Fall 2011 Issue, Number 124

Posted on November 22, 2011 by barbara.gushrowski

Welcome to the Fall 2011 Issue of MIDLINE! This issue is full of information about the annual conference – the one just past and the one coming up – along with reports from annual state meetings – and information about our newest chapter members. This is also the inaugural issue for your new MIDLINE editor. I know I am following in a great tradition of past editors Clare Leibfarth, Elizabeth Smigielski, Jason Young and others. Please comment on the stories you read in this issue – and let me know what you’d like to see in future issues. Have a safe and happy holiday season – I’ll be contacting you for stories next year!

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Message from the President

Posted on November 22, 2011 by barbara.gushrowski

Submitted by Janna Lawrence
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, University of Iowa

I am honored, excited, and just plain thrilled to be able to serve as president of Midwest Chapter this year.   Midwest Chapter brings together a diverse set of librarians from all over the region, but when I think about our chapter, I don’t really think about that diversity so much as I think about the chapter’s camaraderie.  And because I was a creative writing major a long time ago, I decided to look up “camaraderie” in the thesaurus.  It turns out that “camaraderie” has many synonyms that I think describe the Midwest Chapter membership – words like alliance, affiliation, and society, but, more importantly, words like friendship, companionability, kindliness, togetherness, affability, conviviality, and, my favorite, chumminess. 

As a relatively new member of this chapter, I can tell you that I have found that all of those synonyms describe us.  We like each other and like being together. I know that for many people, the most important part of our annual conference is getting to see everyone else.  Professionally, we call this “networking” but there’s more than a little bit of “chumminess,” too!

Of course, whenever you get this many friends together, there will be business that must be attended to.  As Immediate Past President Clare Leibfarth reported during the Executive Board meeting in Indianapolis, we need to review our financial processes.  We have begun discussions with an accountant who has served as auditor for another MLA chapter and hope that we will be able to use her services.  We are considering moving from Excel to a dedicated accounting software like QuickBooks.  And one of my goals is to explore how to best support chapter members who choose to serve as officers and committee chairs.  Since the chapter needs members to give of their time and attention, the least we can do is to make sure that it is not also causing a personal financial burden, too.

In addition to financial matters there will be new, fun things happening this year!  As Clare mentioned at the Executive Board meeting, the Professional Practice Committee is working on a Research Poster Awards program that will monetarily reward those who have done a great job both on a research project and on their presentation of the project.  We hope that these awards will be presented for the first time at the October 2012 conference in Rochester, so watch for more information on this!

Each issue of MIDLINE includes a message from the Chapter President.  If you have questions or issues you would like me to address, feel free to make suggestions. You are always welcome to contact me about things that affect the chapter, even if you don’t want them addressed in MIDLINE.  You can email me at janna-lawrence@uiowa.edu.

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Executive Board Meeting – Fall 2011

Posted on November 22, 2011 by barbara.gushrowski

Submitted by Chris Childs
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences (HLHS)

Action Items from the 10/7 Midwest Board Meeting

  • Betty Sydelko will go to the Chapter Council members to see what other chapters do for their conferences and find out what their attendance numbers are.  She will report that information to the board and to Donna Barbour-Talley.
  • Mary Hitchcock will work on a retention schedule for conference materials and another retention schedule for all chapter business.
  • Membership Committee will mine the results of the membership survey and come up with recommendations.
  • Membership Committee will work on a full report of the survey results for MIDLINE and then create a set of FAQ’s that were raised.
  • Janna Lawrence will create a Travel Reimbursement Policy committee
  • Janna Lawrence will look into where the board meetings are held and how they are financed.
  • Janna Lawrence will look at the annual Meeting Finances Policy
  • Amy Donahue will look into whether to stay with Acteva for conference and membership registration or go with an alternative company. She will also investigate online accounting systems.
  • Barb Gushrowski will review financial reports from the 2009 and 2010 conferences and try to reconcile the Treasurer’s report with the conference finance committees’ reports.
  • Barb Gushrowski will report back to the board on the conference accounting and the audit of the 2010 books after all Acteva money is reimbursed.
  • Janna Lawrence will investigate hiring an auditor.
  • Amy Donahue will investigate getting a credit card.
  • Betty Sydelko will gather more information about other chapters and revisit a two tiered exhibit fee for non-profits.
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Distinguished Librarian Award 2011

Posted on November 22, 2011 by barbara.gushrowski

Submitted by Liz Fine
Bio-Medical Library, University of Minnesota

The Distinguished Librarian Award recognizes Chapter members at any career level who have provided outstanding service to Midwest Chapter/MLA.  This year’s recipient is Sheryl Stevens, who has contributed to the success of the Chapter in countless meaningful and measurable ways during the more than 20 years she has been part of it.

