Research

1995

1996

MLA Library Research Section changes its name to Research Section.

1996

MLA Research Section presents its first awards to the best Research Section paper and poster.

1997

MLA Research Section begins publishing a research column in the MLA News.

1997

MLA Research Section establishes the Research Mentoring Service.

1998

MLA and the American Medical Informatics Association hold a joint symposium on the “Health Informatics Research Agenda for the 21st Century.”

2000

MLA commissions the University of Maryland College of Library and Information Sciences to do a s tudy on the value of library and information services.

2000

MLA commissions the Hay Group to conduct a study about how organizations compensate medical library professionals performing information technology (IT)–oriented roles and how that compensation compares to IT professionals.

2001

MLA conducts the first benchmarking survey with member hospital libraries and librarians.

2001

MLA conducts the first of a number of online surveys of members to research topics such as Web-based learning, technology credentialing, MLANET needs assessment, and electronic access to meeting information.

2001

MLA commissions the Hay Group to conduct the seventh triennial salary survey to determine economic trends in health sciences librarianship. This is the first Web-based survey.

2002

MLA sponsors the “Informationist Conference,” an invitational conference to facilitate a national discussion, derive a consensus definition, and develop recommendations for an action agenda for the “informationist” professional in clinical and research domains.

2003

MLA Assessment and Benchmarking Special Interest Group is formed to address the increased interest and requirements for institutional assessment, benchmarking, and outcome measures and to increase related programming at MLA annual meetings.

2003

MLA establishes the Donald A. B. Lindberg Research Fellowship that provides a $25,000 grant, awarded annually by MLA through a competitive grant process. The purpose of this fellowship is to fund research aimed at expanding the research knowledgebase, linking the information services provided by librarians to improved health care and advances in biomedical research.

2003

MLA establishes the Benchmarking Network Editorial Board to oversee the benchmarking initiative that offers hospital, academic, and specialty health libraries an opportunity to learn more about benchmarking, compare data, establish best practices, and identify and work with a benchmarking partner. The second benchmarking survey is conducted and includes academic health center libraries.

2003

MLA and NLM support six hospital libraries’ participation in the Association of Research Libraries LibQUAL study to measure client satisfaction with library services.

2003

MLA conducts its first online MLA membership survey.

2004

MLA requires the u se of structured abstracts for paper and poster submissions for MLA ’04.

2004

NLM establishes the informationist fellowships, believing that clinical care, biomedical research and education, and public health administration can be improved by including information specialists in context (informationists) in work and decision settings.

2004

MLA commissions the Eskind Biomedical Library, Vanderbilt University, to develop a report exploring the roles, settings, skills, and training for the information specialist in context.

2005

MLA appoints the Task Force on Research Policy Statement Revision to revise MLA’s research statement.

2006

MLA lists t welve research courses on its Educational Clearinghouse.

2006

MLA purchases survey software to more easily survey the membership on a variety of topics.

2006

MLA embarks on its Health Information Literacy Research Project funded through a contract with NLM.

2007

MLA publishes The Research Imperative: The Research Policy Statement of the Medical Library Association, a revision of the policy statement published in 1995.