Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I have been working at EBSCO for about 11 years. I started working right after graduating from the Mining Engineering Department of Middle East Technical University (METU). I worked as an implementation specialist at the beginning of my career, which later evolved into a training specialist position and I am currently a Senior Training Manager for Turkey and Albania.
What exactly does your job description at EBSCO cover?
Although I have worked in the training department for about 11 years, the job is constantly evolving. Working in such a dynamic environment is so exciting. My main duty is to provide trainings within Turkey and Albania territories.
I arrange online and on-site trainings targeted at end users and library staff. As end users, academia and graduate students are the main focus. Depending on the product, I train medical doctors, undergraduate students and teachers as well. DynaMed, Rosetta Stone or K-12 databases are examples of such products.
I am also responsible for creating materials such as user guides and instructional videos for our products. We have a YouTube channel and a Help page in Turkish.
Internally, I lead our Central & Eastern Europe training team. I also carry out several internal trainings to EBSCO employees in different departments, supporting co-workers develop their skills to be in a better position to help our customers.
What are the most requested trainings by users lately?
EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) including our new interface, EBSCO eBooks and Rosetta Stone make up our most popular products in the Turkey and Albania region and are included in almost all local tutorials. We have a national agreement in Turkey with TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM in which 20 EBSCO databases are provided to all universities across the country, as well as some training and research hospitals. Our trainings consist of the combination of these databases provided within each agreement with the aim of supporting the needs of local researchers. We also receive many training requests for subject-specific databases such as Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source, EconLit with Full Text, Education Source, MEDLINE Complete and SPORTDiscus with Full Text. DynaMed and K-12 resources trainings are also requested from time to time.
What do your training seminars add to your users?
Our trainings can be divided into two main categories: library and end user trainings. Our aim in training is not just to teach people how to do something but to explain the value and reasons for using our products, how we can contribute to their research, help them find solutions to their problems, and to enable them to use products and services in the most efficient way. We aim to help librarians to serve their end users better and to ensure that users make the most out of the resources provided by their library. Trainings create a bridge between the library and its users, strengthen their communication and make users aware of what the library has to offer.
The training we offer provides important advantages for users such as accessing top quality resources, saving time while doing research and being more efficient.
What do you like most about your position at EBSCO?
There are many things I like, but if I must choose one, it's nice to know that I'm guiding academia in their work and research because they are vital to the development of society. I like the thought that one day, one of the participants of our trainings could make a scientific discovery on the subject he is working on, using the resources and tools provided by EBSCO.
I truly believe my position plays an integral part of EBSCO's mission to transform people's lives.
