MLGSCA Link
Name: Karen O'Grady Institution: University of San Diego, San Diego, CA Title: Nursing Librarian
Brief description of what you do/your responsibilities at your institution.
I am an embedded librarian at the Hahn School of Nursing, meaning my office is in the nursing building and not in the campus library. USD only has graduate nursing students, so I mostly help students and faculty with their research.
Why is MLGSCA important to you?
MLGSCA is important to me for friendship and networking.
Why did you become a librarian?
I had previously worked in publishing, and I worked with a lot of librarians. The more I learned about the profession, the more I saw it was a perfect fit for me.
What has been the most interesting project you have worked on?
My future dream project is to connect my nursing students with the hospital librarians at their clinical sites to help bridge the classroom-to-bedside gap. Many nursing students stop reading the nursing literature once they graduate. Oh, how this frustrates me.
What is your advice to someone new to medical librarianship?
Find your niche. Unlike public librarianship, medical librarianship positions vary widely in day-to-day duties. If you don't love what you are doing, look around and make a change. The perfect job awaits you!
What do you consider to be the most pressing issues or trends in librarianship?
I think the profession would benefit greatly if library students jumped into participating in professional organizations. Beyond that, I think AI has many people in academia worried.
What is the best thing you have read/watched/listened to recently?
I am listening to John Green books. I finished Looking for Alaska, and now I am listening to Turtles All the Way Down. That guy can really write!
Is there anything about you that others would be surprised to know?
I have a Secret government clearance because of my previous position at a submarine base.
What are you most proud of?
I am most proud of completing the Alcatraz swim in San Francisco.
On a nice, crisp December evening, the MLGSCA Membership Committee hosted the “Librarian Holiday Get-together” at the CPK restaurant in the Irvine Spectrum. Like last year’s holiday event, the committee sent the invitation out to library school students, and all types of librarians including, public, law, and academic librarians from other disciplines. We were so thrilled to have had a law librarian and a liberal arts college librarian join us so we can share our work experiences and network.
As guests trickled in, we offered each a raffle ticket so they could participate in the event's prize drawing. We invited everyone to mix and mingle and to enjoy some delicious appetizers, salads, and pizzas.
When most have finished up their meals, we started the White Elephant gift exchange – which was the most exciting part of the evening. It was fun to see participants strategize which present to choose, shaking the wrapped boxes and gift bags, getting a feel for the weight of the mystery gift, and of course, the swapping of other people’s gifts!
Afterwards we performed the raffle drawing and the prizes were donated by our wonderful library vendors. Ebsco donated two $50 Amazon gift cards, Ovid/Wolters Kluwer donated a Starbucks holiday gift basket, and McGraw-Hill donated $100 CPK gift card to pitch in for the food. Also, MLGSCA donated a free 2024 membership certificate and a surprise gift (which was a Harry Potter-themed card game).
To finish off the lovely evening, as our guests prepared to depart, some were gracious enough to share with us that they were glad MLGSCA had organized the event. Which signaled to us that our colleagues have longed to socialize in-person. We had librarians come from all over Orange County, Riverside, LA, and San Diego to attend the get-together. One member even said that he is going to renew his membership with MLGSCA even though he’s retired from library service. It was wonderful time had by all and a perfect way to ring in the holiday season!
Happy Holidays from the MLGSCA Membership Committee!
Sunny McGowan (Co-chair)
Karen O’Grady (Co-chair)
Elisa Cortez
Jennifer Silverman
by Deborah Farber
If you want to develop new self-care practices, there's a resource for you. Created in 2022, the Be Well Community within MLA is a forum for librarians and staff to learn about personal and workplace wellness strategies. The Community hosts an hour-long panel discussion on a different topic each month. The sessions are scheduled from September to April, with a culminating event held at the MLA Annual Meeting.
In September, "Pens, Planners, and Productivity" focused on getting organized for work and school. Fellow MLGSCA Member Elisa Cortez was one of the panelists. Though preferred methods varied, all panelists emphasized picking a planning method that works for you. Planning can become part of self-care by incorporating reflection into the planning process.
