President 2008-2009
AAHSL President’s Message #11
October 31, 2009
It’s pumpkin and apple time – and almost AAMC/AAHSL time! I look forward to seeing you in Boston next week. You can check http://www.aahsl.org/page/am2009 for a list of AAHSL-related meetings. Remember to review the agenda for the annual membership meeting on Monday, November 9.
Leadership: I was fortunate to be invited to attend one day of the Leadership Fellows 2008-2009 Capstone and graduation event, October 19-21 in Washington, D.C. It was a grand experience to meet with the fellows and mentors and discuss with them and representatives from AAMC, AMIA, and AAHC the topic of health care reform. We also had an interactive session on AAHSL – its strategic plan, governance and committees, and other relevant issues. The evening graduation event and reception were especially fun. Thanks to the Future Leadership Committee for inviting me to participate. This experience made me want to volunteer as a mentor for the next cohort of fellows!
Annual Statistics: Just this week Gary Byrd announced that the Annual Statistics survey would remain open until November 20. Thank you, Gary and Committee – I know that my own institution was in need of this additional time!
Transitions: Congratulations to 3 new directors/acting directors! It seems that September and October were busy months for transitions in the state of New York!
Thank you: This is my last President’s Message as I turn over the reins to Connie Poole on November 9th. 2008-2009 has been an exciting yet challenging year for the members of AAHSL. The global economic crisis put pressure on our individual library budgets, and it has squeezed the finances of the healthcare, education and research institutions in which we work. But it has also been a productive year for our Association, filled with clearer statements of vision and mission, significant progress toward our goals, strengthening partnerships, and a renewed sense of the value we bring to our institutions. And all of this is due to the collective hard work and dedication of energetic association volunteers, members, and staff. I want to thank all of you for the opportunity to serve as your President. It has truly been an honor and a personally enriching experience to work together with all of you on behalf of academic health sciences libraries.
Julie
AAHSL President’s Message #10
September 18, 2009
As we get closer to our Annual Meeting there are many things to complete – agendas, annual reports, budgets. Thanks to all the committees and task forces who have been working all year and are now gearing up for their in-person meetings in Boston. I also have several announcements that are related to the Annual Meeting and to our upcoming AAHSL year.
Nominating Committee: The Nominating Committee (Chair Connie Poole, Gary Freiburger, and Tom Singarella) have put together a terrific slate for consideration at our November business meeting: Candidate for President-Elect, Pat Thibodeau (Duke University Medical Center); Candidate for Board Member, Sandra Franklin (Emory University).
Membership Categories and Related Bylaws Changes: Within the next week or so you will receive an email that presents the main findings and recommendations of the Membership Task Force, a group chaired by Elaine Martin that has been working during this past year to clarify membership categories and benefits. Following that, but before October 9 (30 days before our Annual Membership Meeting), you will receive from the AAHSL Office the proposed bylaws changes that reflect the Task Force recommendations. Please review both of these for our discussion at the Membership Meeting.
AAMC/AAHSL Annual Meeting: Remember to check the schedule of AAHSL events at the AAMC meeting which is coming up November 6-10 in Boston. Please note the following sessions that all AAHSL members are encouraged to attend:
Leadership: The process of selecting the Leadership Fellows 2009-2010 cohort is complete. Congratulations to all new fellows and their mentors! The Leadership Fellows 2008-2009 cohort will be attending its Capstone event on October 19-21 in Washington, D.C. I am looking forward to attending some of the sessions to speak about AAHSL and also to facilitate and participate in a panel session on Health Reform.
The Leadership Committee also announced the participants in the New Directors Symposium. Congratulations!
Annual Statistics: On September 1 Gary Byrd announced the opening of the 2009 Annual Statistics surveys. They will remain open through the end of October. To open the surveys go to the Annual Statistics Web Portal.
