THE CONTRIBUTION OF ECONOMIC LIBRARIES IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (in Greek)
Hellenic Economic Library Network (H.E.LI.N.) 2015. | ISBN 978-960-341-111-6
This publication aims to present the Minutes of the one-day scientific conference titled “The Contribution of Economic Libraries in Research and Development” that took place in 6 March 2015, in Athens, at the Head Office of the Bank of Greece, by the Hellenic Economic Library Network (H.E.LI.N.).
H.E.LI.N., created in early 2012, is a network of economic libraries aiming to promote cooperation among its member libraries, as well as the exchange of services and resources related to collections on the subject of economics. The ultimate goal of the network is to provide higher quality and more effective services to the community of its users.
The following libraries are members of H.E.LI.N.:
Alpha Bank, National Bank of Greece, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens – Faculty of Economics, Centre of Planning and Economic Research, Athens University of Economics and Business, University of Piraeus, Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation, Bank of Greece, Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism, Harokopio University.
The purpose of this conference was to present and emphasize the contribution of economic libraries to issues such as research, development and business enterprise in Greece as well as abroad. The conference was open to scientists, researchers, university students, librarians as well as the general public interested in the processing and the results from the bulk of economic data and information sources exploited by the libraries.
The announcements included in this publication highlight the added value of the Greek economic libraries and their contribution to the dissemination and utilisation of economic information for users. Yet, the cost of access to the high-quality material provided by these libraries is constantly rising, while continual cuts to their budgets and manpower hinder the fulfillment of their obligations, their aims and their services. As stated in the introduction to this publication, the creation of this network has been a collaborative effort to find alternative solutions for access by the members of the network so that they can answer their users’ constantly increasing demands for information.
Speakers and coordinators of the various sections of the conference referred to the usefulness and the necessity of updated collections in economic libraries, while through personal views, examples or best practices they presented the contribution of economic libraries to the prosperity of the organisations where they belong, since libraries as information sources can enhance their competitiveness.
This publication comprises the announcements of speakers in the conference, a concise presentation of the round-table discussion that followed, and the main conclusions as well as the answers to question that were posed by the audience during the conference in relation to the activities and the wider operation of H.E.LI.N. In addition, Annexes present data about the libraries members of H.E.LI.N. and short biographical notes of the speakers and coordinators of the sections of the conference.