A brief history of Sheryl’s involvement, from one of her nominators:

Sheryl has been on the Executive Board in some capacity almost every year since 1990, and she had just joined the chapter in 1988.  By 1992, she was a member of a Bylaws Task Force for the chapter.  In 1995, she was chair of a Study Group on Chapter Size.  From 1994-1998, she was the Chapter’s newsletter editor.  She was Chair of the Education committee from 1998-2000.  From there, she became chapter membership secretary from 2001-2002.  In 2004, Sheryl was elected President-Elect of the chapter.  She became President in 2005.  In that time, the Distinguished Librarian of the Year award was established, library school students were given complementary membership, and a major chapter board reorganization (which included a total rewrite of the bylaws) was started.  In 2006, as past president, she was a member of the Bylaws Task Force.  She chaired the Awards and Scholarships Committee from 2007-2010.

All her nominators spoke of Sheryl’s simultaneous attention to detail and ability to see the big picture.  One said, “She radiated competence and common sense.”  Another said, “She leapt into our Chapter reorganization and was a key player in our new Bylaws and the Procedures Handbook. Thanks to her, we have clear, precise language in our organizational documents which makes them extremely functional.”

Carole Gilbert made these comments before presenting the award to Sheryl at the Annual Meeting:

Five years ago, I stood before you speechless (an unusual state, those who know me will tell you) as the Distinguished Librarian for 2006.  Today, I am delighted to share this award to another deserving member of Midwest Chapter—one with whom I actually shared a job, way back in the early 1980’s.

This nominee has been a devoted member of Midwest Chapter for 23 years, and she has been an officer or committee chair for 21 of them.  With her great attention to detail, it is she who found mistakes in the minutes and asked pointed questions about the smallest things while also being able to see the big picture.

She is a published author, an annual presenter of papers and posters, and has also been an MLA Section Chair.

She has been Chapter President, Membership Chair, Newsletter editor and member of a host of other committees and task forces.  She was a key player in the revision of the Chapter’s Bylaws and the Procedures Handbook and was also the driving force on the reorganization of the Awards Committee. 

One of her nominations stated that she had vision, tireless energy, and the intestinal fortitude to garner support and make things happen.

I think since she was instrumental in the establishment of the Distinguished Librarian of the Year award, it is about time she received the award herself!

Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that I present the Midwest Chapter’s 2011 Distinguished Librarian of the Year Award to Sheryl Stevens.

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Midwest Chapter 2011 Scholarship Award Winners

Posted on November 22, 2011 by barbara.gushrowski

Annual Meeting Scholarship Winner: Cort Eyer
Indiana University SLIS Student and Intern with the Ridderheim Health Science Library, Parkview Health System, Fort Wayne, IN

I want to begin by saying I am grateful to the Awards Committee for the chance to attend the Midwest MLA Conference in Indianapolis.  This was my first professional conference and a number of librarians I met in Indy made a lasting impression.

As a SLIS student, I have contacted various librarians (medical or otherwise) inquiring about the field and, more specifically, job prospects and the future of medical librarianship.  This is the topic I was most interested in discussing during the conference. 

The overwhelming majority of responses I have received to my inquiries have been negative, maligning the state of the library job market and predicting library closures or further budget cuts.  One respondent even closed his email to me, “…if there are any jobs left to be had!  Take care.”  So, needless to say, I arrived at the Midwest MLA conference unsure of what to expect. 

What I found was contrary to most of the responses I have received to my emails.  What I found was an overwhelming mindset of hope and positivity.

