Libraries@AUB
New faculty orientation
Aida Farha
Medical Librarian
Saab Medical Library
Jan 23, 2015
What is the question?
"Half of what you are taught as medical
students will in 10 years have been
shown to be wrong. And the trouble is
none of your teachers knows which
half"
Dr. Sydney Burwell [1956]
Tsunami of Information…
• Scholarly
Literature doubles
every 3-5 years.
• 6500 medical
articles
published/day
• >120,000 STM
journals.
AUB Libraries
 Jafet Library (Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences)
 Saab Medical Library (SML)
 Engineering and Architecture Library
 Science and Agriculture Library
 Farm Library
AUB Libraries embrace the mission of the University
in supporting excellence in education & research
and in serving the peoples of the Middle East and
beyond.
Academic / Research Libraries
One of the largest academic/research libraries in
the Arab world:
 Budget: one of the largest in Arab world and
larger than most institutions of the same size
in the U.S.
 Staff: among the largest in Arab world
 25 librarians with MS in library or
information science (some with PhD or a
second master degree)
 10 assistants
 55 support staff plus student assistants
Libraries
Libraries
@
@AUB
AUB
As a Physical Facility
 Group-study rooms / Study carrels / Computer Labs.
 Renovation plans…
 Jafet Regular Hours:
Mon-Fri
7:30 am - midnight
Sat
8:00 am - 8:00 pm
Sun
12:00 pm – midnight
106.5 hrs/week …. 24/7 during reading/exams periods
Summer: Jafet/SML close at 9:00 pm
Science/Engineering at 3:00 pm
Collection in Numbers
 Over 1.3 million volumes of print and electronic monographs and
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periodicals
Over 140,000 print and electronic journals & conference
proceedings
Over 300 databases and hundreds of major reference works
Substantial number of local/regional journals, newspapers, and
magazines going back to the late 19th century
1,400 manuscripts (some appraised as museum pieces) and a
growing collection of rare books
2,000 maps and 50,000 photographs of unique/historical nature
Missionaries papers; art and political posters, and papers by
famous scholars, musicians and artists: e.g. Zaki Nassif…
And open to suggestions from Faculty!
Collection: Past vs. Present
Item Type
in 2009
in 2014
8,000
20,000
Databases*
90
300
Major Reference Works
100
500
15,000
500,000
Journal packages
14
50
eJournals (access)
49,000
140,000
Journal dig. arch. (# vols)
14,000
400,000
Journal subscriptions
2,643
5,780
Newspapers (Mic. to E)**
0
20
Primary Sources (DBs)
0
25
Print books purchased
eBooks (ownership)
*New databases: expensive, high quality, core titles (e.g., PAO, PQ Central, WoS).
**Examples: Economist, Financial Times, Jerusalem Post, NYT, Times, WSJ, Washington Post.
Services for Faculty … (1 of 3)
Borrowing, renewing and returning books:
 Up to 100 items for a loan period of one year
 Online renewal
 Borrowing by proxy
 Books can be returned to any library
Ordering new books
Ordering journals/databases
Services for Faculty … (2 of 3)
 Ordering articles/research material
 Identifying new acquisitions
 E-Reserve or Print Reserve
 Subject Specialist Librarians give course -
integrated classes or create customized
research guides and act as liaisons between
Library and AUB Faculties.
Services for Faculty … (3 of 3)
Instruction one-to-one:
 Library Tour
 Identify resources relevant to your needs
 Learn about the quality of the journals and conference
proceedings
 Know who/which papers cited your work
 Request citation Management Tools training
 Create targeted current awareness
 Get help with research
In summary, we are professional information specialists that
are here to satisfy your information needs and many times we
do exceed them 
Tips to
Your Research Impact
 Create your Open Researcher Contributor ID (ORCID): remove author ambiguity
& ensure your work is correctly attributed to you
 Be consistent in writing your name, institutional & departmental address and do
not use abbreviations
 List your email correctly and open it frequently
 Publish in Journals that have at least one of these:
 Impact Factor
 Open Access (beware of predatory ones)
 Indexed in International databases
 Check Scopus, PubMed or WoS to see if all your citations are correct
 Join academic social networking ex. Academia, LinkedIn, ResearchGate…
 Participate in a professional listserv
 Retain your right to place your publication @AUB Institutional Repository
Too much to remember? Ask US, we are here to help you!
Services for YOUR Students
 Instructions either one-to-one or for a
group/class
 Customized sessions to suit your curricular
needs
 Thesis clinics
 SML’s 2-credit hours course (IDTH 301)
 Last year: 500 sessions for 8,000 students
 Carrels for your graduate students and
research associates
 State of the art E-Classroom
Technology @AUB Libraries
 Wireless Internet connection
 Four computer labs with 120 state-of-the-art
PCs
 Networked printing and photocopying services
 Remote access available for the great majority
of online resources
 Computer technicians are available during
regular hours for troubleshooting (24 hours
help desk by phone)
Current & Future Plans
 Renovate SML
 Create 2 study rooms (increase seating capacity to
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1,000)
Redesign the libraries’ homepages (ASC, Jafet, and SML)
Populate AUB Scholar Works repository with AUB student
and faculty publications
Index and digitize major Arabic newspapers, magazines,
and journals
Digitize all of the Libraries’ 1,400 manuscripts
Digitize all of the Libraries’ 10,000 pre-1956 Arabic
books.
Open for YOUR Suggestions!
http://medlineplus.gov
Best consumer health site for free
“A speech should be like a woman's skirt: long enough to cover the topic yet
short enough to keep the interest” .
Winston Churchill
Thank you…