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!