Rather than pointing out the areas of librarianship where there might be concerns about job growth or budgetary constraint, the librarians I met in Indy celebrated the opportunities and overall state of the profession.  There was the CE course presented by Layne Johnson and Megan Lafferty, which highlighted the opportunities librarians can explore in the areas of data sharing and e-science.  There was the unbridled enthusiasm of Kiyoshi Orsu and his presentation on QR codes, the winning spirit of fellow SLIS student Beth Moreton, and the genuine goodwill of my conference mentor, Mary Hitchcock.  All of these librarians celebrated positive potential rather than wallowing in negativity.

As I enter into the field of librarianship with a hopeful heart, I could not have found a better venue to meet and interact with future colleagues.  I was able to leave the Midwest MLA Conference with a positive view of my fellow librarians and an encouraging outlook for my future career.  I urge all SLIS students to attend a professional conference during their MLS program; your education as a librarian will not be complete without such an experience.

Annual Meeting Scholarship Winner: Katy Mahraj
University of Michigan School of Information

I was fortunate to be able to attend this year’s annual conference as winner of an Annual Meeting Scholarship.  Through this generous funding, I participated in many informative conversations and events with librarians from across the region, learning about their work and gaining valuable advice as I start my career in health librarianship. Thank you to the Midwest Chapter of MLA, its leaders and members, for providing this opportunity for me and other students on an annual basis.

As a new member and first-time conference attendee, my experience interacting with the Midwest Chapter was welcoming and supportive from the start.  I was paired with a mentor for the conference who communicated with me before traveling to Indianapolis and met with me at the conference to discuss my interests and help me navigate the experience.  My thanks to Pam Rees for her time! 

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the plenary speaker, John Green, who amused and intrigued us into contemplating broader questions about the people and communities with whom we share information and from whom we gather information.  He also prompted us to develop a strategic understanding of the benefits, drawbacks, and opportunities presented by the Internet. 

To top off all this excitement, I was able to share my work with attendees and grapple with your thought-provoking questions during my poster presentation.  As I wrote in my scholarship application, a conference’s potential springs from the coming together of thoughtful, engaged individuals who forge new ideas, taking the material presented and brainstorming its next iteration.  All librarians, but especially new librarians such as myself, have much to gain from these interactions.  You may not remember (or may be trying to forget!) last summer’s most catchy song, “Your Love is My Drug” by Ke$ha.  I have to say that I find library conferences quite a drug: they’re stimulating for the mind and spirit, and I always depart feeling a bit of a buzz!  I leave each conference with new ideas, new visions, and new commitment to the information profession.  Thank you!

About me:  I am completing my second and final year in the Master of Science in Information program with a specialization in library and information services at the University of Michigan School of Information and the health informatics graduate certificate program at the School of Information and School of Public Health.  I have worked at the University’s Taubman Health Sciences Library since May 2011, where my projects include collection development, instruction, systematic review, open educational resource development, and virtual reference.  Starting this fall, I also intern at Altarum Institute, a health research and consulting organization, where I am working to enhance my understanding of health informatics and the roles that librarians can play in this burgeoning field.  To contact me, please visit http://katy-mahraj.appspot.com.

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Midwest Chapter 2011 Professional Development Award Winners

Posted on November 22, 2011 by barbara.gushrowski

Professional Development Award Winner: Dawn Hackman
University of North Dakota Library of the Health Sciences

As a new librarian working with a largely rural population, I count myself lucky to have access to quality regional professional organizations like the Midwest Chapter of the MLA.  Not only does the chapter offer reasonably priced events and continuing education opportunities, but many of us have benefited from its generous funding opportunities too.  I was honored to receive the 2011 Professional Development Award, which allowed me to attend this year’s Annual Meeting of the Midwest Chapter/MLA in Indianapolis, Indiana.

I was impressed by the plethora of CE opportunities available at the 2011 Midwest Chapter meeting in Indianapolis.  There were almost too many choices!  It was excruciatingly difficult for me to choose between them.  I ended up attending the session entitled “Grant Writing: Turning Ideas into Dollars,” taught by Ruth Holst & Jacqueline Leskovec.  The instructors covered more than just “how to write well.”  Instead we also learned about funding sources (both private and public) and project/proposal planning.  My classmates included novices, like myself, as well as librarians who were considered the main grant writers for their institutions.  As I left this class, I found myself already thinking about ways I might apply what I learned to help fund some initiatives that I would like to see in my institution.

