult funding environment,and can be used by researchadministrators to analyze fundingtrends to better support their faculty’sgrant submissions and guide themto success.

SciVal Spotlight and SciValFunding are the first two ofElsevier’s new solutions.

In the pipeline

Besides SciVal Spotlight and SciValFunding, another solution aimed atresearch management is now indevelopment. It will allow universitiesto improve management of theirspecific research portfolios and trackindividual faculty productivity withmore precise and flexible metrics.

Also, a version of SciVal Spotlighttargeted to the needs of governmentcustomers is in early planning stages.And, as Elsevier creates a long-termstrategic plan geared to meet the needsof our customers, other possibilities fornew solutions are being explored.

If you’d like to find out more aboutSciVal Spotlight or SciVal Funding,please speak with your Elsevieraccount manager or accountdevelopment manager. LC

[email protected]

www.info.spotlight.scival.com

www.info.funding.scival.com

www.elsevier.com/contacts/librarians

By Daniel Calto, Director of Product Management, Elsevier, New York, NY, USA

Daniel Calto

Elsevier introduces SciVal: Performance planning and funding solutions

Under the new SciVal brand, starting this year, Elsevier will offera full spectrum of workflow solutions addressing performanceand planning needs at all levels of research institutions.

Resources

Katz, N. (2009, January). Visualizing research performance: Bringing strategic insightto research management. Library Connect Newsletter, 7:1.http://libraryconnect.elsevier.com/lcn/0701/lcn070109.html

Stallinga, J. (2009, January). Funding intelligence tool: Launching soon to providea better grip on the funding landscape. Library Connect Newsletter, 7:1.http://libraryconnect.elsevier.com/lcn/0701/lcn070113.html

89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:39 AM

FEATURES


By David Tyckoson, Associate Dean,California State University, Fresno, USA

On February 20, 2009,the new HenryMadden Library at ouruniversity opened tothe public. At 360,000square feet and US$105 million, this wasthe largest academicproject ever at Fresno

State, resulting in the largest library atany of the California State Universitysystem campuses.

At a time when the world economy is in theworst recession (maybe even depression)in our lifetime, at a time when universitiesand libraries of all types are slashingbudgets, why did this happen? Why didwe build a library and make it the largestacademic building on campus in an erawhen “everything is on the Internet”?And did we experience, along the way,any bumps due to the turbulence ofthese economic times?

Following is our story, which I hopemay help other administrators facingcompleting or needing to launchconstruction of new libraries despitethe challenging economic climate.

Meet an established need

Although our new library opened in 2009,the process to create it took a long time.From his arrival on campus in 1989, formerdean Michael Gorman worked with theuniversity administration to promote the needfor a new library building. The previousbuilding (opened in 1956, and added ontoin 1981) had long since reached capacity.Shelves occupied space needed for seating,and the building was completed beforetoday’s standard information technologywas even a dream. Retrofitting or adding tothe building became prohibitive. Over theyears, a new library building rose to the topof the list of campus building needs.

Secure stable funding

Nothing destroys a capital project fasterthan losing its funding. If a project’s budgetis reduced while the project is in process,an envisioned large building that trulymeets the needs of a campus can becomea bare-bones building that isn’t much of animprovement over an existing structure.

At Fresno, the new library project didn’tbegin until a stable funding base wasidentified. For this project, a 2003 statewidebond issue provided that funding. Withthe tireless work of the library dean anduniversity president, the new library atFresno State was designated for $90million from Proposition 55. When that bondissue passed, the library project took off.

Design for the ages, not for today

Once you have secure funding, the hardwork begins. What does a 21st-centurylibrary look like? What services, technologiesand features affect the architecture of anew library? Do we build the best libraryof today — or a building that will functiontoday, tomorrow and long into the future?This is a balancing act with no clear answer.

At Fresno, we wanted a building thatwould grow and evolve over time. Asa result, we incorporated several designfeatures that we believe will adapt to futureneeds. These features include emphasizingflexible open spaces and makingtechnology ubiquitous.

Plan a realistic timeline andexpect challenges

After the passage of the bond act in March2003, an architect, A.C. Martin from LosAngeles, was hired and basic designsdeveloped. Since we were replacing anexisting building, we moved out in 2005and tore it down in 2006. The 1981addition served as our home until May2008, when we moved out completelyto allow for renovation of that area. Theentire project was to be completed bythe end of December 2008.

From May through December 2008, wewere forced to provide library serviceswith minimal physical facilities. All of thebooks were in a warehouse 12 miles fromcampus and were paged on request.Reference and circulation services wereconducted out of a temporary location, andstaff were scattered around campus, withthe majority sent to modular units (i.e.,trailers). No classrooms were available forinstruction. Despite these sometimesfrustrating circumstances, we continued toprovide all library services.

Opening a new library in tough times: Here’s why and how we did it

David Tyckoson

>> page 7

Looking for design features to create a library for the ages?Learn from the Henry Madden Library’s forward-looking design features, which include:

� Incorporating flexible, open spaces. As much as possible, we avoided fixed walls and createdlarge open spaces. This gives the flexibility to adapt to future needs.

� Building for people, not materials. Wherever possible, user stations are in desirable locations(near windows, for example), with materials, offices and other rooms in less desirable areas.We also maximized the user space by minimizing the materials space. One entire floor of thelibrary contains open-access, compact shelving — with a capacity of 1.4 million volumes —for the book collection. This is the largest installation of public-access compact shelving onone floor that we know of anywhere in the US.

� Making technology ubiquitous. In many new libraries, the building is centered on technology.We took an alternate approach, which was to put the technology everywhere and anywhere.As a result, there are no large banks of computers in this new library; in fact, there are fewerfixed computers than in the old building. The wireless network allows users to take theirlaptops — or one of our 200+ laptops available for checkout — and sit wherever they want.We don’t know what tomorrow’s technology will be like, but we know it will be different. Wedidn’t want to limit this new building to the technology of 2009.

� Providing a variety of user spaces. Despite all the analyses of Millennials and Generations Xand Y, not all users are the same. Some like quiet, some like noise. Some like individual study,some like group study. Some like to see and be seen, some like to hide. Some need computers,some bring their own. In designing user space, we incorporated variations so users can findspaces fitting their own learning styles.

