Océano and all the Océano Digital products are continuously being improved based on technological advances and, above all, our clients’ experiences, opinions, suggestions and needs.
At Océano Digital, we believe that customer satisfaction is our best reward, and this satisfaction is one of our strongest selling points.
For this reason, we provide information about how our products fulfilled our clients’ needs and requests. You can view, first hand, what our products can do for you.
Index of Case Studies
Comienzo de los casos de estudio de Océano Digital
Library at Castilla y León
The library at Castilla y León defines itself as the central agency for libraries and bibliographic information for the entire library system throughout Castilla y León in Spain, and as the information center for the community and the authors of Castilla y León. The library is available for all citizens, incorporated institutions, and other libraries.
Alejandro Carrión Gútiez, Library Director at Castilla y León, is in charge of the planning and organization of all the technical programs and administrative affairs, as well as programming all the library’s broadcasting activities.
In this interview, he discusses the use of new technologies in the library milieu and his experience with Océano.
What is the Castilla y León Library System Committee?
- To respond to the increasing demand of informational resources as a type of support for the citizens, it is indispensable to arrange, among other means, solid networks of libraries that can face this challenge efficiently. For that reason, the Castilla y León Committee has been actively working for the last few years to consolidate the library system in our community, prioritizing the cooperation, effectiveness, and quality of the presentation of the library services.
What is the role of the Castilla y León Library in this system?
- The Castilla y León Library began its activities in 1992. It defines itself as the central agency for libraries and bibliographic information for the entire library system throughout Castilla y León in Spain, and is available for all citizens, incorporated institutions, and other libraries. It fulfills, then, functions as the head library and center for technical coordination of the other libraries throughout Castilla y León.
What services are offered by the Castilla y León Library with regards to technological advances?
- This new technology allows us to develop fully virtual libraries and offer different types of services and resources available via Internet, such as reference works, newspapers, and electronic journals, etc. At the Castilla y León Library, we have resources, for example Océano Colegial and Océano Medicina y Salud, available for library users on the Internet.
In your opinion, what advantages have emerged from the Internet in public libraries?
- On the one hand, Internet has allowed access all the library’s services to remote or virtual users who may not be physically able to visit the library. On the other hand, it allows us to provide free Internet access to all citizens in the libraries, permitting them inclusion to the vast information that is out there, familiarize them with the use of new technologies, and to the alphabetization of information.
How do users embrace the ability to access, via Internet at the libraries, all the electronic resources offered by Castilla y León Library?
- The Internet has become fully integrated into the daily activities at the library, verified by the constantly busy access terminals. Now, we must instruct the users on how to benefit from all the electronic resources available to them. In doing this, the most user-friendly resources will allow immediate access to information for all users. Because of their easy consultation and utility, we value the Océano resources created specifically for public libraries, Océano Colegial and Océano Medicina y Salud.
What did you value the most in acquiring the electronic resources offered by Océano for your library?
- As mentioned before, we took into account that these resources are prepared for public library use, completely in Castilian, and offer full-text articles. Additionally, they are easy to use, information is accessible, and all the articles have been meticulously revised for correctness. Also mentionable is that all the resources compile information from different sources to deliver well-elaborated information on every subject.
What projects does the Castilla y León Library have with respect to new technology?
- Within the Reading Plan of Castilla y León 2006-2010 and with the Castilla y León Library Network program, RABEL (Red de Bibliotecas de Castilla y León), we are introducing innovations in the planning of the libraries within the community.
First of all, we will equip all the libraries in the community with the materials needed to access the Internet and participate in the network.
Secondly, based on the cooperation and allocation of resources we will begin unifying the systems of administration and catalogs to create one shared, centralized system within the first few weeks of 2007.
Simultaneously, service for the new Castilla y León Library Portals will begin within the first four months of 2007, which will provide access to the virtual library services and information from all the centers concurrently. This portal will allow users to access all the online library resources and the Océano resources.
Finally, we will place our own content on the Internet with the creation of the Castilla y León Library’s Digital Services, which will allow access via the Internet to the major works on subjects or authored by Castilians and leonines.
Separador entre los casos de estudio
Deputation of Barcelona (Diba, Diputación de Barcelona)
The Deputation of Barcelona (Diba) is a local governmental institution with over 180 libraries that drive the progress and well-being of the citizens of the 311 municipalities of the province of Barcelona. It cooperates with city halls by offering technological and economic support so that citizens are provided quality services, one of which is the public libraries.
What functions does the Diba Library Services perform?
- The Diba Library Service provides support and gives aid to the network of 182 municipal libraries and 9 library buses that work throughout the province of Barcelona. “Networking” facilitates quality services and guarantees territory balance, and is, at the same time, a great way to share experiences and criterias.
How has the network of libraries changed with regards to new technologies?
- A demand for multimedia products and digital support began years ago, first on CD and DVD, and now with the Internet, so we update our product catalog and our portal on the Internet.
Has there been a growing demand from library users for electronic resources available via Internet?
- It has not stopped in recent years. Internet has beat out other digital mediums, and our libraries possess the resources to facilitate this for all those citizens interested in consulting our databases from the libraries or from their homes using our webpage.
Do you believe the Internet will do away with the need for books on shelves?
- We don’t believe that will happen totally. We believe both are coexisting and will continue doing so, and in fact they complement each other. There are many other reasons to continue having books on the shelves.
The Diba has access to two of the electronic resources created specifically for public libraries: Océano Colegial and Océano Medicina y Sallud. How do you define these products and and what are some of the advantages?
- About 3 years ago we decided to sign the contract for the Océano products. The simplicity of using the products, the large quantities of information and the types of sources that are available, the editorial process applied to each of the articles, and the fact that all the texts are in Spanish were all determinants we were looking for.
How can we access the Océano products?
- At first, we offered the services only from computers at the libraries, but Océano Digital proposed that we offered access from our website www.diba.cat/biblioteques so that all users could access the information from any computer, in any location. That meat we were now offering library services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without a person having to come directly to the library.
What consequences has the incorporation of both resources had on the number of hits to diba.cat?
- There are more and more users consulting our portal, looking for information and finding answers to their questions. Of course having access to the high quality products offered by Océano has increased the use of our portal, which had initially been created to provide service to those associates in the Diba Library network.
Separador entre los casos de estudio
Universidad de Occidente, Mexico – Library Technology
The Universidad de Occidente has a headquarter in Sinaloa, Mexico that has 6 university campuses and offers 16 majors, including Master’s and Doctoral degrees. Its mission is to shape, in an excellent academic environment, competent professionals in the sciences, humanities and technology, who will participate in the development of Sinaloa and Mexico.
Elena Reyes, from the Department of Library Technology, will tell us about her experience with the Océano products:
Universidad de Occidente subscribes to one of the electronic resources created specifically for public libraries and educational entities: Océano Administración. What has been your experience with this product?
- Our experience with Océano Administración has been great because it has allowed us to expand and affirm the knowledge learned in the classroom with thousands of articles, essays, and cases.
What advantages would you note about Océano Administración?
- As a reference product it has daily advantages, but I would like to point out the opinions and experiences presented in these articles about people who live and work day to day in Administration and its related fields. It provides another perspective, and in doing so, one can compare experiences or lives within the business realm.
How does Océano Administración affect professional activity and knowledge?
- It allows me to be informed with comments and cases from professionals at the international level.
What is your opinion on the versatility and potential of Océano Administración as a formative tool?
- Even though I am not a business professional, the content in Océano is still interesting to me. The best thing: it’s in my language.