Additionally impressive for me were the paper presentations.  Once again, the wide variety of topics made it difficult to choose which ones to attend!  I thoroughly enjoyed learning about what my colleagues around the region are doing to improve services and increase visibility in their institutions.  Presenters from the OSU Health Sciences Library gave two very enlightening presentations related to becoming involved with the teaching of evidence-based practice in both nursing and internal medicine education.  Later that afternoon, librarians from the University of Kentucky, Lexington gave a fantastic presentation on how they utilize mobile technologies to aid in their rural outreach efforts.  This presentation was particularly relevant to me, as one might imagine.  I have wanted to develop a similar program in my institution, but was uncertain how to proceed.  After learning about their successes and failures, I felt better able to discuss such an initiative at my own institution.  I am pleased to report that we are currently discussing the utilization of similar tools to expand our outreach efforts.

Probably the most valuable part of the conference was the ability to meet other librarians from around the region.  What a wonderful and accomplished group we all are!  I know I share the opinion of many when I say that the conference was large enough to make professional networking worthwhile, but small enough that it wasn’t overwhelming.  In addition to first-time contacts, I was able to put faces to names (finally!) that I frequently come across in emails and teleconferences.

All in all, I was glad to have the opportunity to attend the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Chapter/MLA.  I am confident that the skills, ideas and contacts that I gathered from the annual meeting will have direct and meaningful applications not only to my professional career, but also to my institution and our patrons.

Thank you again for this opportunity!

Professional Development Award Winner: Monica Corcoran
Deaconess Hospital, Evansville, IN

I’ve been a solo hospital librarian for nearly four years and have attended my state association meetings, but never the Midwest Chapter meeting. I am so pleased to have been granted a Midwest Chapter / MLA Professional Development Award, which made it possible to attend this year’s meeting. The application process was straight-forward and virtually pain-free. All communications with the Awards and Scholarships Committee were prompt and direct.

The conference itself was very interesting. Our keynote speaker, Margo Coletti, gave a thoughtful and entertaining response on how to survive the budgetary scythe, by carefully re-branding ourselves for survival. To this hospital librarian it made good sense, but the academics at my table raised a few objections. I love this aspect of professional meetings. They offer the chance to glimpse the diversity of experience in our field. We have such different sandboxes in which to play!

Our plenary speaker is a writer of novels. He said to us “I know little about medicine and nothing about libraries.” He then proceeded to deliver a fascinating talk about technological developments which affect his life and ours (search algorithms, indexing, archival access to electronic resources). He talked about these issues from his perspective, and was surprised to discover how much our work lives overlap. He has many of the same concerns we have about the tyranny of search engines, social media sites, and publishing groups, but from a different perspective and for somewhat different reasons. Before this year I had never heard of John Green. He said thought-provoking things, AND now I’m immersed in one of his novels. Thank you Midwest Chapter for introducing me to a new author!

I was a member of the Program Committee, and was somewhat limited in my ability to choose which paper presentations to attend. The responsibility of having room assignments and hosting duties was good, but this also limited my social interactions in favor of people I already know instead of meeting new people from other states. There are always last-minute changes to address. (I highly recommend joining a meeting host committee. The experience was great.) As always happens, I learned things I didn’t know might be useful to me. I’ll just have to “attend” my self-imposed assignments when they are posted online.

The range of topics in papers and posters was impressive. A few of the topics covered were working with nursing staff to develop evidence based practices, scheduling a staff retreat, helping users via wireless outreach, building a mobile app (pretty impressive!), and many approaches to developing team approaches to delivering library services.

This year’s meeting was fun and interesting and refreshing. The group is small enough to be nearly navigable, and large enough to include new people / ideas / governance ideas previously unknown to me. I had a wonderful time. Anytime you can say that work is fun, was a learning experience, and refreshed you  —  that is a good day at work!

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Midwest MLA/IHSLA Conference 2011

Posted on November 22, 2011 by barbara.gushrowski

Submitted by Barbara Gushrowski, Chair, 2011 Planning Committee
IU School of Dentistry, Indianapolis, IN

Indianapolis was the host city for the 2011 joint meeting of Midwest Chapter/MLA and Indiana Health Sciences Librarians Association. The conference had 107 attendees and 26 vendors. There were six CE course offered on Saturday and Tuesday. The conference offered nineteen contributed papers during three concurrent sessions, nineteen posters, the annual GMR Technology Forum and updates from NLM, MLA, and GMR.