� Creating spaces for special events. A libraryis much more than a collection of booksand computers: It is also a social space.To make the library central to the campus,we created spaces for exhibits and events.Rooms of varying size and shape allowus to partner with departments to hostmeetings, lectures, concerts and other typesof events. By becoming the place whereothers want to hold their events, the librarybecomes central to the entire campus,ensuring a broad base of future support.

The new Henry Madden Library

89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:39 AM

FEATURES

By Xiaoguang Yang, Director,Beihang University Library, Beijing, China

Adequate funding is vital to keeping alibrary alive. Beihang University, formerlynamed Beijing University of Aerospaceand Astronomy, has been undergoing adramatic change from being a polytechnicto a comprehensive academic institute.

This transformation is posing a bigchallenge for our library: We now need toraise additional funds to provide academicresources supporting newly builtdisciplines, such as bioscience, engineering,law, economics and literature.

In a word, lobbying for libraryfunds isn’t easy work for alibrary director at this time.

Generally, for Chinese university libraries,funding is mainly dependent on theirgoverning bodies and rarely comes fromexternal sources. As I’ve served as alibrary director since 2005, experience hastaught me that there are strategies that can

help improve your success when lobbyinggoverning bodies for library funding.

Two strategies key to successful lobbyingfor academic library funding are:

1. Communicating clearly with thelibrary’s funding body.

2. Deploying library champions.

First, communicating clearly means thelibrary director should make sure thegoverning body, possibly including vicepresidents in charge of the library andfinancial affairs, is regularly updated onthe library’s financial requirements andsituation. Communicating clearly involvesbuilding closer relationships. When librarydirectors enjoy closer relationships withlibrary funding bodies, we understandbetter our universities’ annual financialand strategic plans. And then we’re ableto submit more constructive and easilyapproved library budgets.

Second, asking library champions to helpin outreach is another efficient way to helpcommunicate the value of the library tothe university and secure library funding.Our practice is to make the key professor

of each discipline responsible for helpingspread the good word, university-wide,about the library. What key professorshave said can have a great impact evenwith the university president.

In a word, lobbying for library funds isn’teasy work for a library director at thistime. It is a problem, solving one problemonly to find another cropping up. Adirector today must not only struggle forenough budget, but balance the differentrequirements. But a little bit of strategycan go a long way. LC

[email protected]

www.buaa.edu.cn

Xiaoguang Yang stands in front of the BeihangUniversity Library.

Lobbying your governing body for library funds:Communicate clearly and deploy library champions

April 2009 Library Connect newsletter 7 |

Know that even stable funding isn’talways secure

In December 2008, the California governorannounced a halt to all state constructionprojects in response to the state budgetcrisis. As we were using bond fundsfrom 2003 and our project was 99%complete at the time, we assumed thishalt wouldn't affect us. We were wrong.In very difficult economic times, evensecure funds are at risk.

Since the project was so close to finish, thecampus negotiated with the construction

company, Swinerton, to complete work onthe building. Unfortunately, we had not yetpaid for most of our new furniture and theearmarked funds were now frozen. Inaddition to the furniture, those funds wereto pay for other finishing details, such assigns, window coverings and book trucks.

When times are tough, peopleneed libraries more than ever.

It looked like we would have a new buildingwith no signage, no place to sit and notrucks to use in shelving materials. Afterconsiderable deliberation, we decided togo ahead and open our new building usingas much old and borrowed furniture aspossible. We repossessed our old booktrucks and paid for our own signs. To payfor new signs, we used library operationsfunds instead of building project funds.We felt new signage was importantenough to forgo using those operationsfunds for other needs. The determiningfactor guiding the reopening was thatour users — students and faculty —deserved a full-service library again.

Conclusion

Fortunately, our users looked beyond theold and borrowed furniture and saw thenew library for what it really is: theacademic centerpiece of campus. From thefirst day, they’ve flocked to the building.Using books and computers and journals,they sit in every type of space. They meetwith friends, drink their coffee andexperience the new library. Before weopened, we were a great new building.Now that our faculty and students areusing it, we are a great new library.

When times are tough, people needlibraries more than ever. Although it maybe more difficult to get funding for a newlibrary in today’s economic environment,that money is never better spent. A libraryis the centerpiece of its community,whether for a college, a city or a country. InFresno, we see the new Madden Library asserving — and adapting to — the needs ofour campus for decades to come. LC

[email protected]

www.csufresno.edu/library

Library Dean Peter McDonald (center left) andUniversity President John Welty (center right) cutthe ribbon for the new library.

<< page 6

89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:39 AM

What does your department expect, in terms of the quality and quantityof its researchers’ output?

Generally speaking, young professors have the impulse and power to do research,and can within 6 years have a good showing as far as quantity. As for senior

professors, it is hoped they will devote many years to their research experience and earn good results.

Howdo you lead your department to achieve outstanding research performance?

Basically, it’s a question of the school offering support and reward, while involvingteachers and students in the research process. The creation of knowledge brings a sense of

achievement which helps sustain research development and the power to improve performance.

What advice do you have for postgraduates?

Make sure your papers demonstrate how particular problems are solved.

2

3

1

Next G


A staff member in mylibrary recently receivedan enormous complimentfrom a graduate studentin environmentalengineering. Paraphrased,it read something like,“I can’t imagine how apreeminent research

university could possibly exist withouta reference desk.”

To me, this meant one thing: This studentclearly understood the value of the libraryin his research and learning. But why?What had we done for him that he valuedus so? And how can we communicatethis value to others?

What Emily Fidelman, our branch supervisor,had done, was twofold: 1) She had spenttime combing through freely availabledata sets provided by the EnvironmentalProtection Agency, and she had found whatthe student had not during many hoursof searching, and 2) She had determinedthat a technical standard needed by thisstudent’s research team was not owned bythe library, and she had offered to have usreview it for purchase.

No wonder the student was elated. Notonly was the librarian willing to spendtime, she was willing to have thelibraries consider purchasing a new

resource in support of his research. Thisstudent received help, valuable help, andit came in two manifestations of value:time, and money.

Time manifests our value

Time is an incredibly valuable commodityin our society, simply because demandoutstrips supply. And the instructors andstudents in our nation’s colleges anduniversities lack it as much as anyone. Forthe betterment of the human conditionthey labor, and ample support systemsmust be in place for them to succeed.Libraries are one of these systems, andone thing libraries do in support of themis save them time. Services like thatprovided by Emily for this student increasethe time available to library users, and thevalue clearly communicates itself. Thesupport system — comprising librariesand librarians — enables the academiccommunity to succeed.

