Goes to North America’s Largest Technology Conference for Librarians

I have always wanted to attend the Computers in Libraries conference in the hopes of finally getting up to speed with current technologies, and in March – thanks to the RML – I did. Information Today Inc’s 27^th annual conference definitely lived up to its claim – it WAS big. But what most impressed me was that it successfully managed to offer relevant information for academic, public, and special librarians, as well as programming for both technophiles and neophytes. That’s a lot of hats to wear, but they wore them well.

This year’s theme was Creating Innovative Libraries, with speakers kicking off each day, followed by “track” programming. Attendees could stick with one track all day, or pick and choose among themes like Mobile Trends and Practices, Navigating Information Overload, eBook Revolution and Evolution, and Recreating Services. Read more »

There’s been a lot happening to increase health information literacy in the MidContinential Region, so I checked in with three librarians in Missouri to ask about their work and see what projects have been keeping them busy.

Will Olmstadt, Public Health Librarian at Becker Medical Library – Washington University –St. Louis, was recently at the Creve Coeur Government Center to present a class to the St. Louis Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) on NIHSenior Health. NORC is a community program that supports health aging of seniors by providing community involvement, support services, health & wellness and educational programming. Read more »

• Professional Development Award Winners
• Thoughts from attendees of e-Science Workshop and Mayden Lecture
• Professional Development and Publishing
• Whooo Says:
• Introducing Rachel Vukas
• What does the DOCLINE Coordinator do?

Wondering about the award winners of our Professional Development Award? And all the conferences they are attending? Following is a list of recipients and the event he/she attended!

Each recipient is asked to share their information, and they’ve done this by presenting a webinar or writing a brief article. Recordings of webinars are housed on our website at: http://nnlm.gov/mcr/education/online.html.

Stand by for upcoming presentations from this group of enterprising librarians! Read more »

On February 22, 2012, the University of Utah Eccles Health Sciences Library hosted an all-day event on E-Science. The morning session, Developing Data Services to Support eScience/eResearch was presented by Dr. Jian Qin, Associate Professor and Director CAS eScience Program, Syracuse University. In the afternoon, Bart Ragon, Associate Director for Knowledge Integration, Research, and Technology at the University of Virginia – Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, presented the Priscilla M. Mayden Lecture. This was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Bart Ragon. Panelists included: Bill Barnett, Ph.D., Indiana University; Steve Corbató, Ph.D., University of Utah; Donald McClain, M.D., Ph.D., University of Utah; Daureen Nesdill, MLIS, University of Utah; and Ellie Phillipo, New England Journal of Medicine.

 The following comments on the day’s events are from people who received the Professional Development Award to attend this day-long session, from the National Network/Libraries of Medicine, MidContinental Region. Read more »

with the Medical Library Association and the Interagency Council on Information Resources in Nursing

Susan Fowler, MLIS
Becker Medical Library
St. Louis, Missouri
fowlers@wusm.wustl.edu

The Interagency Council on Information Resources in Nursing (ICIRN) began in 1960 as a voluntary group composed of organizations and agencies concerned with providing nurses access to information resources. Each member organization, such as the American Nurses Association, AACN, Medical Library Association, and National League for Nursing, appoints representatives to serve on the Council. Read more »

Dear Whooo,

I am a health sciences librarian, and I am very tired! It seems that our profession is changing so rapidly that I can never catch up. I keep trying to learn about the new technologies and practices, and then to incorporate then into my library. However, just when I get something started and working, things change and I’m back to trying to catch up and “get with it” again. Help!

Sincerely,
Frazzled Read more »

Rachel Vukas is the new Kansas/Technology Coordinator for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, MidContinental Region. She is located at The University of Kansas Medical Center. Rachel earned both her Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Library Science from Emporia State University. She also has a Master of Arts in American Studies (with an emphasis in American folk music) from the University of Kansas. Previously, Rachel worked in Reference Services at Mabee Library, Washburn University and more recently for EBSCO Information Services and WT Cox Subscription Services.

She enjoys playing the hammered dulcimer and cruising with her husband, in their classic cars.

NOTE: This article was written with the idea of educating the newer Network full member about the role of the Member Services Coordinator and some highlights about resource sharing. I know many of you reading this have years of experience and already know most of the content in this article but if you continue reading, you may learn something too.

By the end of March 2012, the MidContinental Region had 150 Full members and 190 Affiliate members. Despite the fact that fewer than half the member libraries in our region are DOCLINE users, the demand for support is still strong. DOCLINE users in all the NN/LM regions, as seen in the table below, total 2,370 libraries (including the U.S. and it possessions). Read more »