E-List Discussion about Vendors/Products: I have talked with Julia Blixrud at ARL and it seems that the ARL directors e-list has not experienced the same level of discussion about specific products/publishers/vendors as is the case within the AAHSL list, so ARL could not speak from experience. Meanwhile, a member of the Board has consulted with an attorney at his institution familiar with such issues and he has provided some unofficial advice to the Board. We are still in discussion about this, so we may not share his opinion with you until after our Board meeting, but suffice it to say he leans more toward the permissibility of openness and sharing of information than not! Stay tuned.
Transitions: Congratulations to 3 new directors! Julie Schneider, formerly Acting Director, has been appointed Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Ebling Library for the Health Sciences. Darlene P. Kelley has been named Director of the Library and Learning Resource Center at the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, California. Daniel Burgard is now Director of the Gibson D. Lewis Health Science Library, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX.
There will be one more President’s Message before I see you in Boston….
Julie
AAHSL President’s Message #9
August 21, 2009
Teaching and Learning Initiatives: AAHSL is being given 20 minutes during a RIME (Research in Medical Education) meeting at AAMC in Boston for an open discussion with RIME members. Rick Forsman, AAHSL’s Teaching/Learning Project Director, has arranged for this opportunity. During this coming fall members of AAHSL’s Education Research Task Force and AAMC’s RIME will agree on a number of potential collaborative research study questions, and on Monday, November 9, 4:00–5:00 pm, our two organizations will have an opportunity to zero in on a research question which can lead to an action plan for implementation. This is an important opportunity to move forward with a collaborative research project with our medical education colleagues.
Rick also attended a meeting of GEA MERC (Medical Education Research Certificate) group of AAMC, held in Santa Fe earlier this month. He participated in discussions surrounding the development of a MERC online module on “Learning How to Find Medical Education Literature.” The LiME/AAHSL Joint Task Force has been working to develop the objectives and the content; they will meet in November to map out the technology platform choice and then begin building the module in the winter.
Membership Categories and Benefits: The Membership Task Force, appointed in November, with Elaine Martin as chair, presented its initial report to the Board in January. They made recommendations which clarified AAHSL membership categories and outlined the benefits of membership. We asked the Task Force to do some follow up work to identify changes that would be needed in various Association documents to align with the Task Force's recommendations. The group submitted their follow-up report to the Board this month and it appears that some bylaws changes may be required. Within the next several weeks you will hear more about the recommendations of the Membership Committee, and related proposed bylaws changes.
Leadership: The process of selecting the Leadership Fellows 2009-2010 cohort is underway, with a very strong candidate pool. Also, the Leadership Committee will be announcing the participants in the New Directors Symposium shortly (hopefully in the next week or two). They had 18 applicants.
AAHSL President's Message #8
July 16, 2009
Hello AAHSL colleagues! I hope all of you are enjoying your summers. I'm not so sure it even is summer here in Upstate New York - the weather has been so chilly that it could be April! But fewer dollars spent on air conditioning is a good thing!
Just a few quick reminders and updates:
AAMC/AAHSL Annual Meeting: The AAMC Annual Meeting will be held this year in Boston, November 6-11. Please visit the AAMC Annual Meeting web site for more information, links to registration and housing, and a printable PDF of the program. (The program will not be mailed this year.) You can review the list of AAHSL meetings that will take place during the AAMC meeting.
The AAHSL Program Committee and the AAHSL Office will soon send out more details about the Saturday afternoon workshop and the Matheson lecturer. Stay tuned.
Listservs: As you know, for several weeks we had troubles with the new MemberClicks listservs (Louise Miller at the AAHSL Office calls them gremlins!). I hope that our problems are now behind us, but contact Louise if things are still not quite right.
Advocacy: AAHSL and MLA have recently developed a joint position statement on Health Reform -- HEALTH SCIENCES LIBRARIES AND HEALTH CARE: Providing quality information for improved health. The two-page statement was approved by the AAHSL Board just this week and will be available on AAHSL web site. We'll let you know when it's there.