Money manifests our value

The standard needed by this studentwas not terribly expensive, nor was itterribly difficult to locate. But it wasvaluable. It was valuable because theinformation contained in it was part ofthe support system necessary for thestudent to succeed, and our librarieswere willing to provide this value.

In today’s information universe, thisaspect of the value of libraries is oftenpoorly understood by even the mostsophisticated researchers. Search

engines and publishers’ websites oftendeliver valuable information to instructorsand students in ways that obscure thelibrary’s role in providing such value. Butwhen something is not owned by thelibrary, and the library agrees to purchaseit, that value is apparent. In this case, thevalue — the money — provided by thelibrary was obvious.

Here's how I communicate our value

When I teach, provide reference or justhave informal conversations with studentsand faculty, I try to communicate the valueof the library in these two ways: time andmoney. I explain that the services weprovide save them time. “We’ll do thatpart for and with you,” is the message.And I explain that libraries purchase, ontheir behalf, information that could notpossibly be afforded by most individualsor departments. “We save you money,”is the message, “and sometimes youdon’t even realize it.”

I want instructors and students tounderstand that libraries act as theirpersonal liaison to the complicated,expensive and ever-changing world ofinformation. And when they grasp that,they see the value of the library: It savesthem time and money. As long asacademic libraries do this, they will notonly provide value, they will be valued. LC

[email protected]

http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/engineering/index.htm

Jack M. Maness

Academic libraries save researchers time and money

CENTER OF ATTENTION

By Jack M. Maness, Associate Director,Engineering Library,University of Colorado at Boulder, USA

With Juang Ruey-Shin, Dean,College of Engineering,Department of ChemicalEngineering and MaterialsScience, Yuan Ze University,Taiwan, Republic of China

[email protected]

www.yzu.edu.tw

Juang Ruey-Shin

Five questions with"hottest" dean

89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:39 AM

What advice do you have for PhD students?

Pay great attention to your linguistic skills, gain expertise in specific domains and be sureyou possess strong independent study skills.

What are your tips on how to produce a classic research paper?

� Make sure your professor, who’s advising you as you write your paper, possesses expertisemaking her or him a suitable advisor.

� Concentrate your research energy in a particular direction and make sure your focus is worthwhile.� Make sure your research technique is easy to understand.� Write in an accessible manner, so your paper will be quoted or cited. Often, cited papers don’t

necessarily follow the formula for “classical” papers. (As the ancients said, something can betoo cultured to be appreciated by the masses.)

� Aim at getting your paper published in a high-ranking journal.

Luck actually accounts for not a small proportion of success in producing noteworthy research papers.

4

5

t GenCENTER OF ATTENTION


Parallels between everyday life andlibrarianship are inescapable. In bothenvironments, the current economy andtechnological advances have challengedthe viability of established companiesand institutions.

Questioning academiclibraries’ sustainability

No academic library can be complacentand assume the campus communityrecognizes it as the “heart of thecampus.” Academic libraries need toreinvent ourselves or potentially sufferthe fate of the Rocky Mountain News.Two months shy of its 150th anniversary,the Denver-based newspaper printed itsfinal edition on February 27, 2009. Whileeditorial pages argue that complexfactors contributed to its failure, wastechnology the root of the newspaper’sdemise? Why purchase a subscriptionwhen free newsfeeds are availableonline and classifieds are posted oncraigslist.org?

Academic libraries need toreinvent ourselves or potentiallysuffer the fate of the RockyMountain News.

Our library patrons couldmake similar arguments.Why go to the librarywhen “everything is onthe Internet”?

To a certain extent,as long as facultycontinue to assignlibrary research projects and readingsfrom course reserves, academic librarieshave a captive audience. But is this asustainable model? With every studentgeneration, do we lose value? Are weperceived as an archaic institutionsupported only for nostalgic reasons? Ifear this is a distinct possibility if we donot explicitly articulate our contribution tohigher education and the public at large.

Defining academic libraries’ value

So what is the value of libraries andlibrarians? Certainly it is not to be thegatekeepers of books or a free alternativeto bookstores, enabling students toborrow instead of to buy. Rather, ourexpertise is information seeking andknowledge management.

We assist our patrons with discoveryand access to resources by building andsharing our collections, regardless oftheir packaging or format. Also, we assistour patrons by promoting informationliteracy — an integral part of ourprofessional knowledge that defineslibrarians’ work and value.

Teaching students how to learncontributes to their academic success.Promoting critical thinking skills isessential for classroom, career andlifelong achievements. To accomplishthis, librarians cannot continue with thestatus quo of teaching “one-shot” librarytraining sessions. Administering ad-hoc,inconsistent and disparate demonstrationson searching the library catalog andvarious databases doesn’t create aninformation-literate student body.

Taking a leadership role

Instead, librarians need to take a leadershiprole in the academic enterprise, tocollaborate with faculty and administratorsin learning partnerships, and to developcomprehensive information literacyprograms that permeate the curriculumand produce measurable outcomes. Bydoing so, academic librarians’ contributionto student success and the universitymission would be undeniable.

Confronted by dramatic economic,technological, social and politicalchallenges, today’s environmentpresents a new urgency that motivatesus to redefine our academic roles andresponsibilities, and thereby reinventlibraries and librarianship. LC

[email protected]

http://library.auraria.edu

By Denise Pan, Associate Director ofTechnical Services, Auraria Library,University of Colorado Denver, USA

Denise Pan

Communicating the value of libraries and librarians:Take a leadership role in the academic enterprise

Tsung-Hui Liao Wei-Je Chang

This interview is excerpted from a2008 interview conducted by ElsevierStudent Ambassadors Tsung-Hui Liaoand Wei-Je Chang at Yuan ZeUniversity, as part of their initiativeto identify and then interview thecampus' "hottest" dean. Scopus analysishelped identify Juang Ruey-Shin asthe hottest dean.

89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:40 AM

10

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS


Our environment oftenheadlines the newsthese days and has evenfound its way into thelibrary world. Libraryassociations now seekto ensure that theirmeetings becomegreener in each passing

year. I am often asked at libraryconferences what Elsevier and otherSTM publishers are doing for theenvironmental cause. Most frequentlyasked is, “What programs do you havein place to help with this issue?”

