We’ve Got a Plan! (for the Future of MLA Education)

The Education Steering Committee (ESC) released its curriculum plan to the education curriculum committees last month. We are very proud of this accomplishment! We spent a good part of the past six months surveying sections and special interest groups (SIGs), scrutinizing data on competencies self-assessment, and reading documents on the future of libraries, webinar feedback on desired courses, and more to create an evidence-based plan for the future of MLA education.

Our plan is purposefully broad so that content experts on curriculum committees and future course authors can flesh them out and submit specific proposals to the ESC. The already established curriculum committees, Leadership Curriculum Committee and Research and Evidence-Based Practice Curriculum Committee, will begin working on implementing their parts of the plan this month. The four remaining curriculum committees will begin working shortly after the annual meeting. Committees are planning to produce their first self-paced online courses by the end of this year.

The Education Annual Programming Committee will serve the curriculum plan by working with the education curriculum committees to identify plan elements that work best as webinars or continuing education courses at annual meetings. The Education Annual Programming Committee will continue to serve members and other health information professionals with “hot topics” webinars, webinar series, and other offerings that work best as webinars or extended-length, face-to-face offerings at annual meetings

The highest priority in the MLA education curriculum plan is to create a series of courses that provide an introduction to the basics of each competency. Course objectives should help learners meet the “basic” level of the competency’s performance indicators. This track is aimed at those new to the health information profession, including those with and without a librarian background.

Each curriculum committee has four to five additional priorities. Over the next few years, each curriculum committee will create educational offerings based on these priorities. Some priorities overlap, and the ESC hopes that the curriculum committees will work together to create content that appeals to a broad audience. The priorities, structured around the competencies and curriculum committees, are below.

These priorities will help meet the MLA strategic education goals to foster excellence in professional practice and leadership. By executing this new curriculum plan with creative and exciting new educational offerings, MLA will be positioning itself as the go-to educational resource for health sciences information professionals.

MLA Educational Curriculum Priorities

• Competency 1: Information Services
  • Systematic Reviews Specialization
  • Expert Searching
  • Skill Development for Early Career Health Sciences Librarians
  • Emerging Technologies in Librarians and Health Care
  • Cultivating Awareness of the Health Sciences Environment
• Competency 2: Information Management
  • Data Management Specialization
  • Publishing Models
  • Copyright, Licensing, and Contracts
  • Knowledge Management and Collection Development
  • Archives and Preservation
• Competency 3: Instruction and Instructional Design
  • Instructional Design and Curriculum Development
  • Educational Technologies and Strategies
  • Teaching Adults: Adult Learning Theory and User Experience
  • Information Literacy Instruction and the New Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework
• Competency 4: Leadership and Management
  • Library Management Specialization
  • Marketing, Outreach, and Collaboration
  • Leadership for Everyone
  • Thriving and Surviving as an Employee
  • Advocacy and Proving Library Value
• Competency 5: Evidence-Based Practice and Research
  • Research Creation
  • Research Dissemination
  • Survey Design and Library Program Evaluation
  • Evidence-Based Practice and Research Application
• Competency 6: Health Information Professionalism
  • Legal, Regulatory, and Financial Issues in Health Care
  • Hot Topics in Health Care
  • Creating Influence and Advocating for Change in the Health Care Environment
  • Cultivating Awareness of the Health Care Environment
  • Career Development and Transitions