The October session was all about "Preparing Plants for Changing Seasons." One of the panelists suggested, “Let nature do the work." The panelist allows seeds to fall to the ground and sprout when the conditions are right. Another panelist provided tips for gardening by season. For the third panelist, gardening is therapy.
The November topic was "Gifts and Gratitude: Sharing the Gift of Creativity." During the one-hour session, panelists provided ideas for incorporating creativity into gratitude practices. One suggested practice was visual journaling, a combination of words and art.
The next session, "Recipe for Resilience," will occur on December 13th at 1:00 pm CST. There is no cost to register for the session. To attend, join the Be Well Community. As a community member, you'll have access to previous session recordings and resources mentioned during each session.
Name: Adorée Hatton Institution: Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California Title: Research and Instruction Librarian
I provide reference services for healthcare students and support faculty with information literacy instruction.
It's been a wonderful way to get to know semi-local health librarians and further develop my health librarianship skills.
I always loved libraries - I had even written a paper in high school about "The Fellowship of the Library!" I had started considering it as a career when I did some in-depth aptitude testing; I asked the person who reviewed my test results if being a librarian would be a good fit, and they said it would be an excellent fit.
What was your first library job or professional position?
My first library job was a student position in the library at the small liberal arts university I attended. Both of the librarians knew I wanted to become a librarian, so they gave me the opportunity to work on projects not usually worked on by students, like overseeing sending periodicals for binding. I loved it!
Don't be scared of all the medical terminology - it will quickly become familiar. And - you're a librarian, you can always look it up! Don't be afraid to tell someone that you don't know the answer, but that you'll try to find it.
What is something you have on your bucket list?
I want to live/work in Austria or Germany at least long enough to become fluent in German.
A Discovery of Witches book series.
What do you do in your spare time for fun, or to relax?
I spend time with my husband, we both love to travel. We also have nine cats to take care of! And when I have any extra time, I spend it in my garden.
Name: David Bickford Institution: University of Arizona, Phoenix Title: Director, Arizona Health Sciences Library
I lead a multi-institutional team providing information access and services to students, faculty, and staff of the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University at the Phoenix Bioscience Core. Duties include instructional outreach to the academic communities of both institutions, management of library operations, coordination with each institution's main campus library, compliance with accreditation requirements, and collaboration with peer libraries and professional organizations.
MLGSCA provides a regional chapter that is just the right size to become involved in committee work and hold offices. It offers me an immediate way to test ideas and make contacts that can then lead to greater involvement at the national level through MLA.
My first library job was as a clerk in the small public library of my hometown in New York. My first professional position was a librarian in the Business and Science department of the old Phoenix Central Library.
Prior to my current position, I was in charge of library resources and services at University of Phoenix. That was during the institution's rapid expansion to a nationwide network of campuses and online programs. Because the university was operating in multiple states, we had to comply with multiple sets of accreditation and licensing requirements. That meant a lot of travel. Sometimes I spent as much time flying around the country and going to meetings as I did running my own library.
When I began my career, library resources (mostly books back then) were closely related to library space. A library's square footage was mostly determined by how many volumes it had. Now, resources (mostly digital now) and space are almost completely separate domains. Balancing how much time to devote to each one and explaining the differing needs in each area to leadership is likely to be a challenge for all library leaders.
To visit all 50 states. I've been stalled at 44 for a while now.
I recently enjoyed a book called "Half American" by Matthew Delmont. It's a fast-paced and fact-packed account of the African-American experience during World War II. In terms of movies, my favorite recent find has been "The Wolf's Call," a French submarine thriller.
In early adulthood, I responded to a breakup by cashing in my accumulated frequent flier miles, flying to Bangkok, and spending a week at a Thai cooking school. It might have been a little self-indulgent, but flying around the world and trying a new adventure was just right for restoring my confidence.
