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 Gina Primmer, Senior Account Executive at AtoZdatabases.
Tell us about your company’s background.
AtoZdatabases was founded in 2010 by Vin Gupta and several executives with hundreds of years’ combined experience in big data and library database development and sales.
Vin has an amazing American success story that I absolutely love sharing. He immigrated to the United States from India, graduated from the University of Nebraska, and changed the face of American business forever when he founded American Business Lists, which became InfoUSA and later InfoGroup – all with just a $100 bank loan and a ton of elbow grease. After that company sold, he assembled the most experienced, forward-thinking team in the industry to build the company that includes AtoZdatabases.com and DatabaseUSA.com.
Delivering personal, consultative service at all levels is a hallmark of every division in our company. We are relentless in helping our customers realize their goals.
Why do you, personally, choose to work with libraries?
My first library job was at the reference desk in college. I loved helping other students get the information they were looking for to complete assignments and research topics that interested them.
My work with AtoZdatabases.com is even more satisfying. I have the incredible fortune of meeting librarians across the country who are passionate about providing modern resources to their communities and developing partnerships with the business community whose members benefit so much from using AtoZ. I also get to explore the incredible architecture of libraries in towns and cities across the country. One of my favorites is the Milwaukee Public Library’s main building.
I also get great satisfaction working with our product engineers discussing feedback we get from patrons, library staff, and professional librarians about the way our product works and how it could work better. I am a problem solver by nature, so I love putting the pieces together to try to constantly improve what we are offering to our customers.
What do you like to know about the libraries you work with? What helps you better understand their needs?
I like to know what the staff members are passionate about – those are the things that are going to drive their outreach programming and external partnerships, which ultimately drives their database usage or the things our company can offer to help cover the gaps in training or patron events.
I thrive on data, so before I spend time with any of our customers I look at their usage of AtoZdatabases and look to see if any of the areas of the site are particularly high or particularly low compared to the average library. If they are high, I want to know what they are doing to spark the interest – and I want to learn who is behind that excitement and how I might replicate some of the teachable elements in other places. If they are low in a particular area, I zero in on that during my training and the area self-corrects pretty quickly.
What big ideas are being worked on at your company? What problems are being solved?
The big data world has endless possibilities for studying people, demographics, and business trends. We are always testing new ways to slice and dice that information for the benefit of students, library patrons, and the business community. We are always testing new features and methods for looking at information, so stay tuned for updates!
How can librarians become partners in product or training development?
Our library partners are the best way to keep AtoZdatabases.com moving forward and relevant. I often get the best product feedback when I am meeting with small groups of librarians for staff trainings and we are having casual conversations about their “wish lists” for AtoZ or any reference databases. I try to consciously make an effort to ask every group I meet with what they would change about the product if they could. We are more than happy to leave our egos at the door and get creative when it comes to making AtoZdatabases.com better!
If I have not had a chance to be in your library lately and you have product feedback for us, a phone call or email is always welcome.
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This interview is part of a series of interviews with both WiLS library and vendor partners. Your feedback is appreciated. If you have any to offer on this article or suggestions for upcoming interviews, contact Andrea Coffin at acoffin@wils.org.