Already Five Years? Yes, Indeed.

It’s already been 5 years since the libraries of the four Swiss federal research institutes Eawag, Empa, PSI and WSL merged into Lib4RI on the 1 January 2011. We would like to take this opportunity to shortly look back and to thank all Lib4RI users, the Lib4RI steering committee and the board of directors of the four research institutes for their continued support and confidence in the last five years.

In the last five years a lot of things have changed with respect to the library’s information resources and services. The first and probably most noticeable change for the users was the launch of the new Lib4RI website. With this website came new functionalities and services such as the Lib4RI link resolver, the searchbox and the standards portal, where the link resolver was also integrated. Further new services such as training courses for PhD students were established and info materials were created. In the near future a new system for the institutional bibliography and the institutional repository of the four research institutes will go live.

By giving the library a collaborative organisational structure between its sites it was possible to professionalise the management of the whole library and especially of the electronic resources. While the number of e-journals offered could be doubled and the number of e-books increased tenfold, there was basically no increase in the budget of the library.

So stay tuned for more news about Lib4RI’s 5th anniversary, including some events in the second half of the year! Please contact us should you have any questions or comments concerning our anniversary or other library related topics.