ANNUAL REPORT - The Petroleum Institute

The Petroleum Institute | Annual Report - Academic Year 2011 - 2012
skills training. Several members staff
delivered papers at professional international
conferences, including the Charleston
Acquisitions Conference, the Association of
College & Research Libraries, the American
International Consortium of Libraries and
the National Association of Writers in
Education. Rowena Aquino was awarded an
online course scholarship from the American
Library Association and Vanessa Middleton
was awarded a Harvard Leadership Institute
Scholarship.
Library website with the result that the number
of graduate student research consultations
was higher than any in any previous year.
ADNOC operating companies’ research groups
were offered extensive training workshops to
instruct their own researchers in the effective
use of critical resources.
Engagement of Innovative
Technologies
The PI Library is committed to innovative
technologies to improve access to information.
This year, Library staff selected the integrated
library management system (ILMS) called
Symphony which was smoothly implemented
through cooperation between the vendor and
the PI’s IT team. The new ILMS will significantly
improve access to materials through its selfservice
features and better links to resources.
Our goal this academic year was to provide
seamless and efficient access to our thousands
of e-resources.
Summon provides a Google-like experience
for our students who –like many beginners
in academic research – are uncertain of their
approach to scholarly journals. Summon has
increased the use of a variety of scholarly
journals and faculty feedback indicates that
it has improved the standard of scholarly
resources that students exploit in their
research papers.
Awareness Raising
Another goal was to promote the Library
& ILC’s resources to the PI Community and
beyond. We made tremendous efforts to
publicize the library as an essential part of
students’ academic life, and to emphasize the
importance of research skills. Every month over
900 students, faculty and staff visit our three
locations and we are open for service over 64
hours per week including weekends. This year
we made it easier for Arzanah students to use
the Habshan Library.
Information Services
Empowering the PI community to navigate
the information landscape was critical for
the Library this academic year. A major
accomplishment was the redesign of the
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