EBSCO’s Katy Ginanni Transfers to Company’s South African Office

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., U.S.A., September 22, 2005 – EBSCO Information Services (EIS) is pleased to announce the appointment of Training Specialist Katy Ginanni to the position of sales manager for EBSCO South Africa. She will be supported by the office’s electronic media specialist and its customer service department. Located in Johannesburg, the office serves customers throughout South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and other areas.

Ginanni earned her Bachelor of Arts in 1984 from Auburn University, Auburn, Ala., U.S.A., with a major in speech communications and a double minor in philosophy and Italian. In 1987, she earned her M.L.S. from Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., U.S.A. After spending seven years in serials acquisitions with posts at Vanderbilt, Auburn and Old Dominion University, Ginanni joined EBSCO in August 1992 as an account services manager and in September 2000, was appointed to training specialist.

While an account services manager, Ginanni monitored and contributed to quality control of service to customers, coordinated with EBSCO’s customer service department to create a proactive service program, and provided on-site customer education, training and problem solving related to subscriptions service. As training specialist, Ginanni trained EBSCO personnel and customers in the use of all EBSCO Web-based services. She also participated in the creation and enhancement of the services, creating and distributing training material for them.

Given her extensive professional background, Ginanni is well-positioned to help libraries served by the South African office identify the tools and services needed to access and effectively manage print and e-journals.

An active participant in the library community, Ginanni is a longtime member of numerous library associations, including IFLA (via ALA, through her involvement with the Standing Committee on Serials Publications). Her professional activities also include memberships with the ALA, NASIG, ACRL, ALCTS and many others including the Southeastern Library Association, the Alabama Library Association and the Mississippi Library Association. Among these organizations, Ginanni has held 25 leadership positions and committee posts since 1988.

“I am delighted to have someone who has such a wealth of experience and who is so actively involved with the library community to serve the customers in Southern Africa,” said Jean Smith, general manager, EIS South Africa. “We are delighted with this new appointment.”

Of her new post, Ginanni said: “I’ve had an affection for southern Africa ever since I served in the Peace Corps in Zimbabwe. I’ve also had the opportunity to visit the Johannesburg office several times, and know what a great team is here, with a very strong customer service orientation. Moving here will provide me with an excellent opportunity to broaden my experience with EBSCO.”

About EBSCO
EBSCO Information Services provides libraries and research centers with online and print journal subscription services, e-resource access and management services, full-text and secondary database development and access, an OpenURL-compliant link resolver, online book purchasing and related information services. EBSCO maintains a title database of more than 298,000 serial titles and upholds relationships with more than 78,000 publishers around the world.

EBSCO’s 32 Regional Offices worldwide are staffed with personnel who speak the local language and understand the particular challenges faced by librarians in their areas, offering a uniquely personal level of service. Specialized divisions serve academic, biomedical, government, public, school and special libraries as well as corporations.