The Medical Library Association annual conference took place in Chicago May 17-May 21. SLIS SLA Student Group was represented by Dr. Cheryl Dee, Mira Gaffner, Basia Delawska-Elliott and Brian Elliott. SJSU was additionally represented by librarians Jennifer Dinalo (who is also the SLISConnect Alumni President-Elect) and Valeria Molteni.
The conference — Building our Information Future focused on changing roles of health sciences librarians, emerging technologies, and positioning health sciences libraries for future success. Dr. Aaron Carroll, a leading pediatric informaticist and a co-author Don’t Swallow Your Gum: Myths, Half-Truths, and Outright Lies about Your Body and Health and Don’t Cross Your Eyes…They’ll Get Stuck that Way! delivered the John P. McGovern Lecture. A renowned playwright, actor, and professor Anna Deavere Smith closed the conference with her performance of Let Me Down Easy, a play on “health care and the resilience and vulnerability of the human body”.
In a session Architects of the Future: Managing 21st Century Resources Basia co-presented a paper with Heather Martin, the Regional Director of Library Services for Providence Health & Services Oregon Region. The presentation was entitled Combining Resources, Combining Forces: Regionalizing Hospital Library Services in a Large State-Wide Health System.The presentation was a case study describing the experience of combining the forces of 4 libraries and creating a single team and a single service for a state-wide system. The paper described the transition “process, challenges, and lessons learned of an organizational shift to a regionalization of services, collections, and staffing.”
While the conference was a great educational and professional experience it also offered lots of opportunities to network and socialize. The ability to meet in person Dr. Dee, fellow students and SJSU librarians was priceless.
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