MLGSCA is pleased to issue the 2023 Library Staff Excellence Award to two dedicated employees of health science libraries in the region. This year’s recipients are Cynthia Heltne of the Mayo Clinic and Mike Bates of the University of Arizona. Cynthia has worked for over 18 years at Mayo where she has demonstrated a consistent commitment to customer service, patient education, and lifelong learning. Mikel was selected for her outstanding work in managing grants, supervising staff, and coordinating the Arizona Health Information Network. Both were presented with their awards at staff events at their respective libraries.
Gotschall, T., Spencer, A., Hoogland, M., Cortez, E., & Irish, E. (2023). Journals accepting case reports. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 111(4), 819–822. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2023.1747
Name: Zemirah G. (Lee) Ngow, MLIS, AHIP Institution: University of California, San Diego Title: Collection Strategist for Life & Health Sciences & Liaison Librarian
I’m responsible for collections in the life & health sciences at UCSD Library. I also currently liaise with our new PA Program, Psychiatry, and Bioinformatics, and assist with our systematic review service.
I’ve always felt the importance of developing and contributing to a community of like-minded professionals who can share common challenges, triumphs, and to be able to discuss pressing issues that immediately affect the work we do. The first half of my career I focused heavily on instruction, but have reached a stage in my professional life where I find myself really wanting to get deeper into the issues that affect medical/health information–teaching, learning, and scholarship. I feel so lucky to have found my life’s calling as a librarian focused on issues in the life and health sciences and am very thankful to have found this group. I find that the many varied opportunities for networking and continuing education here have been most valuable to my professional growth, and I embrace the cares and concerns we bring forward that are so unique to our profession.
My mom was a thesis shy of graduating to become a full-fledged librarian in the Philippines before she decided to marry my dad and move here back in the 70s. She always told me I should become a Librarian, but because mom told me to do it, it automatically was NOT cool, although I always had it in the back of my mind. I used to work for the County of San Diego and would see the postings for County Librarian positions and took a leap of faith one day and decided to just go back to school… libraries have always been a safe space for my three kids and I when I was a stay at home mom. So originally, I went to school to go into Youth Librarianship in Public Libraries before falling in love with the instruction, reference, research, and outreach component of Academic Libraries… et viola–The rest is history!
Whether you’re a solo hospital librarian or lost-in-the-crowd at a larger academic institution or find yourself in someplace between–no one else will really ever understand the unique challenges we face in our little specialty area of librarianship BUT another medical librarian. Find a professional group (like MLGSCA!) to get the help, support, advice, and network you’ll need to arrive and thrive in your new roles. Volunteer for everything you have time for and be open to exploring all the new opportunities that come your way because they will open doors to many other exciting adventures.
I have transformative agreements and the hidden gatchas involving open-access agreements on my mind because that seems like all I seem to be working on these days. Today, my answer to this question involves the whole of availability of scholarship and information-seeking behavior in the users who consume this information. Our scholars, researchers, and librarians are facing real challenges in curating, managing, collecting, and disseminating vetted evidence-based knowledge/information. Librarians these days, especially in health for medical/clinical settings, have evolved from bibliographers to having to become jacks and janes of all things with regard to the information we collect, curate, and organize to the teaching of finding and using of potentially complicated resources, to working with our researchers and authors to move our knowledge markers forward.
To vacation in a resort where I can stay in an overwater bungalow!
Describe yourself in five words.
Grounded, Compassionate, Family-Oriented, Ambivert
I play video games–depending on my mood, I’ll farm crops, or level up skill trees in a survival landscape, or mow down disease ridden zombies and renegade factions! I also love to bake and dig around yard sales or thrift stores for those hidden treasures I didn’t know I needed to have!
I’m most proud of my kids. Despite the challenges we’ve all had as a family over the last decade or so, they’ve all grown into beautiful, compassionate, skilled, and intelligent people I’m so blessed to get to have in my life. I can’t wait to see how their lives continue to develop and the wonderful people they’re going to grow up to become.
