Calling all Librarians! How would you like to learn more about Mendeley, certify your skills, and, in return, receive a free premium Mendeley upgrade for up to 500 users at your institution?
Today we launched our Certification for Librarians Program, which is a structured, self-paced, self-study program that takes 15- 20 hours to complete with rewards offered at each level.
What does the program offer you as a librarian?
An opportunity to deep-dive into Mendeley while following a structured, self-paced, self-study program that will take you approximately 15-20 hours to complete
The program is divided into three levels; each level offering a valuable benefit for your library and user community.
Renewable: Each year, upon successful completion of our upgrading requirements, you get to continue your premium Mendeley access at no additional cost.
How your institute will benefit:
After level 1: Receive a premium upgrade for your personal Mendeley account giving you access to advanced features and increased storage/group capabilities.
After level 2: Receive $250 worth of promotional material to help you spread the word about Mendeley on campus
After level 3: Up to 500 users at your institute can benefit from an upgraded Mendeley account
Benefits of a Premium Upgrade:
5 GB of personal storage (vs. 2 GB)
Unlimited private groups with 25 members (vs. 1 private group with 3 members)
20 GB of group storage (vs. 100 MB)
Access to advanced features, including Mendeley Suggest
We’d love to have you on board with us! Learn more about the program and sign up to start your training at the Academic Librarians site.
We profiled part of our Platform team last month, but as it is our largest team here at Mendeley, we had to break it up into two parts. To be honest, we profiled the team in three parts, with the API team taking the lead back in August.
Why is the team so big? Because all those lines of code translate into giving Mendeley the base it needs for all of the features that make Mendeley what it is today.
Read through their individual bios and find out how the Platform team helps every single team at Mendeley.
Richard Lyne
Senior Software Engineer
Richard originally studied Physics with Space Science at UCL before falling into programming as a career.
Mendeley has broken his track record of always working at acronyms.
How do you describe your role on the Platform Team?
I’m a software engineer and have worked on a number of projects from the data-pipeline, the recommender, and the API. Now I’m running the SSO project.
What is your favourite part about working for Mendeley?
Definitely the people and culture here – couldn’t have asked for smarter or more interesting people to work with. And the day-to-day we have latitude to work with new technologies and practices.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I started a football team up where I live so I could play regular 5-a-side games, some stargazing, and indoor/outdoor climbing.
Gianni O’Neill
Java Developer
Gianni previously worked at Kizoom/Trapeze making transport software.
How do you describe your role on the Platform Team? Working on the back end services for Mendeley What is your favourite part about working for Mendeley? Getting featured on the blog.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time? Losing at pub quiz
Chris Dawes
Senior Java Developer
Chris has only recently moved back to London after a stint in Berlin
working for Aupeo — an online music service. Before that he worked at
MX Telecom.
How do you describe your role on the Platform Team?
I started at the beginning of this year so I’ve been rotating around the different projects the platform team is responsible for.
I was particularly impressed at the level of engineering that’s gone in to the development-test-deployment cycle. This is pretty much the gold standard that everybody’s aiming for, with everything automated from commit through to deployment, scaling and monitoring.
What is your favourite part about working for Mendeley?
It’s a great team — there’s a really good vibe and it’s actually a nice feeling to come in to the office every day. My team-mates are all extremely talented, and there’s always someone able to help out when things get tricky.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I learnt to scuba dive last year so I’ve used all my leave so far (and possibly some karma too) to go diving in Malta and Thailand. A manta ray gliding over your head, almost within reach, is really special feeling.
Ed Ingold
Software Engineer
Ed is a former Anthropology student who realised paid employment was both inevitable and desirable. “Now I code. Generally not horribly,” he said.
How do you describe your role on the Platform Team?
Processing a lot of data and working out which researchers should be collaborating.
What is your favourite part about working for Mendeley?
I have fun playing around with various shiny bits of technology. Also, it’s an indoor job with no heavy lifting. Sometimes there is pizza.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Mostly playing a lot of board games.
Michael Watt
Software Engineer
Originally from Perth, Western Australia, Michael graduated in 2004 with a Computer Science degree. In 2009, he decided to move to London for a change of scenery. Six years later, he’s still here and have had a number of jobs, largely doing back-end Java development in a number of domains including real estate, broadcasting, and finance.
How do you describe your role on the Platform Team?
I work on the services that power the various APIs used by Mendeley applications and third parties.
What is your favourite part about working for Mendeley?
Working on diverse problems, with a team that is serious about continual improvement, on software that is used and found useful by a growing number of people.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Having a pint in a London pub; occasionally playing a guitar or piano (badly); playing with radio controlled things that fly.
Piyush Bedi
Software Engineer
Forged on the sandy hot beaches of Australia sometime in the 80s, Piyush is from a bygone era when it didn’t matter how big your data was. He mysteriously ended up on the other side of the world and must now practice as a Software Engineer to make his way back. Follow him on Twitter @grimyetcheerful
How do you describe your role on the Platform Team?
I work with an intelligent team to build our internal and external software platform. This means developing RESTful services, APIs and map reduce jobs, so other people can interact with our awesome services and vast ocean of data.” When I feel homesick, I use that time to shoot down bugs (in our code).
