The following report was submitted to MLA.
Who we are:
- A chapter of the Medical Library Association serving all of Arizona and southern California (all Southern and 5 Central counties)
- ~ 115 health science librarians and information professionals
What we do:
- Facilitate collaboration among health sciences librarians and their communities
- Encourage library resource discovery and service innovation
- Promote professional development opportunities for members
- Foster a sense of community, belonging, and inclusion in our members
Executive summary
- 2026 MLGSCA/NCNMLG Joint Meeting in Las Vegas offered members the opportunity to connect in-person, collaborate, teach and learn from each other
- 2025 General membership meeting & Virtual Summer Symposium also gave members the opportunity to present and learn from each other
- Membership committee scheduled in-person meet-ups, parties and tours which also attracted student members; Professional issues committee facilitated our Buddy and Mentor programs
- Research and coffee chats connected members to discuss timely topics
- Finance committee assessed chapter financial health, compared to four other surveyed chapters, developed recommendations
- 2024-2025 fiscal end-of-year Q1 Location of Assets reports show an increase of 12K
Fostering Community Building or Belonging - Share fairness, representation, and belonging related initiatives or activities in the last 12 months.
- Our Membership committee scheduled in-person meet-ups, parties and tours which also attracted student members
- Our Community & Belonging Task Force (renamed from DEI-A TF, established 2023) was incorporated into the Professional Issues Committee
- Most regular meetings were virtual to allow equitable access
- Our CE committee scheduled, “Leveraging AI Tools to Summarize Research Articles,” and “Cultural Humility in Libraries” for free to all members
- Our Professional Issues Committee facilitated our buddy and mentorship programs
- MLGSCA blog posts introduced our members and highlighted their work to the wider community
Strategic Plan – List the latest goals, strategies, and status of specific objectives. If possible, include dates, metrics, and schedules.
- Review Chapter finances and fiscal management for any needed improvements
- The Finance Committee met several times to review income and expenditures , and make recommendations
- Determined that the chapter is in a strong financial position with increased revenue from money market and underspending budget
- Evaluating opportunities for increasing support of members’ professional development
- Increase membership participation and encourage more members to volunteer for committees and run for elected offices.
- In-person meet-ups encouraged community building
- Continued to schedule, open-to-all, monthly committee meetings.
- Buddy and mentorship programs, veteran chapter members were paired with newer members to orient and encourage participation in the chapter
- Promote professional development opportunities for members.
- 2026 Joint Meeting with NCNMLG in Las Vegas, NV, see below
- 2025 General membership meeting/Virtual Summer Symposium was held Jun 5
- Continued the Buddy and Mentorship programs into 2026
- Scheduled or sponsored two, free, virtual CE opportunities for ~75 registrants
MLA Strategic Plan (Leadership at All Levels, Artificial Intelligence Imperative)
- 2025 President-elect (appointed due to vacated position) library staff member Dot Winslow exceeded expectations with engaging coffee chats, is now a Membership committee Co-chair, and was accepted to begin an MLS program starting Autumn 2026.
- Fall CE November 11, 2025 “Leveraging AI Tools to Summarize Research Articles,” free to members, 49 attendees. MLA CE: 1.0
Facts and Data - List key events held, items published, resources created, or other data.
- 2026 MLGSCA/NCNMLG Joint Meeting (Jan 16-18) Las Vegas, NV
- 70+ attendees, 14 vendors, nominal profit shared by two chapters
- 2025 Annual Meeting of the General Membership / Virtual Symposium (2025, Jun 5):
- General membership meeting was held in the morning, Virtual Summer Symposium followed in the afternoon
AHIP Credentialing Liaison:
- 47 MLGSCA members have AHIP certification, 8 are Provisional
- First-time AHIP application fee awarded to one member
Archives Committee:
- Ongoing, multi-year MLGSCA archives project to digitize chapter meeting documents
- A finding aid was created for materials held at UCLA, space is needed for an additional five linear feet of print archives currently stored at St. Joseph Hospital, Orange, CA
Awards Committee:
- Chair role passed from David Bickford to Antonia Osuna-Garcia.
- No applications for awards received in 2025-2026.
Professional Issues Committee’s Buddy / Mentorship Program:
- Meetings were held between March and June via Zoom.
- Six new member buddies were paired in 2025, four in 2024
- Ten mentor/mentees matched in 2026 (12 in 2023, four in 2024, five in 2025)
- Coffee Chats (convened by our President-elect):
- Monthly coffee chats, average attendance of 11 persons per event
- Informal, unrecorded conversations among members
CEs and Webinars:
- Book club October 3, 2025, “Stolen Focus” by Johann Hari
- Fall CE November 11, 2025 “Leveraging AI Tools to Summarize Research Articles,” 49 attendees. MLA CE: 1.0
- April 23, 2026 Xan Goodman presenting, “Cultural Humility in Libraries.” MLA CE: 1.5
Finance Committee:
- Conducted a financial review to better determine organization’s financial health and developed recommendations to ensure financial stability
- Surveyed other chapters to learn about their perceived financial health
- Presented findings of survey and financial review at the MLGSCA/NCNMLG Joint Meeting
Membership Committee Activities:
- Monthly, I am MLGSCA blog posts featured five members, other blog posts were also contributed by members
- Seven social events were scheduled: Phoenix-3, Tucson-1, SoCal-2, Las Vegas-1 at Joint Conference
- Identified health sciences libraries within the chapter area for future outreach and promotion
- Collaborated with Professional Issues committee to promote mentorship and encourage membership, especially student members
Research Chats:
- 9/26/2025: “Grant applications”, 8 attendees
- 2/27/2026: “RTI Experience”, 11 attendees
- Three research grant applications were awarded in 2025
Leadership Roster
- President: Andrea Harrow
- President Elect: David Bickford
- Immediate Past-President: Angela Murrell
- Secretary: Victoria Caine
- Treasurer: Carrie Cullen
- Chapter Council Representative: Elisa Cortez
- Chapter Council Representative Alternate: Andrea Lynch
- Nominating Committee: Rebecca Birr, Victoria Flores, Karina Kletscher, Ivan Portillo
Committee Chairs:
- Archives: Danielle Linden
- Awards: Antonia Osuna-Garcia
- Continuing Education/Program: Angela Murrell & Deb Farber
- Finance: Kevin Pardon
- Governmental Relations/Bylaws: Amy Chatfield
- Internal Auditor: Jennifer Silverman
- Membership: CJ Garcia and Dot Winslow
- MLA Credentialing Liaison (AHIP): Beth Autin
- MLGSCA Mailbox: Rikke Owaga
- MLGSCA/NCNMLG 2026 Joint Meeting: Angela Murrell
- Professional Issues: Judy Kraemer, Victoria Flores, Adele Dobry, Emily (Zimmerman) Raus
- Research Committee Chair: Amy Nadell
- Web/Blog: Adorée Makusztak
People Update
Chapter Election results for 2025-2026 Term:
- President-Elect: Victoria Caine
- Secretary: Melissa Wagner
- Nominating Committee: Danielle Linden, CJ Garcia
- Nominee to MLA Nominating Committee: Hal Bright
Continuing Officers:
- President: David Bickford
- Past President: Andrea Harrow
- Treasurer: Carrie Cullen
- Nominating Committee: Rebecca Birr, Victoria Flores
- Nominee to MLA Nominating Committee: Hal Bright
- MLA Chapter Council Representative: Elisa Cortez
- MLA Chapter Council Alternative: Andrea Lynch
Respectfully Submitted,
Andrea Harrow, MLGSCA President, 2025-2026