Reed Elsevier supportsenvironmental stewardship

The Reed Elsevier CorporateResponsibility Report enumerates indetail how RE companies are helpingimprove our environmental footprint.For example, Elsevier and its sistercompanies support Green Days, namely,activities developed by employees toimprove local conditions.

Likely very interesting to Library ConnectNewsletter readers is Elsevier’s supportof the Online Access to Research in theEnvironment (OARE) program. Launchedin 2007, OARE is the youngest of thethree Research4Life programs and isbased on the successful HINARI andAGORA programs. The three programs— HINARI, AGORA and OARE — havenow combined under a single name,Research4Life (see the box on this page).As part of their mission to assist developingcountries improve their access to the world’sresearch, participating publishers nowcontribute some 1,300 journals to OARE.

As the most recent addition to the group,OARE is finding broad acceptance in thedeveloping world as the number of itsusers and its usage grow. This is good

news for all of us who are concernedabout helping people around the worldovercome environmental challenges andimprove their living conditions.

Kenyan case study shows OARE’smultiple positive impacts

Let’s look at a specific example of howOARE is improving the environment inone area of the world. In Kenya, WilkistaNyaora Moturi, the head of EgertonUniversity’s environmental studiesprogram, has conducted research usingaccess to OARE and, using the resultsfrom this research, has succeeded inimproving the living conditions in tworural communities.

According to Dr. Moturi, during thetime she used OARE as part of her PhDstudies, it helped her “to improve thequality of life among the Ogiek peoplein Mauche and Newsiit where diarrheaand coughs, among other preventableailments, have been ravaging lives ofchildren and many adults in a viciousdisease circle.” With the help of localleaders, Dr. Moturi and volunteersestablished free clinics for children inthese areas. Through the clinics they

were able to reach out toarea residents and teach themhow to reduce their risk ofinfection. Dr. Moturi said,“We are not only betteringpeople’s lives, we are savingthem. Throughout our

mission, our free access to OARE playeda pivotal role.”

The story does not end there, however.Graduate students in Dr. Moturi’sclasses also have derived benefit fromOARE. As her students work on theirmaster’s theses, she uses OARE to“guide them to relevant articles andforward to them materials which I deemrelevant to their chosen topic of study.”Thus, a new generation of scholars hasthe advantage of access to currentliterature in environmental studies.

On a personal note, Dr. Moturi creditsOARE with helping her earn her PhD.She has called OARE an indispensabletool and noted, “It not only helped mefind literature on environmental health

but also allowed me to view howother researchers had structured theirprojects, allowing me to fine-tune myown research plan and apply anappropriate methodology.”

OARE brings a high returnon investment

There are, to be sure, more successstories besides this one. The Kenya casestudy does, though, demonstrate clearlythe high return on investment from theOARE program. The popularity of theprogram is evident in the number ofusers that have registered for it.Presently, there are over 1,000institutions in 90 countries that haveaccess. But there are still many moreinstitutions that are eligible. Thechallenge now is to get the word to these

By Daviess Menefee, Global Director forInstitutional Relations, Elsevier, NewYork, NY, USA

Daviess Menefee

OARE: A green initiative helping better our global environment

>> page 12

Research4Life brings togetherHINARI, AGORA and OAREThe public-private partnerships HINARI,AGORA and OARE, which provide thedeveloping world with free or low-costaccess to critical scientific research, arenow known as Research4Life.

Since 2002, the three initiatives have givenresearchers at 5,000 institutions in 108developing countries free or low-costaccess to over 7,500 journals provided bythe world’s leading science publishers.

Research4Life is a public-private partnershipof WHO, FAO and UNEP, as well as Cornelland Yale universities, Microsoft and morethan 130 science publishers. The partnership’sgoal is to help attain six of the UN’s eightMillennium Development Goals by 2015,reducing the scientific knowledge gapbetween industrialized countries and thedeveloping world.

HINARI Access to Research Initiative:www.who.int/hinari

Access to Global Online Research inAgriculture (AGORA):www.aginternetwork.org

Online Access to Research in theEnvironment (OARE):www.oaresciences.org

Research4Life:www.research4life.org

89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:40 AM


In January, we announced the recipients ofthe 2008 Elsevier Foundation awards for theLibraries in Developing Countries (ILDC)and New Scholars grant programs. Anadditional $200,000 was given to thefoundation’s newly launched NursingFaculty Mentored Leadership Developmentprogram. This three-year partnership willenable the Honor Society of Nursing,Sigma Theta Tau International, as theleading global professional nursingorganization, to work closely with theElsevier Foundation on creating a newmodel for mentoring nurse faculty toaddress the global nursing shortage.

All of the top ILDCproposals concentrated oncreating innovative ways toadvance development.

So how did we choose the 2008 InnovativeLibraries and New Scholars winners? Byreading, judging, agonizing over and cullingproposals from libraries, universities,associations and hospitals from Africa toAmerica. The scope of the projects rangedfrom simple digitization, to building an

integrated HIV/AIDS Library InformationSystem, to fighting the attrition of talentedwomen scientists in the academic pipeline.

Director of Corporate Relations ShiraTabachnikoff and I carefully weighed thepros and cons of the 171 received proposalsand selected 30-40 finalists for eachprogram. We then reached out to eightexternal reviewers with expertise inacademic diversity, development orlibraries, or with experience working withthe World Health Organization. EvenElsevier’s own internal expert, GlobalDirector for Institutional Relations DaviessMenefee, was drafted into a rigorousexamination of 20 innovative library projects.

We then scrutinized the finalists again,assessing their potential for maximumsustainability, impact and the ability toserve as international models and reachbeyond any single institution into newnetworks and regions. All of the top ILDCproposals concentrated on creatinginnovative ways to advance developmentby addressing important library andinformation needs in countries whereresources are severely constrained.The New Scholars proposals focusedlargely on academic mentorship,professional skills development,relocation and childcare support atmajor society conferences.

Our final recommendationswere handed to theElsevier FoundationBoard and the rest ishistory: $355,000 ingrants to nine amazing projects. We’ve alsogained a great deal from the experience,with expert reviewers willing to brave theadventure again and a definite sense ofpride in helping libraries in developingcountries create state-of-the-art systemsand benefit from strong partnershipswithin the developed world. Not to mentionsupporting young academics master thatever-elusive work-life balance.

