By Carrie Fry, Nursing and Health Science Librarian, University of San Diego

As a new member of MLGSCA, joining just last year, I was delighted to attend the MLGSCA/NCNMLG Joint Meeting.  I appreciated the opportunity to meet other members in person and was energized by being in community with you all. I had the pleasure of leading one of three immersion sessions, and I walked away with a renewed sense of pride in the creativity (and healthy AI skepticism) of our members.

Centering Human Values and Experience When Using AI

In my session, we moved beyond the “black box” nature of LLMs by focusing on priming the tools (using the personalization settings) to be more responsive to our values and professional context. Then by being more strategic in how we prompt and question AI tools we can move beyond generic outputs to responses that actually reflect our specific needs as health science librarians.

The Balancing Act: Upskilling vs. Deskilling

One of the highlights for me was hearing from Katie Hoskins and Katie Houk. As someone who keeps a wary eye on AI’s hallucination tendencies and its impact on information literacy, I was struck by their nuanced take on the student experience. We know that even though AI is prone to inaccuracies, students turn to it regularly. The Katies challenged us to look at upskilling and deskilling.  For instance, if students use AI to find articles, are they losing the ability to identify keywords and perform searches for themselves? But what if we, as librarians, use AI to help compensate for that by creating an assignment where the student uses AI to build a PubMed search out of a PICO clinical question and evaluate that search string? In this way, use of the AI tool is integrated, but the assignment still maximizes critical thinking and research skills as work done by the student. 

Playing Detective

Finally, Morgan Choate and Katie Jefferson turned us all into investigators.  They led us on a hunt for the elusive hacker, “The Librarian” using a mix of real and GenAI- generated images and reports.  I must admit, even as a skeptic, I was floored by how sophisticated AI imagery has become. Recognizing the real from the fake was no easy task. This only reinforces why our roles in information literacy are more vital than ever – and must include an understanding of GenAI.

If you want to learn more about any of these sessions, I recommend reaching out to the leaders of the immersion sessions.  Also, I encourage each of you to consider leading a session in the future! We are all learning, and the immersion sessions are a place where we can play, fail, and learn together in a supportive space.

On February 19th, AZ MLGSCA members had fun discovering Stardust Pinbar’s covert entry door found within “Ziggy’s Magic Pizza Shop in Phoenix.  The pizza received rave reviews and the pinball machine selection included themes from “Foo Fighters” to “Star Wars”. The group highly recommends this hidden gem!

Special thanks to Melissa Wagner for documenting this social.

Thanks to all who joined us for a night out at the Rockhouse Las Vegas on January 17^th.  After a full day at the Joint Conference, more than 25 members show up to unwind and connect.  And while seating was a little short and the volume a little loud, it was great to get to know our fellow attendees a little better!

Meanwhile at the Palace Station Brass Fork, 7 of us enjoyed a quiet dinner together, discussing our latest reads, family antics, and plans for our trips home. We also got to stand in line for a while to pay our bills, which helped us digest dinner. 

The membership committee is busy planning spring socials in our respective cities, so keep an eye out on the MLGSCA google group email for updates. We look forward to seeing you there! 

The recent NCN/MLGSCA Joint Meeting, All In: Betting on the Future of Medical Libraries held in the Palace Station Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, NV was a success! I think we all came away with new and stronger relationships with our colleagues in the medical library and publishing worlds. We truly appreciate all the support that came from our vendors, we couldn’t have had an in-person meeting without you! Your support makes it possible. Nothing beats an in-person meeting for making our work and aspirations more real. It’s true that the virtual platform can be more inclusive and accessible, but a real-world hug and laugh are golden. It’s a commitment I hope we all agree to continue. I am proud to know you all, and tickled to meet new faces who I hope will become new friends and colleagues. You all help us to carry the torch of our chapter and mission to collaborate with our communities, encourage resource discovery and service innovation, promote professional development and foster a sense of community, belonging, and inclusion.

Janet Crum and Elisa Cortez did a stellar job in making The Joy of Project Management, our scheduled CE, well, manageable as they simplified the process into stages. Asking us to work together in small groups on a hands-on exercise really brought the steps to life.

Heather Holmes, our current MLA President, gave the opening plenary reporting about the hiring of our new MLA Executive Director, Katrina Holland, to replace Kevin Baliozian who is retiring (in about a week!) and who she credited for turning our association around, along with Kate Corcoran, also retiring! Heather gave Katrina a glowing recommendation and is excited to start working with her. Heather is also working on fixing our MLA caucus communication system, the return of the listservs! John Bramble and Caroline Martin from NNLM Regions 4 and 5, respectively, updated us with information about the past, very challenging, year of navigating unknowns and barriers to funding. We appreciated having the time to ask our questions and emphasize our support for this agency, doing the work that we pay them to do.