Leadership: The Leadership Committee sent out its call for applications for the NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program. The program brochure and application can be found on the AAHSL web site. The deadline for applications (for fellows and for mentors) is August 3, 2009. Please consider the possibility of being a mentor and also encourage emerging leaders to apply for the fellowship.
Cornerstone Award: I recently sent out an announcement that the 2009 Cornerstone Award recipient is Tony Mazzaschi, Senior Associate Vice President for Biomedical and Health Sciences Research at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Please be sure to come to the AAHSL/GIR Reception on Monday, November 9, to congratulate Tony.
Transitions: Welcome to two new members. The Health Sciences Library at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. Johns, Canada, has joined our ranks; welcome to George Beckett, Associate University Librarian for the Health Sciences. We also send our good wishes to Andrew White, newly appointed Director of the Stony Brook University Health Sciences Center Library, Stony Brook, NY.
Julie
AAHSL President's Message #7
June 13, 2009
Happy June! I hope all of you who were at MLA in Hawaii are feeling productive again. Those sunny skies and ocean breezes surely put me in a mellow mood, and it’s been a challenge to get back in gear. We missed those who were not able to go to MLA, but look forward to seeing you in 5 short months in Boston.
Web Changes: As you know, the AAHSL website has been migrated to MemberClicks with a brand new look and enhanced functionality. We are in the process of moving our listserv to MemberClicks as well. Thanks to Chris Shaffer, our Webmaster, for all his work on this. Truly, he has been just a phenomenal asset to our association as he has worked through the migration issues and the changes! Thank you also to Paul Schoening, AAHSL Secretary/Treasurer, and to Louise Miller and other AAHSL Office staff for their part in making this transition go smoothly. Please do remember to login to the members-only section with the login credentials sent to you, and then to edit your profile to change your password.
Partners
AAHC: In response to the economic crisis, the Association of Academic Health Centers has decided to discontinue its affiliate membership category and to require no more dues from partner associations such as AAHSL. This is a welcome announcement – we will be able to channel those funds to other initiatives and programs of AAHSL. Despite eliminating this official membership status, the Executive Director, Steve Wartman, assures me that he remains very committed to ensuring AAHSL’s involvement with AAHC and will continue to welcome us to the AAHC Annual Meeting, interprofessional programs and projects, and other activities of AAHC.
Chicago Collaborative: The summary minutes of the April 8, 2009 Chicago Collaborative meeting and the statement of purpose for the Collaborative have been added to the CC section of the AAHSL website The members of the AAHSL Publisher Liaison Task Force met on Sunday, May 17 in Honolulu during the MLA meeting to discuss upcoming presentations and other business, and they also presented information about the Collaborative and answered questions during a well-attended hour-long session on Tuesday, May 19 at the MLA meeting. A Chicago Collaborative session was also held on June 7, 2009 at the NASIG Annual Meeting in Asheville, NC. A fall meeting of the Collaborative has been set for November in Boston in conjunction with the AAMC and AAHSL annual meetings.
Advocacy: AAHSL and MLA have issued two joint statements recently. The first was a joint “Statement on the Global Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Health Sciences Library Collections,” sent out in May. The second, a “Statement on Journal Publishing Ethics: A Joint Response from the Medical Library Association and the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries to Recent Disclosures about Unethical Practices,” was issued in June. Both are available on the home page of the AAHSL web site, www.aahsl.org. In addition, a small group emanating from the Joint MLA/AAHSL Legislative Task Force is working on developing a position paper on Health Reform.
Leadership: The current cohort of fellows and mentors in the NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program met in person, holding their Leadership Institute at the MLA Annual Meeting on Saturday. A successful and stimulating day was reported by all.
Awards: Look for my upcoming announcement of the recipient of the Cornerstone Award.