We can’t wait for the next round of InnovativeLibraries and New Scholars proposals tobegin arriving. Don’t forget to send usyour proposals by August 1, 2009! LC

[email protected]

www.elsevierfoundation.org

www.nursingsociety.org

2008 Elsevier Foundation awards support librariesand scholars across the globeBy Ylann Schemm, Corporate Relations Manager,Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2008 Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries grants� BRAC University Ayesha Abed Library

Creating an integrated library system using Open Sourcesoftware KOHA for BRAC University Library in Bangladesh.

� Centre International de Reference Chantal Biya (CIRCB)Developing a central library system to collect, document anddisseminate HIV/AIDS research from the CIRCB hub in Yaoundé,Cameroon, to outlying health institutes with extremely limitedaccess to information.

� George Washington University (GWU) HimmelfarbHealth Sciences LibraryAssessing the present Eritrean clinical, medical and healthinformation infrastructure and producing a plan to build anintegrated information system grounded in evidence-basedpractice decisions. Supporting the Orotta School of Medicine,Physicians for Peace and GWU Medical Center Training Projectin Eritrea.

� Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityDeveloping China’s first real-time virtual reference systemand offering universities an opportunity to share informationresources and staff expertise across CALIS, a consortium of1,000 Chinese university libraries.

2008 New Scholars grants� Association for Women in Science (AWIS)

Developing an educational support program to enable the 51 AWISchapters around the US to help early-to-mid-career women inscience, technology, engineering and mathematics learn to manageeffectively their personal and professional lives.

� American Physical Society (APS)Providing childcare grants to young physicist parents at the largeannual APS spring meetings in the US.

� University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, and Museumof New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New ZealandProviding an integrated approach to childcare and mentoringneeds at the annual Evolution conference and so helping ensureyoung women researchers can attend this critical conference andhelping reduce their attrition in the field of biology.

� European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)Subsidizing multilingual onsite childcare services at the 2009EMBO Meeting in Amsterdam, the first annual life sciences meetingorganized by the European Molecular Biology Organization.

� Maternal and Childcare Union, Tbilisi, GeorgiaCreating a framework of national issues, capacities, mentoringand support for women scientists in the nation of Georgia.

2009 call for proposalsEstablished in 2002, the Elsevier Foundationcurrently is welcoming proposals for the2009 Innovative Libraries in DevelopingCountries and New Scholars programs.

Proposal deadline: August 1, 2009Awards announcement: December 2009

Ylann Schemm


89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:40 AM

12



<< page 10

<< page 3

institutions that OARE is available and can assist with theirenvironmental and ecological research and education.

In closing, allow me to turn to Paul Walberg from Yale University,one of the coordinators of OARE, and a scholar who’s traveledthroughout the developing world in support of the initiative. Paulcommented, “OARE has been enabling the participation of lesswealthy countries in the new and growing knowledge economy,and in my opinion is an important first step for a large part of thedeveloping world. It is helping not only environmental conservationcommunities, but also institutions of higher education, thegovernment and civil society.”

OARE is a vital and green initiative that is presently helping to betterour global environment and will continue to do so in the future. LC

[email protected] www.reedelsevier.com

resources. Various public agenciescollect statistics on library investmentin the UK, such as how much eachuniversity spends on resources likee-journal subscriptions and, morerecently, fulltext downloads, and howthese resources are used. We were alsoable to collect data on PhD awards,research grants and papers publishedat various UK universities and indifferent subjects. Finally we weregranted access to ScienceDirect andOxford Journals logs at UK universities,and we performed deep-log analyses toascertain how people were accessinginformation, from where, for how longand so on.

So this is data-driven research?Yes. The preliminary report is based ondata collected from 112 UK universitiesbetween September 2006 and August2007. It was basically a quantitativeexercise. We had no preconceptions,but simply gathered data and lookedat whether any patterns emerged.

What other observations have you made?What struck us most was that peopletend to initiate searches outsideScienceDirect, via gateways likeGoogle (Scholar) or PubMed. We alsodiscovered a statistical relationshipbetween session length and (Hirschindex) research rating. It seems thatthe higher-rated researchers spend lesstime obtaining information. They tendto use third-party services and aremuch more targeted than some of theircolleagues. In addition, researchers of

the same subject at different universitiesdisplayed similar behavior patternsduring research sessions, but noticeabledifferences in behavior patterns wereapparent between researchers ofdifferent subjects.

So you have these preliminary results.What comes next?During the second stage, we’ll take amuch closer look at these apparentrelationships and patterns, and we’llalso extend the time frame of the studyto cover the previous 4 or 5 years. Wealready know that there is a statisticalcorrelation between usage, expenditureand research outcomes, but wedon’t know whether this is simply acoincidence. In addition, if we do provethese relationships are real, we willalso try to answer the question “Inwhat direction are they headed?” Forexample, do successful researcherscreate demand for library services, ordoes library investment lead to success?

What are some of the outcomes youwould like to see from this study?In general, I feel publishers could makea stronger case for the added value theyprovide, for example, in performing

peer reviews. They should be moretransparent about the processes andcosts involved in publishing scientificjournals, where demand is more finiteand less elastic than in other forms ofpublishing. In fact, I’d say that the entirescientific community (scholars, publishersand librarians) could improve its promotionof the added value it provides.

Many publishers and librarians may takeup your recommendation!Our preliminary study provides goodammunition for this, and will be ofparticular interest to scholarly publishersand librarians, since it offers freshinsights into the behavior of their users,as well as the relevance and usability ofjournals and services. During the periodcovered by the preliminary report, 102million articles were downloaded at theUK universities surveyed, which provesthe material is being used. The secondstage of the study should provide morecompelling evidence upon which tobase more far-reaching conclusions. LC

[email protected]

www.rin.ac.uk/use-ejournals

www.ucl.ac.uk/infostudies/ian-rowlands

www.publishing.ucl.ac.uk

SourcesInterview with Dr. Ian Rowlands byGary Rudland, February 17, 2009,for Editors' Update, Volume 26(www.elsevier.com/editors/issue26a), andinterview with Dr. Rowlands by ChrysanneLowe, on March 27, 2009.

