Philadelphia Regional Chapter / Medical Library Association
by Calvin Wang
Calvin Wang
MLA-Phil librarians experienced a unique look into a unique exhibit now on view at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). Anatomy/Academy is a look at the collaboration between Philadelphia’s medical and art communities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. <http://www.pafa.org/Museum/Exhibitions/Currently-On-View/Anatomy-Academy/679/ Read more» » »
Edited by Kate Eckert
Please talk about your current professional position. Describe what you do and for which organization. If you’re still in school, please discuss what you’d like to work on professionally in the future.
Gerard Regan
My title is the Instructional Technology Intern for Penn’s Biomedical Library. However, this intern experience has encompassed much more than instructional technology. I have been exposed to a little bit of everything around the library, from the reference desk to teaching workshops. I have been heavily involved with the new mobile technology initiative that Penn is putting a lot of energy behind. We are trying to promote the clinical applications that are becoming available on mobile phones and tablets to our patrons and educate them on how to utilize the technology in both the classroom and the hospital.
What is your past professional experience?
I worked for three years at La Salle University’s Connelly Library as a Reference Technical Assistant while attending school there and achieving my undergraduate degree. Since starting in Drexel’s MLS program, I have worked short stints as a Circulation Assistant at Delaware County Community College and as Interlibrary Loan Assistant at Penn’s Biomedical Library and Van Pelt Library before arriving at my current position.
What do you find most interesting about your work?
I really find the growth of mobile technology and how rapidly it is changing access to information the most interesting thing about what I am doing. I am excited to learn everything I can in order to try and shape how these tools will affect the next forty years of librarianship.
What qualities or traits do you find most helpful in your work?
I think an openness to learn and a willingness to adapt have served me well throughout my life. I try never to close myself off to other people’s ideas. There are a lot of smart people in this field and I am ready for a career of lifelong learning.
If you weren’t a librarian, what else can you imagine yourself doing?
I do harbor a dream to be an illustrator. It is a very hard business to make a living at, but I think if I gave it all my energy I could be successful at it.
What do you do for fun?
I like going to Phillies games on Sundays and watching them on TV during the week, and I love playing tennis. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much time to play over the last two years.
Is there anything about you that others might be surprised to know?
I would love to buy an old farm and live on it and grow vegetables.
Why would you encourage members to become actively involved in the Philadelphia Regional Chapter?
Meeting other people in the library profession and attending functions that help you learn more about it are the most important things you can do for your career. It is nice to expand your horizons at national conferences; however, local connections are the best ones to make. These are the people you are going to be working with to solve the daily challenges of your job. You need to build and foster relationships to learn and succeed.
Edited by Kate Eckert
Barbara Henry
Barbara J. Henry, AHIP, Community Health Librarian at Christiana Care Health System, has just been named by the Medical Library Association as the 2011 recipient of the Lois Ann Colaianni Award for Excellence and Achievement in Hospital Librarianship.Presented for the first time in 1991, this award is given to a member of the association who has made significant contributions to the profession through overall distinction or leadership in hospital library administration or service, production of a definitive publication related to hospital librarianship, teaching, research, advocacy, or the development or application of innovative technology to hospital librarianship. It was renamed in honor of Lois Ann Colaianni in 1999. This career achievement award recognizes all Barb has contributed to her profession and to her hospital organizations for the 21+ years of her career. She will be presented with the award at the MLA Annual Meeting Awards Luncheon and Ceremony on May 16 in Minneapolis, MN.
Linda Katz
Linda Katz, AHIP, Associate Director, Drexel University Health Sciences Libraries, had a letter to the editor published in the NYTimes Magazine. She wrote it in response to an article that discussed consumer health websites, specifically comparing WebMD with MayoClinic.com. You can read it here: <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/magazine/20Letters-t-APRESCRIPTIO_LETTERS.html>.
The Wistar Institute’s Library has a new Library Assistant, Andrea Kyer. Andrea is a student of Drexel’s IS school and has also completed an internship at the UPenn Biomedical Library.
Cynthia McClellan
Cynthia McClellan has accepted a position as the Director of the Health Sciences Library for the Lancaster General College of Nursing & Health Sciences.
Sheryl Panka-Bryman
Sheryl Panka-Bryman is now the Systems & Cataloging Librarian for the Connelly Library, La Salle University.
Priscilla Stephenson
Priscilla Stephenson, AHIP, is a co-author of the paper, “Rethinking Our Value: Federal Libraries Value Project” to be presented at the 2011 Medical Library Association Annual Meeting and Exhibition. With Terrie Wheeler from the NIH Library and Ed Poletti from the Central Arkansas VA Medical Center, she developed a research project involving federal libraries from five agencies in an assessment of their reference services. This study sought to determine whether information seekers consider that the information provided by their federal libraries has positively affected their patients’ care, research project development, or health care decision making. The combined population included researchers, clinical health care providers, and health administration managers from over eighty-one facilities. The survey tool was designed to capture immediate evaluations of the value of material provided in response to specific reference questions. An initial analysis of the 1590 survey responses (response rate = 61%) indicated that federal library users valued information provided by library staff, as reflected by its impact on their decision making, time saved, or revenue garnered.
The report on the Federal Libraries Value Project will be presented in one of two sessions sponsored by the Federal Libraries Section and the Library Marketing SIG. Priscilla’s paper and others will be presented during the first session on Monday, May 16 (10:30 am -12 noon).