What is your favourite part about working for Mendeley?
The amazing speed at which we can go from an idea in our heads to operational code for other people. I’ve worked in a lot of places, but Mendeley has one of the most agile environments I’ve ever had the privilege to work in. This is no doubt due to the great team and the software architecture they have developed.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Travelling around the British Isles (See diagram) and the greater European continent, intense sports (like snowboarding, video gaming, and finding sunlight in London while carrying my wet laundry) and deciding what to eat for my next meal.
Javier only recently became a Mendeley Advisor, but has been incredibly helpful leading seminars at the University of Granada, where he is a Professor of a Zoology, to helping with Alpha and Beta testing of our forthcoming Android app.
We also believe he is the first Professor to earn the distinction of Advisor of the Month! Prof. Dr. Alba-Tercedor’s career spans over 40 years, from when he started studying biology at the University of Granada in 1972, and from where he also earned his Master’s degree and presented his PhD, with research stops in Canada, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Australia, and the USA.
You can learn more about his research in this short, easy-to-understand video:
Where do you do your research/work the best?
As a zoologist who has worked most of my life on bioassesment of water course by using the macroinvertebrates, I have been forced to work a lot in the field during sampling campaigns. However, every day in the field needs many days to study under the microscope to identify the caught material. So our work is a mixture, with but with many hours of lab. To work in nature, and be in a river in the field, may sound great for everyone. However, during a sampling campaign, we are forced to do many sampling sites a day as possible, so we don’t have much time to enjoy the beautiful places we visit. Moreover, in autumn and winter cold days, working all day in the cold water means it is not as nice as people imagine our work.
However, the best place to work is the place where nice people are. So, having a friendly collaborative environment researchers, we can feel happiest doing our hard daily job.
What is the best part about working in research?
You always maintain interest, as much as you know, as much you need to know. To be a good researcher, the most important quality is to never allows the disappearance of child-like expression that all we have inside. So maintain the joy for life, and the typical child-like curiosity — and the most important will have fun while working.
The best part is the possibility to travel and contact people around the world that no matter the language, religion, race, etc., to share passion and enthusiasm!
And the worst/most challenging?
The worst probably is the unfair competition every researcher has to fight along his/her life. This unfortunately and more commonly arises from the most closely-related colleagues!
What academic/researcher/librarian would you like to work with or meet, dead or alive?
If a time machine existed, I would be curious to visit Charles Darwin at the latest stage of his life and stay talking with him all the evening. Just listening…
What book are you reading at the moment and why?
An interesting book entitled “Caddisflies: The Underwater Architects.” Because I’m now writing a paper on how these aquatic insects build their cases in special way as a survival strategy. But, in the bed before sleeping, I’m reading a thriller novel by Åsa Larsson!
How does Mendeley influence your research?
What happens to me with Mendeley it is exactly “a love history” — I fell in love with it in the “first sight!” I was using a software I computed long ago by using DBASE (II, later III) where I was manually adding bibliographical references — I had code tags, and numbers corresponding with the paper copies or reprints I have in my “physical files.”
In November 2014, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar where a nice short introduction to Mendeley was distributed beforehand. After reading it, I was motivated enough to spend four hours working with it, even before the seminar. So the day of the seminar, I was so excited and enthusiastic — I was totally engaged with Mendeley! Because I was clearly older than the others attendees, most of them started to think I was part of the panel of Mendeley’s presenters!
Since them I have been doing bibliographic fast search and maintaining new topics of collaborative research thanks to the possibilities that the shared groups have. And the possibility to have it in all my devices, including my tablet and smartphone, which helps me to read everywhere. And I have no worries in case I lose or anyone steals my computer or laptop; I’m sure I will continue having all my work.
Why did you decide to become an Advisor and how are you involved with the program?
Normally I’m extremely enthusiastic with anything I consider worthwhile, as is the case of Mendeley. I was convinced of the possibilities that this as a tool for research, so I thought I had the moral obligation to spread out its knowledge not only to my colleagues, but specially to our students, our future researchers. And I started to do proselytism with so much energy and enthusiasm that some people are wondering I’m paid for it. But believe me, I do it happily because I’m totally convinced of the goodness and possibilities.
In fact, I love your phrase “It’s time to change the way we do research.” Moreover, I have a lot of experience (and I like it) as beta tester of different scientific software and web applications, so why not to collaborate with you, and at the same time being one of the first to test new versions.
What is the one thing you want people to know about Mendeley?
Mendeley is the key permitting to open the door to discover the existing research world, no matter the topic you are interested in.
We’re really excited to announce the speaker for the February edition of our Talks@Mendeley series, which showcases thought leaders from around the world to discuss science, technology and research issues with the Mendeley team and our community.
Kristen Marhaver is a Marine Biologist and TED Senior Fellow based in the Caribbean, who divides her time between developing ‘assisted reproduction’ methods for threatened coral species and working to change the way that scientists publish, organise, and communicate their research.
And while we certainly don’t hate corals (a requirement if you want to follow Kristen’s @CoralSci profile on Twitter) the latter part of her work certainly struck a chord with Mendeley, as we’re trying to do many of these same things for researchers around the world.