Margo Coletti delivered a thought-provoking keynote address on Sunday in which she presented her view of the role of knowledge management in libraries and why it is good for us. Bestselling novelist John Green gave a very entertaining plenary session on Monday morning about the Internet – human connectedness – healthcare – and reading. John also signed copies of his books during the poster session The books were available for sale at the conference by an independent retail bookseller in Indianapolis.

On behalf of the 2011 Planning Committee and all the volunteers who labored to bring this conference together, we hope that all who attended the conference found the experience, the programs, the facilities, and the social occasions rewarding and enlightening.

Thank you to all the committee members who worked up to and through the last day of the conference – thank you to the vendors and sponsors who provided financial support – thank you to all the speakers and presenters who provided all the great content – and a final thank you to all who were able to attend the meeting. We hope to see you all next year in Minnesota!

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2012 Conference Invitation to Rochester

Posted on November 22, 2011 by barbara.gushrowski

Submitted by Donna Barbour-Talley

The Health Science Libraries of Minnesota, or HSLM, is pleased to welcome the Midwest Chapter to Rochester Minnesota next year for the 2012 Annual Conference to be held October 6th through 9th.

Rochester is most famous as the home of the world-renowned Mayo Clinic and even calls itself “Med City”.  Rochester is also home to one of IBM’s largest research & development laboratories, where the world’s fastest computer was developed, as well as the newest campus of the University of Minnesota. 

Located in the beautiful rolling hills of southeastern Minnesota known as the Bluff Country, Rochester is surrounded by thousands of acres of corn, soybeans, and dairy farms.  That combination of technological innovation in the breadbasket of the Midwest led us to the theme for the 2012 meeting – Growing Opportunities.  It will be a continuation of the discussion started at the spring Medical Library Association conference in Seattle.  Our program will stimulate your thinking and allow plenty of opportunities to network with colleagues through contributed papers and posters as well as continuing education classes.

And Rochester is a charming small city to visit.  Money magazine said it “radiates cosmopolitan style without the big city ills.”  The city has a population of 106,000 with another 80,000 in the surrounding metropolitan statistical area.  It has become the third largest city in Minnesota, after Minneapolis and Saint Paul, and is one of the fastest growing areas in the state.  The downtown area is very people-friendly and walkable with loads of shopping and restaurants.  The Zumbro River meanders through the heart of the city surrounded by walking paths and bicycle trails.

Due to the presence of Mayo Clinic and IBM, Rochester is a well-connected transportation hub.  Air service to the Rochester International Airport (RST) is provided from Chicago by American Airlines and from both Detroit and Minneapolis/St Paul by Delta Airlines.  Rochester is a 90-minute drive through beautiful Minnesota farmland from the Twin Cities.  Two transportation companies also operate hourly shuttle bus service from the Minneapolis/St Paul Airport to Rochester hotels.

Our conference will be using the Doubletree Hotel with an excellent room rate of $119 per night.  The hotel has recently remodeled rooms and warm chocolate chip cookies to greet every guest!  Our conference sessions will be held in the Mayo Civic Center, with flexible space and wonderful windows to the lawn and river.  It is located about two blocks from the hotel, but connected by that great Minnesota tradition, a glass wall skyway.  It lets you enjoy the view of outdoors without the need for raincoats or snow boots!  Our Sunday evening social event will be held at the Rochester Art Center on the banks of the Zumbro River.

We hope that many of you will take advantage of the lower hotel rate to stay until Tuesday.  Tours of Mayo Clinic facilities closed on the weekends, such as the Patient Education Centers, Historical Suite and Libraries will be an option. 

Minnesota is excited to once again play host to the Midwest Chapter’s Annual Conference in 2012.  Will you have another great meeting?  Sure, you betcha!

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State Meetings Report

Posted on November 22, 2011 by barbara.gushrowski

Indiana
Submitted by Joan Zivich, State Liaison for Indiana

Indiana was proud to have hosted the 2011 annual Midwest Chapter meeting in Indianapolis. 

