WiLS April 2016 Vendor Partner Interview: Beth Roberts, American Psychological Association

At WiLS, we want to bring valuable information to our library partners, including information about the missions and big ideas of the vendors they may already do business with.  Each month, WiLS interviews a vendor partner in order to bridge the gap and open the door to valuable collaborations.  This month, we are delighted to share insights from Beth Roberts, Western Regional Sales Manager at the American Psychological Association, a WiLS Gold vendor partner!

Tell us about your company’s background.

The American Psychological Association was founded in 1892 with 31 members and grew quickly after World War II. Today, APA is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States, with more than 117,500 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students as its members. APA also has 54 divisions in subfields of psychology.

The mission of the APA is to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people’s lives.

APA has a long established publishing program.  The APA offers 7 research databases, print and electronic books, psychotherapy videos, and publishes over 90 peer-reviewed journals including the journals of the Canadian Psychological Association.  APA Books^® imprints include: APA Books – scholarly & professional titles; Magination Press^®, self-help books for children; and APA LifeTools^®, trade books for the general public.

Why do you, personally, choose to work with libraries?

I have been very fortunate to have a career in the publishing and book industry, specifically in account management and sales.  Throughout my career I have seen the industry change and evolve, and of course I had to evolve with it.  I had an epiphany several years ago, and that was that electronic publishing is the future.  Not that print products will ever be obsolete, but this realization took me in a direction to sell electronic products exclusively.  My market base as Western Regional Sales Manager includes academic, hospital, corporate, and government libraries.  Once again, I am very fortunate to be able to call on libraries which I consider to be one of the most admired and accessible educational learning gateways available to everyone.

What do you like to know about the libraries you work with? What helps you better understand their needs?

I think it is very important to look at the big picture:  who is the library serving, and who are there end users?  What is the need of the user?  What are the areas where APA products can enhance the learning or research experience?  I try to be very customer service oriented, and that puts me in direct contact with librarians as well.  Personal contact gives one the opportunity to ask questions.

What big ideas are being worked on at your company? What problems are being solved?

With a very active publishing program, APA remains at the forefront of disseminating information relative to psychological science and research. Therefore, we are always actively engaged in the creation of high-quality content and educational resources. APA is currently working on a game-changing institutional electronic resource for users of APA Style®, called APA Style CENTRAL. This exciting new educational and practical set of web-based learning, research, writing, and publishing tools has been created by APA Style experts to inform and educate current and future generations of scholarly writers. It combines sophisticated learning and teaching tools, advanced writing and content management technology, and full integration of APA’s best-selling Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association® to create an unparalleled web-based suite of integrated services and tools. It focuses on the application and proper use of APA Style, the leading writing style for the behavioral sciences and many other disciplines. It serves students who are new to academic writing and APA Style, as well as those who are more advanced in their academic careers but need to reinforce their understanding of APA Style rules. It provides instruments for instructors and components for researchers who are actively publishing. APA Style CENTRAL is a flexible and versatile, end-to-end resource for all facets of the scholarly writing and research processes, and is the only authoritative and complete online environment for teaching, writing, and publishing in APA Style.

How can librarians become partners in product or training development?

APA always welcomes the feedback and suggestions of our users to help guide product development and the training resources we provide. A great starting point to see our current training materials is the APA Search Help and Training Center, where all sorts of support can be found.

Our training program provides interactive basic and advanced training for instructors and library administrators; sessions specifically designed for faculty and students; and a three-part program to help end-users optimize their search strategies which include 30-minute sessions on Basic Search, Advanced Search, and Results Management. Trainings can be tailored to the platform or focus on search techniques for a specific database, and we often reach out to our customers to help guide the topics of our programs throughout the year to make sure we include the most relevant subjects.

APA also works closely with librarians to bring training into the classroom and identify ideas for new tools that we can develop to support the evolving research needs of end users. We collaborate with librarians to offer instructional sessions to the faculty for Psych 101 and Research Methods classes and to promote integrated training sessions.

Please share your topics and suggestions by contacting us at .

Do you have anything else you’d like to share here?

APA offers a Librarian Resource Center that has a wealth of information for librarians.  The Librarians Library Resource Center can be found at http://www.apa.org/pubs/librarians/index.aspx.

Feel free to contact me if you have questions at .