Several Illinois librarians presented at the 2016 Electronic Resources and Libraries (ER&L) Conference. This year’s event took place on the University of Texas at Austin campus, from April 3 to April 6, and it was also livestreamed. The Illinois academic librarians who presented were Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, Professor/Coordinator for Information Literacy Services and Instruction in the University Library, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Piotr Hebal, Senior Developer at Northwestern University’s Galter Health Sciences Library; Jonathan Shank, Acquisitions & E-Resources Librarian at the Galter Health Sciences Library; and Jason Stirnaman, Digital Library Programmer at the Galter Health Sciences Library.
Hinchliffe’s presentation (she was part of a panel) was titled “Researching Researchers: Developing Evidence-Based Strategy for Improving Discovery and Access”. The session discussed efforts by libraries, publishers, and vendors to serve academic and students better by understanding their research needs and habits. The efforts included a special emphasis on enhancing tools for discovery and access. The presentation by Hebal, Shank, and Stirnaman was titled “Hack the Link Resolver: A DIY, Tailored Approach to Full Text Linking in PubMed”. The session covered Northwestern University’s strategy for improving the usability of full-text links in PubMed. Instead of continuing with the Alma resolver, the Galter Health Sciences Library took a “do-it-yourself” approach.
The ER&L Conference is an annual event, first held in 2006, that gives librarians and vendors an opportunity to discuss the latest methods for gathering, managing, maintaining, and providing access to electronic resources. In addition to learning from each other, attendees have the opportunity to hear from industry leaders on what ideas have and have not worked in the real world. For more information on this year’s conference, including the full list of presentations, go here. Next year’s gathering will take place from April 2 to April 5, 2017, on the University of Texas at Austin campus.