[Besides being a fellow Chapter member, Lydia Witman is also our Chapter’s new Membership Chair. Please congratulate her the next time you see her, and read below what Sheryl Panka-Bryman was able to learn about our colleague.—RR]
Please talk about your current professional position. Describe what you do and for which organization.
I’m the Clinical Librarian at Pennsylvania Hospital, in the University of Pennsylvania Health System. I help hospital staff develop search strategies and complete searches for literature and evidence, I provide training on best practices when searching for and using information, and I help users locate, access and navigate library resources. I also support other hospital information-related projects such as updating nursing policies with new references and improving patient education materials. I enjoy other occasional projects like a recent collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania Libraries on their annual Penn Reading Project, for which I provided references on Medical Practice and Medical Education in their bibliography related to Thomas Eakins’ painting The Gross Clinic.
What is your past professional experience?
Apart from brief forays into the pharmaceutical industry (in a computer training department – I’m no scientist!) and the singular world of rare bookselling, I’ve mostly worked in libraries. In the summers during my high school and college years, I worked in the Rare Books & Special Collections departments at Princeton University and Bryn Mawr College libraries; I also spent two summers in the Collections Conservation unit of the Preservation Department at Princeton University. My first medical library experience was at Thomas Jefferson University, where I learned many valuable lessons about patient care and clinical education while supporting the Medical College’s Simulation Center and the School of Nursing’s clinical practice labs. I’ve now been at Pennsylvania Hospital for over four years, during which time I’ve also completed the MLIS program at the University of Pittsburgh.
What do you find most interesting about your work?
Biology and the health sciences in general have always fascinated me – they touch all of our lives and are always evolving, so there are always new things to learn. I like finding new reports from studies that might change the direction of medical, nursing, or allied health practice, and sharing them with other interested parties. I also enjoy meeting the new staff when they come on board – new nurses each month, and new residents each year!
What qualities or traits do you find most helpful in your work?
Teamwork and collaboration are increasingly valuable skills, along with flexibility and being able to prioritize quickly – in a hospital setting, even the librarians have to know how to triage our work! Being inquisitive and creative/innovative also helps, especially for keeping current.
If you weren’t a librarian, what else can you imagine yourself doing?
In the past I’ve considered being a professional songwriter, or a bookbinder/conservator, but both are trades that require a lot of patience and skill to master, and at the moment I find it hard to imagine being anything other than a hospital librarian!
What do you do for fun?
My husband Eric and I enjoy rock climbing; we’re members of an indoor climbing gym in Philadelphia and we climb outside whenever we can – beyond Pennsylvania, we’ve gone to New Hampshire, West Virginia, and New York to climb. I also enjoy singing and playing piano, gardening, kayaking, watching movies (especially foreign films), and spending time with my family.
Is there anything about you that others might be surprised to know?
My high school acting teacher nominated me to apply for a summer New Jersey Governor’s School of The Arts – Theater Division, but I turned down the nomination so that I could return to my summer job at the Princeton University Library. Perhaps that’s not very surprising, in retrospect!
Why would you encourage members to become actively involved in the Philadelphia Regional Chapter?
We’re a friendly, knowledgeable and helpful community; participating in MLA activities locally, regionally, and nationally is the best way to network with each other, and it’s also a great way to expand your horizons and continue your education in librarianship.
I’ve used Lydia’s professional services, and she is an amazing resource and a charming person.
Lydia rocks!