Fiscal Year 2018 Funding Bill Enacted into Law
Today, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 was signed into law. The $1.3 trillion omnibus bill provides the National Institutes of Health and the National Library of…
MLA Supports Federal Depository Library Program Modernization Act of 2018
MLA President Barbara A. Epstein, AHIP, FMLA has thanked Representatives Gregg Harper (R) MS-03 and Robert Brady (D) PA-01 for introducing H.R. 5305, the FDLP (Federal…
Hospital Librarianship: Education and Travel by Hospital Librarians: Results of a Survey
MLA frequently offers webinars for a charge to members. I knew from my personal experience that my hospital library does not have an education budget,…
FYI: The Latest about Sci-Hub
Something probably falling under the definition of a “statement or report disseminated without a source of truth or veracity”—in other words, a rumor—appeared recently in…
Information Literacy and Consumer Health: Reading the Fine Print
I was recently asked to give an instruction session to an undergraduate class about evaluating online sources of consumer health information. When I started doing…
Mendeley Reference Manager Software
When it comes to reference manager software, I have been a long-time user and supporter of both EndNote and RefWorks – but Mendeley is currently…
Op Ed: Why Health Insurance Policy Matters to Health Sciences Librarians
The year 2017 saw multiple attempts by the US Senate and House of Representatives to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In each case, the…
FYI: Eponymous Librarians
An article in College & Research Libraries recently took issue with the upshots of “Criteria for Determining Predatory Open-Access Publishers” by Jeffrey Beall. The authors…
Hospital Librarianship: Collaboration to Achieve Innovation
Submitted by Wanda Sebrena Thomas, Skelton Medical Library, Mercer University School of Medicine, Macon, GA; edited by Angela Spencer, AHIP Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in a hospital…
The RAISE Act of 2017 to Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage US Family Caregivers Signed into Law
On January 22, 2018, President Donald J. Trump signed House Bill H.R.3759, the Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage (RAISE) Family Caregivers Act of 2017…
How to promote your research and scholarly output
Both ORCID and ResearchGate are two sites that help make your research more discoverable to the research community. Librarians enjoy exploring new tools and when…
FYI: Barbara Alice Ringer
Remember the reportage here in June of 2017 that the House of Representatives in DC had approved a bill to take from the librarian of…
TAKE ACTION TO SUPPORT THE MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES ACT OF 2017
Action Alert Members of the health sciences library community are encouraged to contact your Senators and urge them to support libraries by cosponsoring S. 2271, The…
FYI: Predators in the Periodicals
As if libraries (and patrons presumably) do not have enough to worry them—like ransomware, acts of terrorism, rascals in raincoats, news that is fake, theft,…
Plastic Bag Ordinances
The city I live in recently joined the growing list of local U.S. governments using public policies to attempt to reduce reliance on thin plastic…
Take Action to Support Net Neutrality Protections
Action Alert By December 13th, members of the health sciences library community are encouraged to contact your members of Congress and urge them to support…
New MeSH Terms for Public Health
Hello PH/HA Members, When the end of the year approaches, the NLM announces upcoming changes to MeSH terms. Many of the changes for 2018 relate…
FYI: Whither Books and Learning?
Demise of books? If the findings of a survey outlined in an article published by Inside Higher Education are indicative of trends to come, then…
MLA Addresses Next Generation Data Sciences Challenges in Health and Biomedicine
The Medical Library Association (MLA) has submitted comments to the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in response to its Request for Information (RFI) on Next Generation…
Leadership and Management: The Value of Transparency
I’ve never bought into the concept of “wearing the mask.” As a leader, the only way I know how to engender trust and buy-in from…