Our state meeting was held in conjunction with the Midwest Chapter meeting and new officers were elected:

President Elect: Kellie Kaneshiro
Secretary: Linda Judd
Treasurer: Chuck LeGuern
Membership: Jennifer Helmen

Kentucky
Submitted by Ann Schaap, State Liaison for Kentucky

The Kentucky Medical Library Association met Tuesday, September 13th at the Sullivan University Library in Louisville, KY.  The group toured Sullivan’s new College of Pharmacy in the morning and heard a luncheon presentation by Dr. Marilyn Musacchio, Dean of Nursing Education, on Sullivan’s new online RN to BSN program.  In the afternoon Max Anderson of the GMR presented the excellent course entitled Information Anywhere: Mobile Technology, Libraries and Health.

Elizabeth Smigielski, University of Louisville Kornhauser librarian, and Cecilia Railey, a UK graduate student  who interned at the Library, presented a poster session at the Midwest Chapter/MLA meeting in Indianapolis. The poster is entitled “Point of Care Tools…Comparatively Speaking.” It presented a comparison chart of features of clinical point of care and EBM tools.  

Minnesota
Submitted by Donna Barbour-Talley, State Liaison for Minnesota

The Health Science Libraries of MN is sponsoring a lunch for networking in conjunction with the MLA webcast in November.  Planning committees are hard at work preparing for the 2012 Midwest Chapter meeting.

Linda Watson retired in October as Director of Health Science Libraries at the University of Minnesota.  A retirement party reception honoring her 36-year medical library career was held at the end of September.  Linda and her husband, William Cooper, are relocating to Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Ohio
Submitted by Stephanie Schulte, State Liaison for Ohio and Representative at Large for Midwest Chapter/MLA

The Ohio Health Sciences Library Association met October 24, 2011, at Kent State University Libraries in Kent, Ohio. We enjoyed a CE course focused on mobile information, “Information Anywhere,” taught by Max Anderson from the GMR NN/LM. OHSLA is embarking on a complete redesign of their web site in the coming months, so stay tuned for more information and the launch of the new site. The next meeting will be some time in the spring in central Ohio.

After the conclusion of the CE, a small group of us walked the National Historic Site Tour May 4 Memorial, remembering the shootings of May 4, 1970 at Kent State. As a Kent State alumna, but one who attended as a mostly distance student, it was interesting for me to learn more about this and see the grounds for myself, especially since it occurred just a few months after I was born. Many thanks go out to our Midwest Chapter/MLA immediate past president and librarian at KSU, Clare Leibfarth, for her hospitality during the day, including being our guide for the tour.

Ohio was well represented at this past October’s Midwest Chapter/MLA conference in Indianapolis, including the following:

Papers

  • Sharon Purtee and Edith Starbuck. “Managing Journals by Committee.”
  • Rienne Johnson, Heather McEwan, Beth Layton, and Vicki Montesano. “Building a Team of Collaborators in Mental Health.”
  • Stephanie Schulte. “Teaming up with Nursing to put Evidence into Action at an Academic Medical Center.”
  • Stephanie Schulte and Carol Powell. “Take the Ball and Run with It: Seizing an Opportunity to Embed EBM into an Internal Medicine Clerkship.”

Posters

  • Missy Creed, Amanda Levine, Joseph Payne. “Take eBook Promotions to the Next Level with QR Codes.”

CE Instructor

  • Anne Gilliland. “Copyright for Health Sciences Librarians.”
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New Member Profiles

Posted on November 22, 2011 by barbara.gushrowski

Submitted by Mary K. Taylor
Morris Library, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL

Brigitte Billingslea is an administrative assistant for a large, multi-specialty physician group practice affiliated with University Hospitals in Cleveland, OH. She is also working on dual degree graduate degree program in Library and Information Science and Information Architecture and Knowledge Management at Kent State University. Her professional interests clinical health informatics and the analysis of health informatics. Brigitte, a native of Cleveland, OH, received her undergraduate degree in History from the Ohio State University. Her hobbies include gardening and travel.

Susan Corl is the Head of Reference and Collection Services at the Holmes County Public Library in Ohio. She supervises staff working in Reference Services, Technical Services, Adult Services, and Teen Services.  Susan is in the process of exploring health sciences librarianship. Her interests include alternative medicine and senior health. She received her MLIS from Kent State in 2006. Susan also has an undergraduate degree in Deaf Education, a Master’s in Reading, and a Ph.D. in Elementary Education.   Her hobbies include quilting and writing both fiction and non-fiction.