Teaching and Learning: Following the very productive March meeting in D.C. with Brownell Anderson, AAMC’s Senior Director of Educational Affairs, we are seeing progress with our Teaching/Learning initiatives. AAMC’s Research In Medical Education (RIME) steering committee is eager to see the results of the literature analysis completed by AAHSL's Education Research Task Force and is interested in co-sponsoring a small group discussion session at the November AAMC meeting on the topic of possible joint research projects. The LiME/AAHSL Joint Task Force (charged with developing an online module to teach information management competencies to medical educators) and AAMC's steering committee for the Medical Education Research Certificate (MERC) have discussed where and how to mount the online module; the task force plans to have its preliminary work on the module completed this summer.
Membership Issues: The conversation with AAMC’s Brownie Anderson also identified a new area of mutual interest -- regional medical campuses -- and she has extended an invitation to AAHSL to participate in creating questions for an upcoming survey of AAMC institutions that will gather new data about how regional campuses function.
Charting the Future – Hard Times Survey: In early 2009, the Charting the Future Committee developed and administered a survey to gauge the impact of the current economic recession on member libraries. A report of the results was sent out on the listserv by M.J. Tooey and is available on the members-only section of the website (you’ll have to login), under “Member Surveys.” Thanks to M.J. and her committee for their work on this. They expect to repeat the survey later in the summer.
Poster: Last year Linda Watson and Mary Piorun developed a very attractive and informative AAHSL poster for display in the AAMC exhibit area. I would like to continue this and perhaps make it a tradition, but the poster should really be refreshed and changed each year. Mary is willing to collaborate again, but the staff member who helped her last year with the design elements in not on staff anymore, so we’re looking for another creative soul who can help. If you want to volunteer to assist us in putting together a great AAHSL poster, please let me know.
Transitions: Welcome to two new members. Melissa L. Just has been appointed to the position of Director, UC San Diego Biomedical Library, and Pamela S. Bradigan is now Assistant Vice President of Health Sciences and Director, Prior Health Sciences Library.
Congratulations to them both!
Julie
AAHSL President’s Message #5/6
April 13, 2009
Greetings, colleagues!
With the spring visits that President-Elect Connie Poole, Past-President Linda Watson, and I made to Washington, D.C. the last week of March, I did not get the March President’s Message done by the end of the month. So I’m combining the March and April messages, expecting that one fewer email message in your inbox might be welcomed! J
Meetings with Partners – NLM, ARL, AAMC, AAHC, AMIA : Here is a brief report on the meetings that Connie, Linda and I had with our partners
NLM: Discussed stimulus funding, author names and affiliations in Medline, and NLM’s archival role in regard to online-only publications.
ARL: Met and shared our goals and concerns with the new Director, Charles Lowry; also discussed the concept of e-science, as well as training for librarians on data curation and data sharing.
AAMC: Learned more about the new medical schools and proliferation of branch medical campuses from Bob Sabalis, member of AAMC’s LCME office. AAMC’s new Director of Continuing Education and Performance Improvement, Dave Davis, discussed the joint Lifelong Learning Initiative (http://www.aamc.org/meded/cme/lifelong/start.htm <http://www.aamc.org/meded/cme/lifelong/start.htm> ), a grant-funded project of the AAMC and the Am. Assoc. of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).
AAHC: learned of a grant AAHC is trying to pitch to a major funder – to bring interprofessional education and practice to the forefront in academic medical centers by engaging CEO’s.
AMIA: Don Detmer, AMIA’s President and Chief Executive Officer, presented several opportunities to AAHSL. First, AMIA is interested in having health sciences library representation on the AMIA Academic Form. We will follow up on that. Second, we discussed AAHSL’s possible involvement in bringing together one or more AMIA 10 x 10 courses (see http://www.amia.org/10x10 <http://www.amia.org/10x10> ) centering on knowledge management, or perhaps data curation, in conjunction with one or more graduate schools of library and information science. We will keep you informed as we know more.