“This year the provostdecided to put the moneyinto building a car parkbecause it has a much moreimmediate return.”

Want to learn moreabout Research4Life?

See the new Elsevier video:http://research4life.valuesinmotion.com

SourcesField reporting provided by Ochieng Ogodo in 2007, and reportingprovided by Daviess Menefee in 2009.

89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:40 AM

BEHIND THE SCENES


What’s the most complicated structureknown to man? Yes, you guessed it: thehuman brain.

An adult human brain weighs about threepounds, while a rat brain weighs about twograms. Though these brains differ vastly insize, their structures are very similar. Asthey work daily to understand the brain,truly a marvel of nature, neuroscientistsoften study brains of rats and other species.With more than a thousand structures tonavigate, it’s easy to get lost in the brain —no matter what its size.

To help busy scientists advance andstreamline their research, Elsevier hascreated BrainNavigator, an online,interactive, 3D software tool that saves timewhile improving the quality of daily research.Similar to the way GPS helps locate aposition in the world, BrainNavigator canlocate the position of structures withinthe brain, making visualization andunderstanding of the brain easier.

Historically, researchers have depended onlarge format print atlases to help with taskslike placing a probe or identifying structureswhen viewing slices of brain tissue under amicroscope. Now, thanks to BrainNavigator,researchers can visualize the brain not onlyas a flat map on a page, but also as an objectwith depth — and they have the ability tocontrol the views in ways suiting their needs.

Developing a new approach tobrain maps

To start the BrainNavigator developmentprocess, Elsevier employed its UserCentered Design experts to connectwith neuroscientists to evaluate and fullyunderstand their needs in the course ofa workday. This process revealed thatneuroscience is more than ready for this tool.

Neuroscientists indicated a need for aneasy-to-use online system that wouldallow them to browse, compare and labelhigh-resolution material. Additionally, theyneed a way to upload their own images for

comparison and to annotateand share their researchwith colleagues. Anotherhigh-level need is the abilityto view the brain in threedimensions, while retainingthe ability to easily viewbrain structures. Onlinedelivery is key becauseit provides anytime,anywhere access andimmediately availableupdates enabling fast,easy and accurate research.

Elsevier recognized thatexcellent brainmaptechnology had been developed by theAllen Institute for Brain Science. Acollaboration began, pairing Elsevier’svast neuroscience content — includinginformation from many books andjournals — with the Allen Institute’scutting-edge Brain Explorer® technology,and BrainNavigator was the result.

A dynamic new resource of uniqueimportance and usefulness to the many tensof thousands of brain researchers worldwidewho rely on scholarly information every day,BrainNavigator represents a promisingstep towards additional discoveries in theadvancement of brain research. Offeringboth free and subscription-based content,BrainNavigator provides the ability forall users to browse images and brainstructures. Paid subscribers can enjoyusing high-resolution images as well asthe ability to annotate and save theirwork. They also can share their workwith colleagues globally.

Getting positive reviews

During development of BrainNavigator, 50researchers from universities and researchinstitutes worldwide participated as testusers and provided feedback regarding theproduct’s usability and content. ClaudiaFarb, a BrainNavigator test user from theCenter for Neural Science at New YorkUniversity, commented: “I love the speedand accuracy with which I can find aspecific brain structure. By simply typingthe name of the structure, the programdirects me to it and highlights it so I canrapidly and easily find the structure. Thisfeature is very convenient for researchand absolutely wonderful for teaching

because it reduces student frustrationwhen trying to identify specific brainstructures, fosters student autonomyand reduces the need for instructorassistance in the classroom and lab.”

Farb further commented: “I appreciate thefeature that highlights the brain structureand depicts it in 3D. This helps studentstranslate anatomical ‘book’ information toa more comprehensive understanding ofhow the brain works. For example, specificgroups of cells located at the back of thebrain have widespread projections to therest of the brain. Understanding therelations of these groups of cells toother brain structures is facilitated bythe ability to view the brain in 3D.”

Many media outlets, including NPR (NationalPublic Radio in the US), have coveredBrainNavigator. To listen to the NPR “AllThings Considered” program which inNovember 2008 featured an interviewfocusing on BrainNavigator, click on theNPR logo at www.brainnav.com/info.

Moving forward

In its first rollout in May 2009,BrainNavigator includes completeinformation for the rat brain and mousebrain. Later, BrainNavigator will alsoinclude the human and monkey brains.

For more information, please visit theBrainNavigator website or contact yourElsevier representative. LC

www.brainnav.com/info

http://contacts.elsevier.com

BrainNavigator helps you view the brain like never beforeBy Dr. Johannes Menzel, Publisher ofNeuroscience and Innovation Products,Elsevier, London, UK

To aid in their daily research, neuroscientists can use BrainNavigatorto get three-dimensional views of brain structures. Find more detailsat www.brainnav.com/info.

89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:40 AM


ON THE ROAD

By Ahmed Rostom, Account Development Manager, Elsevier, Cairo, Egypt

On March 31, a Scopus Awards event in Amman, Jordan drewnearly 100 researchers. Jordan’s Royal Scientific Society andElsevier cosponsored the event.

HRH Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan, the president of thesociety and head of the Princess Sumaya University forTechnology Board of Trustees, said, “I am confident theinteresting part is still to come. We’ll continue to developa talent pool, develop intellectual property and facilitate usagein Jordan.” HE Dr. Walid Al Maani, Jordan’s minister of highereducation and scientific research, spoke about the need tomonitor the quality and quantity of scientific output as wellas centralize research activity. LC

Elsevier CEO Science & Technology Herman van Campenhoutpresented the awards.