Jessica DeCaro is Medical Librarian at the Core Library of University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, OH. Her responsibilities include providing reference and serving as the departmental liaison to Nursing, Dermatology, and Ophthalmology. She received her MLIS in 2009 from Kent State. Jessica also has degrees in English and Sports Medicine from Hiram College.

Jill Edgerton is Technical Services Librarian at Des Moines University Library, in Des Moines, IA.  Her position involves cataloging books and co-teaching bibliographic instruction sessions. Jill received her MLIS from Drexel University in 2007. This Indianola, IN native also has a BA in English from Simpson College.

Courtney Eyer is an MLS student at Indiana University in Indianapolis, with an anticipated graduation date of 2012. He is currently an intern at the Ridderheim Health Science Library in the Parkview Health System, and is setting up a SharePoint site for the digitized hospital archives (primarily photos). His professional interests include digital libraries, information architecture, and data management. Courtney has a BA in Anthropology and English from Indiana University at Fort Wayne. He adds, “I am currently working as a social worker while I complete my MLS.  I have a wonderful wife Laura and two children ages 5 and 2 who keep me very busy.  I am looking forward to transitioning into the field of librarianship over the next year.”                         

 Kristen Hallows is a MLIS student at Kent State University. She will be graduating in 2012. She has an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Franklin University. Her professional interests include health informatics and institutional libraries.  Kristen describes herself as “a future law librarian with an interest in medical libraries.  I have a special interest in state hospital libraries of the 20th century, and I am also interested in HIM and its development as a profession around the world.” This Columbus, OH native will be beginning a graduate internship in the office of the Ohio Attorney General in January 2012. 

Rita Haydar was the Manager of the St. Mary Medical Center’s Health Sciences Library in Langhorne, PA from 2005 to 2010. Her responsibilities included “all areas of library & information services, both operational and administrative, with emphasis on the searching, filtering and analysis of biomedical literature for clinicians, scientists and administrators.” Her professional interests include medical informatics, medical and special libraries, consumer health, medical writing and publishing, database design, and information architecture. Rita received her MLIS from Florida State University in 1998. She has an undergraduate degree in Linguistics from McGill University in her home town of Montreal, Quebec, and a graduate degree in Communication Disorders from the University of Vermont. Her personal interests include textile arts, travel, zumba, and international culture. She is fluent in French and Lithuanian, and has studied German, Spanish, and Japanese, and has had informal training in Arabic. Rita adds, “I have three children aged 5, 10 and 12 who attend the International School of Indiana. I am eager to rejoin the workforce after settling my family into our new life in Zionsville, IN.”

Erin Kerby is a graduate student at the University of Michigan’s School of Information. She will be graduating in 2011. She also is a student employee at the Taubman Health Sciences Library at the University of Michigan. Erin’s professional interests include information literacy/instruction and international librarianship. She received her undergraduate degree in English from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI.  This Sparta, MI native enjoys yoga and horseback riding, including dressage.

Joyce Muni is a private practice ophthalmologist. She states someday she would like to work in a hospital-based library. In addition to her MLIS (2004) from Dominican University, she has certificates in Medical Informatics from the University of Illinois (2009) and a certificate in Patient Safety (2010) from the University of Illinois Medical School. Her professional interests include medical informatics and consumer health information (she is currently taking NLM courses in consumer health information). Joyce has an MD from Loyola University, an MPH from Benedictine University (2007), and a BA and MA in Sociology from Case Western Reserve University. Her personal interests include exercising, travel, and studying.

Elizabeth “Liz” Novak is a User Services Librarian and Coordinator of Web and Outreach Services at Loyola University Health Sciences Library. She says she has “the best of both teaching worlds: I teach both virtually and face-to-face.”  Liz  teaches information literacy/EBM classes on campus and also creates online tutorials and web pages. She also provides reference services (including literature searches and consults), and is responsible for “promoting the use of NLM/NIH consumer health resources to the public.” Liz received a MLIS from Dominican University. Her personal interests include traveling, rollerblading, biking, cooking and entertaining. 

Jill Sherman is a Reference Librarian at the University of Louisville’s Kornhauser Library. Her responsibilities include reference and cataloging historic monographs. Jill received her MSLS from the University of Kentucky. This native of Columbus, IN has an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts.

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