Our closing plenary speaker Emma Bloomfield, from the communication studies department at UNLV (and a former, fellow Trojan, Fight On!), gave us a new approach to consider in using story to tell science. Dr Bloomfield advocated for making science relatable, centering persons to tell our science stories. We can tell ours (and others) personal stories about what we see and know in regards to “difficult” topics such as vaccine hesitancy and climate change.

I learned so much from our lightning talks, posters, papers and immersion sessions, and was blown away by all the great work presented. If I could have been in two places at once, I would have attended everything! I applaud our conference co-chairs, Angela Murrell and Rachel Keiko Stark, and all of the committee chairs for making a wonderful opportunity for learning and networking, a reality. Thanks y’all!

       

How does the Nominating Committee build the election slate? A peek behind the scenes!

Ever wonder how MLGSCA’s leadership slate comes together each year? We’re sharing the inside scoop! Read on to learn about the care and thought that goes into building a slate that represents our community.

What’s this committee anyway?

Each year’s Nominating Committee consists of one chair, two continuing members from the previous year, and two new members. This helps keep things fresh while maintaining continuity. Together, they help shape the future of Chapter leadership by preparing the annual slate of nominees for open officer positions and  managing the election process.

When does this process start?

Building the election slate kicks off in the fall. The committee begins spreading the word through the listserv, the MLGSCA blog, and Advisory Council meetings to gather nominations and gauge interest from members who want to get more involved.

What happens next?

Developing the election slate is no small task! It involves:

• Plenty of discussion among committee members

• Reaching out to potential nominees who have either been nominated by peers or the Nominating Committee through their chapter engagement

• Collecting self-nominations from interested members

• Ensuring a balance – when possible, balancing representation from hospital and academic libraries and different areas of Arizona and California

The Yes! Moment

Once someone agrees to run, they complete a “Willingness to Run for Office” form. This confirms they’re ready to take on the role and provides information about the candidate for election announcements and the final ballot.

Final Steps

Before ballots go out, the Advisory Council approves the slate. This ensures careful consideration of community representation as well as balance of roles and terms candidates have served for equitable member opportunities. Then, it’s time for voting!

Thinking about running? Keep an eye out for calls or nominations – you might be just the person we’re looking for!

Name: Stephen Clancy

Title: Research Librarian for Health Sciences and Nursing Science (retired)

Institution: Science Library, University of California, Irvine

Brief description of what you do at your institution

Research Librarian for Health Sciences and Nursing Science. I worked with both the Nursing and Medical Schools, helped them with research projects, taught occasional classes on literature searching skills. I was also the collection development librarian for the Nursing collection for my last decade or so. I participated in the electronic reference service "Ask a Librarian" via both email and virtual sessions with patrons from all over the country.

Why is MLGSCA important to you?

I loved belonging to MLGSCA as a way to connect with other colleagues, to learn from them, and to attend (though not as often as I would have liked) the local and joint meetings!

Why did you become a librarian?

As an undergrad, one of my Anthropology T.A.s told me about the profession of "Information Sciences." At the time I had no idea this involved librarianship. I applied to grad school at UC Berkeley for Anthropology and to UCLA for "Library and Information Sciences." Berkeley rejected and and UCLA accepted me! So glad they both did. It couldn't have worked out better!

What was your first library job or professional position?

My very first job in a library was as a grad student at UCLA in the UCLA Medical Center Anesthesiology Departmental library. I was responsible for keeping the collection in order, typing up catalog cards, etc. My first professional job after I graduated was as the Assistant Director (there were only two of us!) at the Kaiser Permanente hospital library in Bellflower, California.

What is your advice to someone new to medical librarianship?

Learn as much as you can about everything, attend every class offered by database providers, MLG, MLA, etc. Respect the non-professional staff you may work with, and get to know as many as you can. Be kind and helpful to patrons, but don't take any guff!

What has been the most interesting project you have worked on?

One of my most interesting projects was way back in the middle 80's when I developed and ran the dial-up Remote Bulletin Board System (RBBS) "Wellspring" in the UCI Biomedical Library which focused on medical information, and free software collections. I eventually had users from all over including the U.S. and other countries. This taught me tons about computer systems, software, communicating virtually, and so much more. What I learned from this led to creating a similar BBS for MLGSCA and eventually to designing a website for our Reference Department, and finally my own personal one.

