Submitted by Beth Carlin
St. Francis Hospital, Evanston, IL
The conference was held at the Holiday Inn, Champaign/Urbana, one of those "dome" Holiday Inns with rooms facing a central atrium where the pool and dining area is located. The meeting rooms were large and comfortable. Several meals were packaged with the conference fee and catered by the hotel. The conference was very well organized and welcoming for members. We were cared for every step of the way. We owe it all to Stacey Knight-Davis, Conference Committee Chair and her committee. They were outstanding.
The first day was CE classes. Two half-day classes and one full-day class were offered with a guided tour of the University of Illinois Veterinary Medicine Library if you didn't want to spend your whole day in classes. I attended the CE class "Integrating RSS Feeds into Library Services" held at the one of university libraries in their computer lab. We were bused to the lab and back. The weather was rainy and cold so the bus ride was greatly appreciated. I love those practical classes, which give you step-by-step instruction with practice exercises. I want to be able to learn the information and apply it immediately when I return to work. I really dislike those classes, which have endless handouts. You can never use them when you get back to work since you don't have time to read them all. Lauree Hart, the instructor, was straightforward and complete. It was a delight.
I didn't attend the other classes but I did go on the tour of the Veterinary Medicine Library. We actually got to see the veterinary hospital and the newly completed museum. Beautifully designed and organized historical veterinary artifacts displayed in a high tech atmosphere for research and study. The display cabinets surrounded the room with multi-media carrels in the center.
The Veterinary Teaching Hospital was very interesting. It had huge doors for large domestic animals to enter. There were stalls for recovery and giant operating rooms. The scale of the building was very large with cement hallways, and of course, it was damp and smelled like a barn. We saw sheep and horses being treated. They just got a new CAT scan system with data storage, which displays at one of the crossroads in the hospital hallways. Students were studying several scans displayed at one time. The director of the library guided and arranged the tours. He also drove the bus! The veterinary personnel especially impressed me. They gave of their time graciously to explain their operations. They were a very articulate and knowledgeable group.
We have a reception in the evening called Nancy's Reception. This is in honor of Nancy Stump, former committed member of HSLI who passed away in 2004. The exhibits and posters were displayed. I was pleased and surprised by the number of posters and exhibitors who attended. I exhibited for Midwest Chapter MLA and interested several students in joining Midwest Chapter. The reception was a food fest as well. On the second day we had exhibits, posters, keynote speaker, and presentations. If, Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, head of the Undergraduate Library and keynote speaker for this meeting, is any indication of the future of libraries in Illinois, we have nothing to worry about. The story of the turnaround she and her staff underwent in redesigning the undergraduate library to meet the needs of their undergraduate clientele in this 2.0 digital age was phenomenal. I can't do it justice. Just know that the students now know the library as "club undergrad."
We had an update from the NNLM-Greater Midwest Regional Office. Another highlight was the launching of our Health-E Illinois MedlinePlus Go Local. Loyola Medical Center Library in partnership with HSLI shared the celebration of "Health-E Illinois." Dr. Ludwig from Loyola was given a check from HSLI for the continuing maintenance and update of the Health-E Illinois. The Health Sciences Librarians of Illinois contribute again to the future of health information in Illinois. Several attendees left before the business luncheon took place, but they really missed out. There were loads of giveaways in a drawing for those who stayed. I won a gift card to Best Buy!