Name: Hector R. Perez-Gilbe, MLIS, MPH, AHIP Institution: University of California, Irvine Title: Research Librarian for the Health Sciences
I’m responsible for the collections in the areas of medicine, pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy, public health, and interim for biological sciences and nursing. I’m the library liaison to the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacy, School of Public Health and interim for liaison for the School of Biological Sciences. Also, part of the Systematic Review Services Team.
The main reason to be part of this group is the networking part. Staying in touch with colleagues from the region keep me current in new trends in medical librarianship and informed of the state of other institutions in areas of interest like collections and research.
Head of Government Documents at CUNY City College.
My first research adventure as an epidemiologist.
Changing the stereotype perception of the general population of what a librarian do. Librarians, specially in the health sciences/medical librarianship role, have evolved into a multiskilled partner with vast knowledge of medical literature and formal training on how to find, access, retrieve, and stored that literature for future use. Medical librarians have a very important role in academic and clinical settings. The challenge has become selling your skills and knowledge on a constantly changing landscape of technology and information in the area of medical/health sciences information. Becoming partner in the areas of research, instruction, and clinical practice, has one big hurdle, getting those constituents to know you and your skills sets and how you can help them achieve their goals. The perception of the work you do by those you serve may be completely inaccurate. Other challenging issues are decreasing library collections budgets and limited contact with constituents due to time limitations.
Visit Australia.
I don’t watch much tv or go to the movies, barely have time to read, but I recently watch again one of my favorite movies “Powder”. The movie was a critical piece in understanding human nature from the perspective of my believes.
Cooking, baking, collecting art and framing.
All the achievements that have led me to where I am now.
Today's coffee chat on "How to say 'No', or what to eliminate when there's too much to do," was a wonderful discussion among 11 colleagues at a variety of different institutions and library types.
We discussed many situations where we felt the need to say "no" to too many requests, interruptions, and sometimes patrons and colleagues.
We discussed ways to deal with excessive requests for systematic review and literature search requests. University of Colorado uses a Professional Literature Search Service (https://library.cuanschutz.edu/services/librarian-services/prof-lit-search) request form and charges a fee for Systematic review services (not to students) of $300 for a full search strategy. Plus, librarians must be co-authors. They also include a notice of a waiting period when they get backed up right on the website.
Managing your time and how many tasks or services you volunteer for can be difficult. Remembering the time commitment and setting aside enough time for each activity is challenging. Several participants discussed using tools to help manage their time. Excel can be used as a simplified project manager. Some librarians use their calendar to track weekly tasks associated with assigned duties. Blocking out time on the calendar and coloring coding different types of tasks allows you to track you time and prevent others from schedule meetings when you need to focus on important work. You can use these tricks later for annual reviews, instead of having to wade through emails. One participant mentioned a LinkedIn Learning course on time management by Dave Crenshaw as a good resource.
We also discussed ways to deal with interruptions, especially the little ones at your desk when you are in an online meeting or working on something that needs your focus. Some of us work in open offices or at desks with direct access to the public and find it hard to have blocks of time that is not interrupted with directional or questions unrelated to libraries. Some suggestions included getting a sign that has "in a meeting", "feel free to knock", "do not disturb", tec. However, some participants have experienced patrons who ignore such signs. It was suggested that we look for a conference room or study room we can reserve for important meetings or blocks of time that we need to work uninterrupted.
Other times when it is important to say "No" is when a request is made for something the library does not provide, like proctoring exams, grading assignments, or paying for parking. It is important to say no and offer alternatives if we can. Sometimes the patron still seems unsatisfied with the answer, but is not always our responsibility to solve their problem.
Other pressures can come from colleagues who may not understand when we say "no." In the end, we are doing our best with the time and resources we have. We are all very different individuals, in different situations. We also have different life circumstances and on top of work demands, must maintain a work-life balance.
Here are some resources about saying "No," understanding our value and dealing with the guilt of doing your best and knowing you are enough.
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