What is your name and job title?

My name is Juliana Soares Lima. I am a Reference Librarian at the Human Sciences Library of the Federal University of Ceará, located in the Northeast region of Brazil. I have graduated in Librarianship and completed my master’s degree in Information Science at the same institution that I work.

How did you get into your field?

I’ve always enjoyed reading and I love researching many things. I was also very happy to help other people get the information they needed, especially to exercise their rights and citizenship, so it’s not hard to deduce that this ‘curiosity’ would lead me to Librarianship and Information Science. From the day I discovered that I could work with books, information and knowledge to help and support in academic/scientific research, and somehow make a difference in people’s lives, then I decided that I wanted to be a librarian.

Where do you do work the best?

I feel fortunate to work in the Humanities area, as it is a field that is usually related to other areas of knowledge. So, I work better in an environment that allows me to live with the diversity of knowledge and people, that is, an environment in which open access to scientific knowledge is discussed; or about technology but without leaving aside what makes us human; and discuss politics and progress without forgetting the poverty and social problems that afflict Brazil and other countries.

How long have you been using Mendeley? 

I’ve been using Mendeley for 6 years. Since 2017 I have been a Mendeley Advisor.

Which solutions were you using prior to Mendeley?

I used to make references manually. Then I discovered some reference builders online and started using them, but I missed something that would allow me to go beyond building references, I wanted to manage them using some software. As a librarian, I usually use and research these tools and after a long search I found the reference managers Endnote, Mendeley, Zotero and others. I usually offer training in all three (Endnote, Mendeley, Zotero), but Mendeley is quite successful during training sessions because of the variety of functions and resources, as well as storage space has been an essential factor when comparing three software.

Why did you decide to become an Advisor?

First, the nature of my work in the reference service, I usually teach, organize courses and other training courses that help the institution’s researchers to be successful in their research in databases and in the use of resources offered by the library, as well as the reference managers.

From the huge acceptance and the increase in the use of Mendeley in the institution, I decided to become Mendeley Advisor to always be aware of the news about the software and to be able to better assist the public served in the library. So that this objective could be reached, at the time, I led a series of actions to expand Mendeley’s reach at the Federal University of Ceará. I invited two more librarian colleagues (Edvander Pires and Izabel Lima) from the institution to help promote Mendeley in each Campus and increase the number of training and users. Together, we held face-to-face training sessions on Mendeley and then we developed tutorials that were posted on the library’s institutional website. During all the courses I also created a badge for students who want to help promote Mendeley to use it in their photos on Facebook or Twitter profiles. After that, we decided to create video classes and I did some tests before using Google Classroom to teach people how to use Mendeley. Each of us recorded the lessons and I edited them. All video lessons are available on YouTube.

Currently, during the month of May and June 2020,  I am teaching Mendeley for two classes in the Google Classroom, each class there are 250 students.

Video lessons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSaJUgnz0jg&list=PLOhWAljyF7ro5h0nMSA38Jj9en04JO3X6

Twibbon #ILoveMendeley: https://twibbon.com/support/ilovemendeley

What researcher would you like to work with or meet, dead or alive?

Dead: 1) Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan, (born August 9, 1892, Madras, India — died September 27, 1972, Bangalore), Indian librarian and educator who was considered the father of Library Science in India and whose contributions had worldwide influence; 2) Aaron Swartz, he was an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer, and Internet hacktivist. He was involved in the development of the web feed format RSS, the Markdown publishing format and the Creative Commons Licenses.

Alive: I am lucky to know and have worked with my advisor in the master’s degree, Professor Giovanna Guedes, but there are still so many good people that I wanted to meet in person! Antonio Agenor Briquet de Lemos (Retired professor at the University of Brasília); Professor Murilo Bastos, Michael Buckland, Tim Berners-Lee, Alice Meadows (NISO’s Director of Community Engagement), Christine Borgman (Distinguished Research Professor Information Studies University of California, Los Angeles), Luciano Floridi (Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at the University of Oxford), Peter Suber, Lawrence Lessig.

What book are you reading at the moment?

Habibi, authored by Craig Thompson. It is a graphic novel set in a fictional landscape of Islamic fairy tales that describes the relationship between two slave children on the run.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned this week?

In Brazil, we are going through a difficult period in which we have to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and with government conflicts. It has been difficult; I can say that every week I learn something new even working from home. I have more and more faith and certainty that the sharing of information, scientific knowledge and the intense work of researchers can bring a global solution in the fight against COVID-19. Meanwhile, during this week, I am learning to balance household chores and work activities better than the previous month. Also, this week I’m learning to be resilient.

What is the best part about working in research?

There are many wonderful things in the development of research. I believe that there is no single best part, as it is a set of steps that complement each other: a) from the conception of the idea of a study; b) the search for scientific literature that supports the study; c) experiences from field research; d) the surprises that occur during the research; e) the discovery and exploitation of results, etc.

And the most challenging part about working in research?

There is no easy search! This is the good and the bad part at the same time.

What is the one thing you want people to know about Mendeley?

I want users to know how they can take advantage of Mendeley and explore all the available functions: managing references, building a profile on Mendeley online, depositing research data in Mendeley Data, using Mendeley to make systematic reviews and more.

Do you have any advice for young researchers? 

My advice is to keep studying and updating, especially nowadays when everything changes very quickly and we need to be prepared to obtain new knowledge and skills that we didn’t have before. Always adapt, renew and reinvent yourself. Don’t settle. Life is movement and we need to keep up with trends, however, without ever forgetting to value the classic and universal knowledge that remains current even after so many years. Be curious. Research and try to be critical: not everything written in a book, article or other material represents an absolute truth because in all knowledge there is a limit, a strength and a weakness.

Find out more about Juliana by viewing her Mendeley profile.

 Interested in becoming a Mendeley Advisor yourself? Find out more about the Advisor Community here.