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,…
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…
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…
Hospital Librarianship: A Workplace Solution and Rewarding Collaboration
Edited by Angela Spencer The Saint Marys* staff library supports the health care information needs of staff and affiliated students at Mayo Clinic Hospital–Saint Marys…
FYI: “Let Your Fingers Do the Walking…”
A finger-tip camera to assist the visually impaired While “giving the finger” to a patron would, hopefully, prompt an image of a prosthetic—created by stereolithography—being…
MLA and AALL recommend Federal Depository Library Program Reforms
The Medical Library Association (MLA) and American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) have submitted recommendations for change that will update the Federal Depository Library Program…
NLM FY 2018 Funding Update
The Senate Appropriations Committee’s Fiscal Year 2018 bill, S. 1771, provides the National Library of Medicine (NLM) with $420,898,000. During the spring Joint MLA/AAHSL Legislative Task…
FYI: Sci-Hub and Chatbots
The continuing saga of Sci-Hub and scholarly publishing Ahhhhh… there is nothing like the mystery of a spellbinder. There is one percolating in publishing and…
Steering MLA Members to Professional Success! The Education Strategic Goal Status Update
As Kevin Baliozian promised in a July MLA News article, here is an update on the Education Strategic Goal. Since the MLA Board created a…
FYI: Medicare and Degrowth
Libraries and the Medicare “maze” Golden and crisp, succored in a comforter of green, protected from the elements, fresh and crunchy…what is it? Zea, of…
Leadership and Management: The Role of Servant Leadership
“Servant leadership,” as written by Robert Greenleaf in his 1970 essay The Servant as Leader challenged more traditional leadership models of the time. His original…
FYI: TSA, Fines, Funding
What are YOU reading on your next flight? “Tattlers never prosper.” Have you ever heard that from a grandparent or an aunt or uncle removed…
Medical Library Education: Data Science: Degree or No Degree?
Universities are quickly working to capitalize on the need for data scientists by either improving their existing programs or creating new programs. Data scientists can…
What Do Health Information Professionals Do? The Answer Is the Newly Revised MLA Competencies for Lifelong Learning and Professional Success
What do health information professionals do? The list of activities is long and varied and depends on specific job responsibilities. But what fundamental skill set…
Hospital Librarianship: How Was I Affected by Downsizing?
Edited by Angela Spencer Good question. Worth pondering. Huge paradigm shift. I never imagined that my medical library would be downsized. At the time of…
FYI: Changes
The “battle” over copyright Who has the right to settle copyright? A battle on the subject is materializing in the Capital pitting opponents against each…