MLA-Phil

This report covers the period between April 2002 and March 2003. There are 154 Chapter members.

GOAL 1: ADVOCACY

Recognition. The Chapter honored member achievements by presenting the following awards at the Annual Business Meeting on April 16, 2002: Beatrice Davis Education Award, Certificate of Appreciation, Chapter Achievement Award, and Grant Program for Post-Masters Students. The names of award winners are available on the Web (http://www.mlaphil.org/awards.html).

Promotion. A drawing was held for a free membership to MLA during the Fall program on November 8, 2002. The winner was Ann Marie Zglinicki.

Cooperation. On November 8, Chapter members participated in a discussion on a draft of MLA’s revised strategic plan. The discussion was led by MLA Board Member, Norma Funkhouser. The Chapter co-sponsored a joint teleconference with the Special Libraries Association, Philadelphia Chapter on December 11, 2002. The teleconference, titled “Safeguarding our Patrons Privacy: What every Librarian needs to know about the USA PATRIOT Act and Related Anti-terrorism Measures,” was attended by twenty-five members. The Chapter is also co-sponsoring A Quintessential Conference that will take place on October 26-28, 2003 in Philadelphia, PA. Three MLA chapters (Middle-Atlantic, New York/New Jersey, and Pittsburgh Regional) and one SLA Chapter (Philadelphia) are also co-sponsoring the event.

GOAL2: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Continuing Education. Two continuing education workshops were sponsored by the Chapter. The first, “Advanced HTML: Cascading Style Sheets,” was held on May 31, 2002 in Philadelphia. The second, “Making PubMed Work for You,” took place on October 2, 2002 in Philadelphia. Sixty-three people are registered for a third all-day workshop titled “Mini Medical School for Librarians,” which is scheduled for March 28, 2003.

Programming. The Chapter held its Annual Business Meeting and celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 16, 2002 at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Sixty seven members were in attendance. The guest speaker was MLA President, Carol Jenkins, who presented Chapter Chair Pat Heller with an engraved gavel on behalf of the national organization. Thirty members attended a program titled “Communicating with Physicians,” which was held on November 8, 2002 in Philadelphia. Twenty-three members attended a teleconference titled “Get HIP to HIPAA: Health Information Professionals and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act,” which was held on March 5, 2003 in Philadelphia.

GOAL 3 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Information Delivery. The Chapter has increased access to its newsletter, The Chronicle, by making it available to anyone with access to the Web. It was previously available electronically to Chapter members only. A redesign and update of the Chapter Web pages was also completed.

Information Management. The Archives Committee is investigating the feasibility of developing a database for providing access to important Chapter documents.

GOAL 4 LEADERSHIP

Benchmarking. The Chapter Benchmarking Educator coordinated preparation for participation among Chapter members in MLAs second benchmarking survey, which is schedule for Spring 2003.

Informationist Concept. An application for the Majors/MLA Chapter Project of the Year was submitted for the Chapter’s leadership role in organizing the symposium “The Medical Informationist and Other Roles for the Librarian in the 21st Century.” The symposium took place on October 17, 2000 in Philadelphia, PA. The symposium was also published in the Journal of the Medical Library Association 2002 Jan;90(1):21-85.

Mentoring. The Chapter sent two members as representatives to an orientation to professional associations that was sponsored by the Drexel University College of Information Science and Technology on January 14, 2003 in Philadelphia, PA.

GOAL 5 ORGANIZATION

Planning. The Chapter Board met four times to conduct business. A revision of the Chapter strategic plan will get underway immediately after a draft of the MLA version becomes final.

Finance. The Chapter has a balance of $10,281.26 in a checking account. The Chapter re-established its fund raising program and witnessed an increased level of corporate giving over the previous year. A biennial audit of the Chapter finances was completed with satisfactory results.

Policies and Procedures. A revised and updated version of the Chapter’s Policy and Procedure Manual was distributed to Chapter Board members on November 8, 2002.

MOTION

This report is informational and requires no action by the Board of Directors.

Chapter Officers:

Chair: Eric P. Delozier
Chair-Elect: Nina P. Long
Treasurer: Linda M.G. Katz
Secretary: Bradley Long
Council Representative: Susan Couch
Council Alternate: Marion C. Chayes

Respectfully submitted by Eric P. Delozier