Libraries @ AUB
New faculty orientation
Aida Farha
Medical Librarian
Saab Medical Library
August 18, 2014
"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 Library
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 to the librarians
 55 support staff plus student assistants
Libraries
@
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
 Recalling books
Ordering new books:
 Online form
 Automated tracking/notification system
Ordering journals/databases:
 Serials and Electronic Resources Librarian
Services for Faculty … (2 of 3)
 Ordering articles/research material:
 Document Delivery and Interlibrary Loan Services
(worldwide)
 Identifying new acquisitions
 E-Reserve or Print Reserve:
 Contact Circulation Staff libreserve@aub.edu.lb
 Subject Specialist Librarians give course-integrated
classes or create customized research guides and act as
liaisons between the Library and the 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
 Citation Management Tools training
 Create targeted current awareness
 Get help with research at the Reference Desk
In summary, we are professional information
specialists that are here to satisfy your information
needs 
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
 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 in the
libraries during regular hours for troubleshooting
(24 hours help desk by phone)
Current & Future Plans
 Upgrade the E-Classroom and renovate SML
 Create 2 study rooms (increase seating capacity to 1,000)
 Redesign the libraries’ homepages (ASC, Jafet, and SML)
 Populate AUB Scholar Works repository with AUB student
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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