As a medical librarian, you advocate for the research and information needs of doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and medical researchers. While clinicians and researchers may think a simple web search will supply them with the information they need for practice, education and research, you know that is not the case. To ensure your hospital’s information needs are met with trusted, evidence-based and peer-reviewed resources, you’ve made the case to access full-text databases like CINAHL® Complete and MEDLINE® Complete. But in order to continually offer access to these resources, you have to make sure they’re being used often and fully.
Here are three simple ways to help drive usage and show the value of EBSCO Health research databases.
Promote Trainings
One of the main reasons people won’t utilize a resource available to them is that they may not know how to use it. EBSCO Health offers live online courses to provide training and demonstration for users and administrators on a variety of EBSCO Health products and interfaces. Dozens of new sessions are offered each month. Sessions range from 15 minutes to an hour, and supply users with tips to effectively navigate and use EBSCO Health resources. In addition, EBSCO Health offers pre-recorded versions, as well as short video tutorials for the busy clinician or researcher to access at their convenience. Share a link to EBSCO Help with your clinicals and researchers via an email blast.
Download a Promotional Kit
Medical librarians have a lot on their plate, and creating marketing materials to promote resources may not be at the top of the list. EBSCO Health offers promotional materials like product icons and buttons, flyers, posters and take-away-guides, complied into promotional kits.
Create a Marketing Campaign
A marketing campaign can be an effective way to bring attention to the wealth of information resources available to your hospital’s clinicians and researchers. Start by forming a strategy for who you want to address and the message you’d like to convey. Then, explore tactics like emails, infographics, success stories, presentation or e-newsletters to distribute and support that message. For more information on creating marketing campaigns, download EBSCO Health’s free Guide to Successfully Marketing the Medical Library.
Visit EBSCO Health’s support site, EBSCO Help, to explore tools available to help promote EBSCO Health research databases, from user guides to training videos and promotional materials.