“I’m working to increase the power of science in society by challenging scientists and journalists to re-examine the inefficient publishing traditions of the past, challenging young scientists to approach the publishing process with fresh eyes rather than blindly adopting the traditions inherited from old academia”
Kristen’s talk: How to recognise digital quicksand: The modern pitfalls of science publishing and communication will discuss how the process of delivering scientific knowledge to the public is a wild maze loaded with unmarked traps. It will also provide some insights for scientists, journalist and publishers on how to identify and avoid those traps so that they can fulfil their noble duty of growing and disseminating the collective body of knowledge held by human society.
She will look at the reasons why science often fails to achieve its rightful place in society because of incentive systems that prevent focused and cohesive science communication to the public. One of the main issues she identifies is the tendency to treat science like a disposable product instead of a durable good, effectively reducing research to ‘click bait’ (something she recently wrote about in this Wired article).
Photo by Mark Vermelj
“There is also a big problem with many digital science tools that end up helping to insulate scientists instead of connecting them to each other and society in general, and with some of the current focus on open access, which can actually distract us from other facets of communication that matter for translating science for society.”
When you log on to the Mendeley website this week, you will notice some changes to your online library. We’ve not only given it a fresh paint job, but brought some of the features you love from Mendeley Desktop into your Web Library.
A quick look at the new features (along with some kicky background music):
In case the video is not working (or you’re in lab and forgot your headphones), here is a run-down of the new features:
Your research any time, anywhere
We want you to be able to take Mendeley and your research with you anywhere you may need it. Paired with our iOS and upcoming Android apps, the Web Library is one more tool in your research arsenal.
Improved look and experience
Your new Web Library more closely resembles your Mendeley Desktop Library and our iOS and Android apps, making it easier to switch between devices.
Upload and read your PDFs online
You no longer have to rely on Mendeley Desktop to add PDFs to your library. Web Library includes the ability to upload PDFs, with accurate metadata extraction. You can also read your PDFs in your web browser.
Subfolder support
Not only is your existing subfolder structure preserved in your Web Library, you can also add new ones, to help keep you organized.
Better performance
You may not see it at first glance, but we’ve significantly improved the performance of your library, especially for users with large libraries.
Optimised for tablets The web library works on most popular browsers and is responsive to your tablet screen size.
This is not the final iteration of the web library, we are working on some exciting features, which are coming soon. They include:
Support for tags
Notes and annotations
Full group support
Ability to drag and drop documents into folder
Retina support in the PDF viewer
We will publish a closer look at some of these new features, but if you have any questions or comments, check out our resource guides, ping us support@mendeley.com, or leave a comment below!
We’re happy to announce another update to Mendeley for iOS! This release helps bring our iOS app closer to your Mendeley Desktop experience, with metadata extraction. Additionally, it includes faster and more reliable sync, and several bug fixes, which takes advantage of the newMendeley API, especially when syncing your iOS app for the first time.
The update is currently rolling out slowly on the app store, and should be available worldwide in the next few hours.
Previously, when PDFs were added from other apps, such as Safari or Mail, users would have to manually enter metadata. This new app helps you stay organised by attempting to import the correct metadata for the imported entry.
How to import documents into your Mendeley iOS library
So how do you go about importing documents into your Mendeley library from your web browser or Mail apps?
It’s also possible to add documents to your library directly from an iOS device once the PDF file has been opened in another app. This can be done by using the ‘Open in’ command from within the application you use to retrieve the PDF.
To add a PDF to Mendeley which has been opened from Mail (such a file sent as an email attachment), tap the open icon in the top right of your screen. You should see Mendeley listed.
To add a PDF you’ve accessed through Safari or Chrome, tap once on the PDF whilst viewing it. The ‘Open in’ option should be displayed at the top of the view and you can select Mendeley from the list of applications.
When opening a paper in Mendeley for the first time, the app will attempt to retrieve details of the paper and populate the reference automatically. This process will only take place once. Once the paper has been added to your library, it will be available on other devices or computers after syncing.
Once it’s completed importing, you’ll be able to make use of the Mendeley PDF viewer and start reading, highlighting and annotating.
As Mendeley needs an Internet connection to check a document’s details, you need to make sure you’re online when adding a document for the first time.
So this is an iOS update, but we know you would ask if we didn’t tell you! Official Android app development is going very well, and we expect to release in the first half of this year!
Let us know what you think
Comment below, or, if you are having issues, please send send your activity log (located in the Settings menu) as our developers monitor and respond to them, or email support@mendeley.com.
What does the program offer you as a librarian?
It’s also possible to add documents to your library directly from an iOS device once the PDF file has been opened in another app. This can be done by using the ‘Open in’ command from within the application you use to retrieve the PDF.
When opening a paper in Mendeley for the first time, the app will attempt to retrieve details of the paper and populate the reference automatically. This process will only take place once. Once the paper has been added to your library, it will be available on other devices or computers after syncing.
So this is an iOS update, but we know you would ask if we didn’t tell you! Official Android app development is going very well, and we expect to release in the first half of this year!
Mendeley Blog 