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Press Releases

January 2007

To top of page MLA Awarded Elsevier Grant to Train Librarians in Africa, Asia, and Latin America

The Medical Library Association is pleased to announce that it has been awarded an $80,000 grant from one of its corporate partners, Elsevier-a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical, and medical books and journals-to train librarians on the African, Asian, and Latin American continents. This is a joint program co-sponsored by Librarians Without Borders™: a global initiative of MLA and Elsevier.

The Elsevier grant is earmarked for 2007 HINARI/AGORA/OARE (HOA)-related training workshops. The grant will be used to fund eight on-site workshops, one distance education course, and development of new training modules. This electronic library training initiative will be based on Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI) training materials. The HINARI program, a collaboration between the World Health Organization and major publishers, enables developing countries to gain access to one of the world's largest collections of biomedical and health literature. It is one of the principal projects designed to bridge the health information gap between developing and industrialized countries.

"Local training has proven to increase usage of the research and I am confident that this program in conjunction with MLA will provide better access to HINARI/AGORA/OARE for the researchers and students in developing countries," commented Tony McSean, Elsevier's Director of Library Relations.

MLA established the Librarians Without Borders™ program to strengthen its role and commitment to global health information. The Librarians Without Borders™ Website - which will feature MLA's international policy, programs, and activities - will debut on MLANET in the coming months.

About the Medical Library Association
MLA is a nonprofit, educational organization with more than 4,500 health sciences information professional members worldwide. Founded in 1898, MLA provides lifelong educational opportunities, supports a knowledgebase of health information research, and works with a global network of partners to promote the importance of quality information for improved health to the health care community and the public.

About HINARI
HINARI (Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative), is a UN-based initiative providing online access to the major journals of the biomedical and related social science fields, without charge, to public institutions in developing countries.

About AGORA
AGORA (Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture), established by the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization provides researchers, policy makers, educators, technical workers and extension specialists with access to high quality information in agriculture and related fields.

About OARE
OARE (Online Access to Research in the Environment), is managed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Yale University in association with the International Association of Science, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM), 35 leading science and technology publishers and 100 of the world's most prestigious scientific societies, associations, and foundations.

About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, Elsevier's 7,000 employees in over 70 offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com/), Scopus (http://www.info.scopus.com/), bibliographic databases, and online reference works.

Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com/) is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), a world-leading publisher and information provider. Operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high-quality and flexible information solutions to users, with increasing emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed Elsevier's ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

For more information, please contact Evelyn Shaevel, mlaedo1@mlahq.org, 312.419.9094 x15.

To top of page MLA 2007/08 Election Results Announced

Mary L. Ryan, AHIP, FMLA, To Serve as MLA President-Elect

The Medical Library Association (MLA) recently held its annual elections and is pleased to announce that Mary L. Ryan, AHIP, FMLA, has been chosen as MLA president-elect. Two new members of the MLA Board of Directors and nine new members of the MLA Nominating Committee have also been selected. The elected officials will assume their new roles at the conclusion of MLA '07 in Philadelphia, PA, May 18-23, 2007.

On becoming MLA president-elect, Ryan stated, "I'm thrilled to be given the opportunity to serve as president of the Medical Library Association, and I look forward to collaborating with the membership to continue work on existing initiatives and to identify new issues that need to be addressed. I sincerely appreciate the honor MLA members have bestowed on me, and I will do my best to be an effective president of MLA."

This will be Ryan's second time serving on the MLA Board of Directors. She served on the board from1990-1993, where she was Section Council chair. Ryan, University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Library-Little Rock, is currently a member of MLA's Scholarly Publishing Task Force, the Joint MLA/ Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) Legislative Task Force, and the South Central Chapter's Katrina Relief Task Force. These are just a few of the more than 120 committees and task forces Ryan has contributed to throughout her extraordinary career. She has also been instrumental in the development of ARhealthLINK, a consumer Website for the state of Arkansas.

A Distinguished Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP), Ryan has been awarded several honors including the 1978 MLA Murray Gottlieb Prize, the 1996 MLA South Central Chapter Distinguished Service Award, the 1998 National Library of Medicine Medical Informatics Fellowship, and induction as an MLA Fellow in 2006.

Gary A. Freiburger, AHIP, Arizona Health Sciences Library, University of Arizona-Tucson, and Laurie L. Thompson, AHIP, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center-Dallas, will help shape the direction of the association by lending their talents and dedication to the MLA Board of Directors. Freiburger and Thompson will each serve three-year terms.

Also chosen to serve on the MLA Board is Paula Raimondo, AHIP, who will begin serving her three-year term as Chapter Council liaison in May 2007. Raimondo, Health Sciences/Human Services Library, University of Maryland-Baltimore, replaces outgoing Chapter Council liaison, Sarah Gable, AHIP.

The role of the MLA Nominating Committee is to annually prepare, a slate of at least two nominees for president-elect and for each expiring board of director term. MLA's immediate past-president, M. J. Tooey, AHIP, will chair the incoming Nominating Committee. The newly elected members of the committee are as follows:

  • Eric D. Albright, AHIP
  • Kristine M. Alpi, AHIP
  • Marcus Banks, AHIP
  • Elizabeth K. Eaton
  • Patricia A. Hammond, AHIP
  • Teresa L. Knott, AHIP
  • Beverly Murphy, AHIP
  • Debra C. Rand, AHIP
  • Jean L. Siebert, AHIP

MLA is a nonprofit, educational organization with more than 4,500 health sciences information professional members worldwide. Founded in 1898, MLA provides lifelong educational opportunities, supports a knowledgebase of health information research, and works with a global network of partners to promote the importance of quality information for improved health to the health care community and the public.

For more information, please contact Evelyn Shaevel, mlaedo1@mlahq.org, 312.419.9094 x15.

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