Teaming Up Without Selling Out: The Scopus™ Student Ambassador Program at the University of Waterloo

The University of Waterloo Library recently experimented with an opportunity to collaborate with Elsevier Inc. to promote a single database Scopus™ through the creation of a Scopus™ Student Ambassador (SAm) program during the fall 2009 and winter 2010 terms. This program involved hiring a student each term to help raise awareness and usage of this database on campus. This article evaluates the impact of focused e-resource promotion to students, faculty, and library staff. It addresses how the program affected Scopus™ usage statistics, the opportunities it created for user outreach and learning, the effectiveness of its peer-to-peer training approach, and the dynamics of working with vendors on such initiatives.