The winners were the following:� Dr. Yaseen Al-Soud, Dr. Basem Ali and

Dr. Hutaf Baker (with Al al-Bayt University)� Dr. Zaid Odibat, Dr. Omar Othman Badran and

Dr. Mohammed Al-Odat (with Al-Balqa Applied University)� Dr. Adel Al Khattab and Dr. Bassem Al-Twesi

(with Al-Hussein Bin Talal University)� Dr. Nabil Ayoub and Dr. Fedda Alzoubi

(with German-Jordanian University)� Dr. Mousa Mohsen, Dr. Adnan Abu-Surrah and

Dr. Khaled Abu-Elteen (with Hashemite University)� Dr. Anwar M. Battikhi, Dr. Yousef Khader,

Dr. Ayed Amr and Dr. Riad Bitar (with the Higher Councilfor Science & Technology)

� Dr. Mohammad Mubarak, Dr. Fuad Kittanehand Dr. Jamil Khalifeh (with Jordan University )

� Dr. Mohammad Al-Nimr, Dr. Kamal Bani-Hani,Dr. Fawzi Banat and Dr. Sameer Al-Asheh(with Jordan University for Science & Technology)

� Dr. Shaher Momani (with Mu'tah University)

� Dr. Mohammad Al-Ghouti, Dr. Yehia Abu-Khaledand Dr. Akl Awwad (with the Royal Scientific Society)

� Dr. Eyad Hrayshat, Dr. Aiman Al-Rawajfeh andDr. Abdul Wali-Ajlouni (with Tafileh University)

� Dr. Sami Mahmood, Dr. Sami Abdel-Hafez andDr. Idrees Al-Momani (with Yarmouk University)

[email protected]

www.scopus.com

(Left to right) Herman van Campenhout presents a gift of Dutch pottery to HRHPrincess Sumaya, as HE Dr. Walid Al Maani and Elsevier Event Manager,Research & Educational EMEA, Alberto Rodriguez-Zapata look on.

By Yuki Tsuneyoshi, Account Development Manager,Elsevier, Tokyo, Japan

Despite traffic jams caused by bad weather, 33 participants filledthe room at Kyushu University for an Elsevier-sponsored eventtitled "Author Workshop for Young Researchers" on March 13.Cohosted by the university’s Global Center of Excellence (G-COE)program Science for Future Molecular Systems, the eventculminated planning led by Kyushu University AssociateProfessor Msaaki Abe, the head of the G-COE’s courseInternational Scientific English, and Professor Chihaya Adachi,the regional editor of the Elsevier journal Organic Electronics.

Professor Adachi, a member of the university's Center forFuture Chemistry and the head of the Adachi Laboratory, spokeon “How to Get Published in Scientific Journals,” and ExecutiveEditor Chad Walker of Edanz Group Ltd. spoke on “WritingResearch Papers: Tips from a Science Language Editor.”

The workshop came about because of a query from G-COEOffice Secretary Ms. Tamura, who had seen our Publishing

Connect events site at http://japan.elsevier.com/aw. After theevent, she said, "The workshop was very productive andsuccessful. The feedback I got from participants was all positive.If there's any chance of staging this kind of workshop a secondtime, we'll definitely want to collaborate with Elsevier again." LC

[email protected]

http://japan.elsevier.com/news/events/aw/2009kyushu.html

(Left to right) Chad Walker; Yuki Tsuneyoshi; Masako Takeda, Elsevier Japan;Chihaya Adachi; Yoshiko Kakita, Elsevier Japan; Mika Tamura; Shuji Uraguchi,Elsevier Japan; and Nami Kanda, Elsevier Japan

Academics exchange tips on publishing success

Scopus Awards in Jordan bring together national leaders and researchers

89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:40 AM

STAYING CONNECTED


Helen Gainford of Elsevier’s Global Rights Departmentanswers questions relating to rights and permissions

QQQQ:::: What is Elsevier’s position on publishing ethics?

AAAA:::: Over the past few years, Elsevier editors have noticed asignificant increase in the number of cases of plagiarism thatthey have had to deal with. Elsevier believes that monitoringpublishing ethics is a major aspect of the peer-review process,and as such lies within the area of responsibility of theeditor-in-chief, or the scientific editor, of each journal.

As part of our commitment to the protection and enhancementof peer review, our publishing team offers editors assistanceand guidance in these matters. Publishing ethics issues that editors face include an author copying a substantial part of another’s work without acknowledgment or passing another’s work off as her or his own; fraudulent research; and authorship disputes.

In 2007, Elsevier set up a pilot EthicsHelpdesk, where editors could submitethics queries and get assistance on how to handle them. During that year,

it became clear that editors were asking for helpful tools.

Hence, in 2008, we set up the Publishing Ethics Resource Kit websiteon the Elsevier Editors site at www.elsevier.com/publishingethicskit.The PERK site provides links to Elsevier and non-Elsevier policy and procedures documents; flow charts to guide editorsthrough dealing with different forms of publishing ethicsabuse; template letters to adapt and use for various situations;and Q&A information.

Besides providing this online resource,Elsevier has also signed up to the Committeeon Publishing Ethics. COPE is a charitableorganization that provides a forum for scientific journal editors and publishers to discuss issuesrelating to theintegrity of thework submitted toor published intheir journals. Enlisting journals in COPE ensures our editorshave an independent source to refer to when dealing withpublishing ethics issues.

Further, Elsevier has collaborated with CrossRef in the plagiarismsoftware project CrossCheck. This involves running similaritychecks on submitted papers against a database of over 25 millionpublished articles. If a paper shows a similarity with any article inthe database, CrossCheck produces a report giving the percentageof similarity and highlights the section where the similarity occurs.This spring, 90 Elsevier journals are starting to run papers throughCrossCheck on a random basis. As we monitor its success, moreElsevier journals will be included in the CrossCheck initiative. LC

[email protected]

COPE: http://publicationethics.org

CrossCheck: www.elsevier.com/editors/plagdetect

PERK: www.elsevier.com/publishingethicskit

Helen Gainford

Tom Noonan of Elsevier’s User Centered Design Group answers your usability questions

QQQQ:::: How do we communicate value in our website design?

AAAA:::: Just because you build it, they won’t necessarily come.But if you write a persuasive message, they might.

Just because a link is added to a page or a new page is developed, there’s no guarantee that users will follow that link or visit that page. A new feature on your website may beusable, but unless it is used, you have failed. If your users CANuse the feature, that’s good but it's not enough. DO they use it?

Usability is necessary but it’s not sufficient to provide value andreturn on investment. To drive value, you must communicate thevalue proposition to your users in terms that are important forthem. To ensure a feature is used, you must communicate persuasively with its users.

You might think that the link label “Be first to bookmark” ispersuasive. It’s a call to action, which is a good thing. It indicates something users can do by clicking on a link. But willusers care about that? Do your target users care if they are thefirst to bookmark an article? Are they in a race with others tobookmark an article?

Or are they more concerned about finding useful research, sharing it with their lab teams and accessing scholarly resourcesfrom any computer in the world? Are they aware that they can doso by clicking on a particular link? Are you telling them that?