Pat Wynne
Patricia Wynne joined the Scott Memorial Library at Thomas Jefferson University on January 3, 2011 as the Associate University Librarian for Information and Clinical Support Services. Pat had worked as a Registered Nurse prior to obtaining her degree in Library & Information Science from Drexel University. She was employed as an Information Professional in the Pharmaceutical industry for the past fourteen years.
Chris Wieman joined the J.W. England Library at the University of the Sciences in January as Reference/Systems Librarian. He received his MS from Drexel University and had worked at Drexel as a Systems Technician.
Carlos Rodriguez
Computers and the Internet revolutionized the craft of research and the way information is managed. Now databases have replaced the bound bibliographic indexes. Large article collections are not necessarily a reflection of years of accumulating information, but are probably the result of a database search that took minutes to perform. Most articles are in electronic format rather than paper photocopies. However, articles are still obtained from other people and via interlibrary loan. On occasion you still have to go into the library journal stacks to locate and photocopy your articles, but these days you probably prefer your articles in the electronic format known as PDF (portable document format). These are stored on your computer rather than in a file cabinet. Now your file cabinets may look neater, but PDF files often populate your computer desktop or folders with useless names such as 0000-1234.PDF. PDF files, like dust bunnies, grow quickly and appear everywhere. Your article collection is still a challenge to organize and manage. Read more» » »
Edited by Sheryl Panka-Bryman and Rachel R. Resnick
March 16, 2011, 1:00-2:30 p.m.
Metadata Harmonization: Making Standards Work Together
Sponsor: National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and the Dublin
Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI)
Location: Webinar
Information: http://www.niso.org/news/events/2011/DCMI
March 21-23, 2011
Computers in Libraries
Sponsor: Information Today, Inc.
Location: Hilton Washington, Washington, DC
Information: http://www.infotoday.com/cil2011/
March 30-April 2, 2011
ACRL 2011
Sponsor: Association of College & Research Libraries
Location: Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA
Information: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/events/national/2011/index.cfm
March 30–April 3, 2011
Information Architecture Summit 2011
Sponsor: American Society for Information Science & Technology
Location: Colorado Convention Center, Denver, CO
Information: http://2011.iasummit.org/
April 4-6, 2011
Foundations of Bioinformatics and Searching
Sponsor: Middle Atlantic Region (MAR) of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM)
Location: Western New York Library Resources Council’s Training Center, across from the Buffalo International Airport: 4455 Genesee St., Buffalo, NY, 14225
Information:
April 6, 2011
60th Annual Business Meeting and Reception
Sponsor: Medical Library Association, Philadelphia Regional Chapter
Location: Pennsylvania Hospital, 8th and Spruce Sts., Philadelphia, PA
Information: http://www.mlaphil.org/wp/
April 20, 2011
MLA webcast on “Shifting Skills to Navigate the Changing Horizon: Finding Our Way in New Biomedical Research and Health Care Environments”
Sponsor: Medical Library Association, Philadelphia Regional Chapter
Location: TBD
Information: TBA at http://www.mlaphil.org/wp/
May 2, 2011
The George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library, in partnership with the MLA Philadelphia Chapter is hosting an MLA Webinar. The title is: “Shifting Skills to Navigate the Changing Horizon”
The broadcast will happen on May 2, 2011 – Because of the conflicting dates with another seminar, we will be watching a rebroadcast of the seminar – so there will be no question/answer.
1:00PM Onsite registration at the George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library
1:30 – 3:00 PM Webinar
Attendees will receive 1.5 MLA Credits.
Cost
$15 Members MLA/SLA
$35 Non-Members
$10 Students/Retirees/Between Jobs
RSVP
Please RSVP by April 25th.
Send email to Jeanette de Richemond at jderichemond@gmail.com.
Pay by check written to MLA Philadelphia at the door
Directions: http://med.psu.edu/web/library/about/directions
See also http://www.mlaphil.org/wp/
May 2-4, 2011
NJLA Spring Conference
Sponsor: New Jersey Library Association
Location: Ocean Place, Long Branch, NJ
Information: http://njlaconference.info/
May 9-12, 2011
SCIP 2011
Sponsor: Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals
Location: Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa, Orlando, FL
Information: http://scip.org/
May 13-18, 2011
MLA ’11: Medical Library Association Annual Meeting and Exhibition
Sponsor: Medical Library Association
Location: Minneapolis Convention Center, Minneapolis, MN
Information: http://www.mlanet.org/am/am2011/about/index.html
June 12-15, 2011
102nd SLA Annual Conference & INFO EXPO
Sponsor: Special Libraries Association
Location: Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA
Information: http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/ac2011/index.cfm
June 23-28, 2011
American Library Association Annual Conference
Sponsor: American Library Association
Location: Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, LA
Information: http://www.ala.org/ala/conferencesevents/upcoming/annual/generalinformation/index.cfm
June 27-30, 2011
6th International Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Conference (EBLIP6)
Location: University of Salford, Greater Manchester, UK
Registration opens: 1 March 2011
Information: http://www.eblip6.salford.ac.uk/
October 17-19, 2011
Internet Librarian 2011
Sponsor: Information Today, Computers in Libraries,
Searcher, Online
Location: Monterey Conference Center, Monterey, CA
Information: http://www.infotoday.com/il2011/
Ongoing Educational Opportunities
DIALOG training workshops in the United States are now web-based.
For upcoming classes – http://training.dialog.com
Lyrasis Classes and Events
http://www.lyrasis.org/Classes-and-Events.aspx
MAR Workshops
Information and Registration – http://nnlm.gov/mar/training/
NN/LM workshops
For locations, dates, topics and registration- http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/classes/schedule.html
Special Libraries Association
Webinars – http://www.sla.org/content/learn/members/webinars/index.cfm
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