What do you consider to be the most pressing issues or trends in librarianship?

Lack of support from the current federal government, censorship of books in (mostly public) by conservative political groups and related legislation .

What is something you have on your bucket list?

Visit Ireland (my heritage) and New Zealand, re-learn to ride my unicycle again!

What do you do in your spare time for fun, or to relax?

Watch old classic movies & TV shows, collect and listen to classic rock and more current indie musicians and singers, raising my cacti and carnivorous plants, weekly Zoom sessions with our grandson to watch TV shows (currently Highlander) or movies, and catalog my DVD/Blu-Ray/VHS collection (once a librarian, always a librarian).

What is the best thing you have read/watched/listened to recently?

TV Shows: "China Beach" and "Star Trek: Lower Decks." Movies: "Tank Girl." Book: "I Am Not Spock" by Leonard Nimoy.

Describe yourself in five words

Weird, funny, sci-fi nerd, father/grandfather, kind

Is there anything about you that others would be surprised to know?

For years I rode a unicycle to work at UCI.

What are you most proud of?

My family.

Good morning,

Can you please let me know if you receive this blog post via email? We've had some issues with the blog subscription widget, so I'm doing some troubleshooting.

Thanks!

Adorée Makusztak (amakusztak@llu.edu)

We have some sad news to share today. David Keddle passed away on Friday, June 13th, after a long and difficult battle with leukemia.

David’s career in libraries spanned more than 50 years—a remarkable legacy of dedication to the field of knowledge and information. Even during his illness, he remained focused on his goal of returning to the library and completing 20 years of service with Kaiser Permanente.

Many of you will also remember David’s fondness for his cat, Hilary, who was a constant companion and source of comfort to him.

David Keddle was an advisor for NNLM Region 5, and also had a long relationship with the organization previously named NNLM Pacific Southwest Region (PSR). NNLM Region 5 interviewed David for their Member Liaison Spotlight blog in 2024.

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

— Pericles

Name: Andrea Harrow

Title: Clinical Librarian

Institution: Norris Medical Library + Keck Medical Center of the University of Southern California

Brief description of what you do at your institution:

I am an embedded, liaison librarian for the practicing clinicians on our health sciences campus; in other words, I collaborate with and support the clinicians employed to help patients

Why is MLGSCA important to you?

As a long time member, I appreciate the community of librarians who share their knowledge and ideas. I was a solo librarian for many years, and depended on MLGSCA for new ideas, support and professional development.

Why did you become a librarian?

I was looking for new opportunities and saw a flyer in an unemployment office in South London (England) advertising a master's degree in information management. And, I was always an avid reader, enjoying inhabiting or pondering the worlds authors create.

What was your first library job or professional position?

TFPL (a library temping agency - and still going) got me my first library job doing records management, labeling boxes for Surrey county council. My first professional position was acquisitions assistant for the British Film Institute.

What is your advice to someone new to medical librarianship?

Get out there and meet people. Learning the lingo takes time, make connections with the humans. Find out what people need and find ways to collaborate together.

What has been the most interesting project you have worked on?

Hmmm.. I think I enjoy the continuum of a project from identifying an initial need to developing instructional materials to help address the need, and assessing how the project impacts the participants. I guess it is the research process itself I enjoy.

What do you consider to be the most pressing issues or trends in librarianship?

Critical reasoning and thinking

What is something you have on your bucket list?

I'd like to boat in Mexico City, attend prayers in Lalibela Ethiopia, drink a glass-bottomed pint in Shanghai, eat in Szechwan China, climb a pyramid in Egypt, hug a matriarch in every one of the world's matriarchal societies

What do you do in your spare time for fun, or to relax?

I walk, hike, dance, read, find a friend or family

What is the best thing you have read/watched/listened to recently?

Just finished Machines Like me, by Ian McEwan. I like all his books. Pathogenesis: A history of the world in eight plagues by Jonathan Kennedy. Big Thief at the Hollywood Bowl.

Describe yourself in five words

thoughtful, spontaneous, silent, loud, contradictory

Is there anything about you that others would be surprised to know?

When I was an undergrad, our girl gang had a skateboard designed for us called the Las Caprichas deck by some of our pals at Powell Peralta. A tattoo on my arm also commemorates this time.

What are you most proud of?

surviving with joy