Your website’s functionality or content may beright on target, but your messages may be 100%off target. If so, your traffic will suffer and yourusers may never learn about the great features or pages you’ve developed.

What a shame! All because you failed to design persuasive messages.

Communicating value assumes a deep understanding of yourusers’ needs. Before you can craft a message that hits just theright note with your users, you must know what drives them! LC

[email protected]

www.elsevier.com/librarians/AskUCD

ResourcesGerrol, S., & Straub, K. (2009). From convincing to converting:Applying the science of persuasive design to architect the decision space. Human Factors International, Inc.

Norman, D. A. (2004). Emotional design: Why we love (or hate)everyday things. New York: Basic Books.

Schaffer, E. (2009). Beyond usability: Designing web sites for persuasion, emotion, and trust. UXMatters. http://tinyurl.com/cvf64k

Tom Noonan

89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:40 AM

Library Connect Editorial Team Jonathan Atkinson, Group Marketing Communications Manager, Life Sciences, Oxford, UK; Claudia Barzen, Marketing Manager, Corporate, Frankfurt, Germany;Alicia Burns, Marketing Manager, Engineering Information, New York, NY, USA; Stephen Cawley, Solutions Marketing Manager, A&G Products Group, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Christy Collins,Academic Relations Manager, Research & Academic Relations, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Kira Cooper, Engagement Director, Elsevier, San Diego, CA, USA; Juliette Goetzee, Head, MarketingRelations, A&G Products Group, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Karen Hunter, Senior Vice President, New York, NY, USA; Iris Kisjes, Senior Communications Manager, A&G Products Group,Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Inn Beng Lee, Customer Development Manager APAC, Singapore; Daviess Menefee, Global Director for Institutional Relations, New York, NY, USA; Jason Miller,Executive Publisher, Health Sciences, New York, NY, USA; Ylann Schemm, Corporate Relations Manager, Corporate Relations, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Ingrid van de Stadt, Regional CustomerDevelopment Manager EMEA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Vicki Wetherell, Publishing Editor, Oxford, UK; Joy Fisher Williams, Marketing Manager, Physical Science Books, Burlington, MA, USA;Mary Ann Zimmerman, Associate Developmental Editor, Nursing Books, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Managing Editor: Daria DeCooman, Senior Market Engagement Manager, San Diego, CA, USA

Library Connect Editorial OfficeElsevier Inc.525 B Street, Suite 1900San Diego CA 92101-4495USA

Return Service Requested

STAYING CONNECTED

Events listed here include: � Library Connect events � Other Elsevier events � Industry events featuring Elsevier booths or speakers

Upcoming Events 2009 www.elsevier.com/librarians/events

Des

ign

by S

uzan

ne R

oger

s D

esig

n

http://libraryconne

ct.

blogspot.com

www.facebook.com

http://twitter.com/

library_connect

1 Scopus Awards, Jordan7–9 SLA-AGC Conference, Kuwait15–17 Korean Electronic Site License Initiative Forum,

Chonbuk, South Korea17 Author Workshop, Hunan University,

Changsha, China18 SANDALL-SLA Spring Workshop,

San Diego, CA, USA22 5th JoBiCyT (S&T Libraries Seminar), Buenos Aires,

Argentina; Speaker: Eloisa Viggiani, ElsevierLatin America South Product Sales Manager

25-26 ALTAMIRA Jornadas de Bases de Datos deRevistas y Libros Electrónicos, Lima, Perú;Speaker: Eduardo Mogrovejo, Elsevier LatinAmerica South Account Manager

30–May 1 Korean Private University Library AssociationSeminar, Jeju, South Korea

4–6 Israeli Info, Tel Aviv6–8 VI International Meeting of Editors and Authors

of Brazilian Journals in Odontology, Porto AlegreSpeaker: Adriana Rodrigues, Latin America SouthAccount Development Manager

8 First National Seminar of Resources forBiomedical Libraries, Santiago, Chile; Speaker: Eduardo Mogrovejo, Elsevier LatinAmerica South Account Manager

12–15 CALIS Meeting, Hangzhou, China15–20 Medical Library Association (MLA),

Honolulu, HI, USA19 Library Forum, Berlin, Germany19 SLA-SCC "Doing More With Less: Creative Ways

to Provide Outstanding Service in Tough EconomicTimes," Los Angeles, CA, USA; Speaker: ChrisSchneider, Elsevier Senior Account Manager

20 Library Forum, Stuttgart, Germany20–22 FESABID, Zaragoza, Spain21 Library Connect Seminar, Zaragoza, Spain27–29 INFORUM, Prague, Czech Republic28–29 Japan Medical Library Association, Shiga28–29 SANLIC Capacity Building Workshop, Pretoria,

South Africa 29–June 1 Canadian Library Association (CLA), Montreal

1–4 IATUL, Leuven, Belgium2–5 98 Deutscher Bibliothekartag, Erfurt, Germany2–5 EAHIL, Dublin, Ireland

8–9 Library Connect Seminar, Xi’an, China10 Library Connect Seminar, New Delhi, India14–17 Special Libraries Association (SLA),

Washington, DC, USA17–18 I-Expo, Paris, France17–18 Korea Education & Research Information

Service Forum, Chonnam, South Korea18–19 INULS, Limerick, Ireland19 Japan Pharmaceutical Library Association, Tokyo19 Japan Association of National University

Libraries, Niigata22–24 RPIST, Nancy, France30–July 3 Liber, Toulouse, France

9–15 American Library Association (ALA) AnnualConference, Chicago, IL, USA

14–17 12th International Conference on Scienciometricsand Infometrics, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

23–27 IFLA, Milan, Italy31–Sept 3 Brazilian Meeting on Organic Synthesis (BMOS-13),

São Pedro

AUGUST

JULY

JUNE

MAY

APRIL

[email protected]

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS FREE QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER IN PRINT OR ELECTRONICALLY:

� Drop a line to [email protected], or� Visit www.elsevier.com/libraryconnect

SUBSCRIBE

TODAY!

TO CHANGE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS:

� Drop a line to [email protected], or

� Fax this page and a note to 619.699.6380

UPDATEYOUR

DETAILS

89581_a:v 4/27/09 10:40 AM

newsletter - elsevier

Documents