Teaching and Learning: There was also a special meeting in DC to discuss with Brownell Anderson, AAMC’s Senior Director of Educational Affairs, several Teaching and Learning initiatives – the MERC online searching module and possible research collaborations with RIME (Research in Medical Education). Rick Forsman, AAHSL’s Teaching/Learning Project Manager, and Cynthia Robinson, Chair of the Teaching/Learning Oversight Committee, attended, along with Connie and Linda. They discussed copyright and technology platform issues in regard to MERC, and also secured time for a small group discussion session during AAMC in Boston on the topic of possible joint research projects with RIME.
Advocacy: The MLA/AAHSL Joint Legislative Task Force also met in Washington, D.C. the last week of March. As President, I joined them for my first taste of Capitol Hill visits. What an experience! From all reports, the Congressional offices are seeing much more action than usual – security screening lines went outside and down the block! Our messages were well-received by the Congressional staffers. Michael Homan, AAHSL’s co-chair of the Joint Legislative Task Force, can give you more details.
AAHSL Strategic Plan: I am attaching, once again, the AAHSL Strategic Plan 2009-2011 document, just in case anyone missed it from last month’s message. The Board and the additional planning team members are excited to share the plan with you. Remember that it is based on your input as well as deliberations at the planning session in January. Please let us know if you have questions or comments.
Leadership: The current cohort of fellows and mentors in the NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program is holding virtual meetings on a monthly basis. Mentors and others lead the group in preparation for and discussion of curriculum topics, including, so far, Budgeting and Planning and Library as place. Linda Watson made a presentation to the group on e-Science and Health Sciences Librarians on February 18. In addition, most fellows have made their initial site visits to their mentors’ institutions. The cohort next meets in person at the MLA Annual Meeting.
The Leadership Committee also sent out an announcement about the New Directors Symposium, with the following components: (1) a ∏ day keynote session on Saturday morning, November 7, 2009 in Boston (at the AAMC/AAHSL meeting); (2) two online presentations and discussions during the January-April 2010 period; and (3) a meeting of 1 ∏ days on Friday-Saturday, May 21-22, 2010, in Washington, D.C (along with the MLA Annual Meeting).
Innovation Award: Here’s a reminder about the June 1 deadline for applications for the AAHSL Innovation Award.
Cornerstone Award: One last reminder -- The deadline for nominations is April 30.
IT/Web Changes: The AAHSL website has been migrated to MemberClicks servers, and the new public website will go live before the MLA meeting in Hawaii. Board members are currently reviewing the site. This summer, Chris Shaffer and the AAHSL Office will begin implementing the members-only component of the website. The members-only area will include the membership directory, your individual member profile, bulletin boards for committees and task forces and many other exciting features.
Chicago Collaborative: The Chicago Collaborative members met last week in Chicago. Board Liaison Mary Ryan reports that it was a very productive meeting, with discussion of reciprocal educational offerings, an MLA symposium in 2010 (open to both librarians and publishers), and the effect of the economic crisis on buying power of health sciences libraries.
Assessment and Statistics: I hope all of you have received your print copies of the AAHSL Annual Statistics (along with the Directory). Hopefully you have also tried out the new set of Data Analysis Tools now available via the AAHSL Annual Statistics Web Portal. Gary Byrd sent a message to the AAHSL listserv on April 1 announcing the new peer group data analysis tool. Thanks to Gary and the Assessment and Statistics Committee for their work on this. Remember -- Gary welcomes any suggestions for improvements or future enhancements.
Transitions: Welcome to two new members – Terry Henner, Library Director, Savitt Medical Library, University of Nevada School of Medicine; and Barbara Cavanaugh, Associate Director of the Health Sciences Libraries and Director of the Biomedical Library, University of Pennsylvania. Congratulations to them both!
Julie
AAHSL President's Message #4
March 1, 2009
Greetings to everyone. Last Friday I attended the Regional Advisory Committee of the Middle-Atlantic Region of NN/LM, at NYU. The topic of conversation for all of the AAHSL directors in attendance was our budgets! The prevailing question was, “By what percentage was YOUR budget cut?” Most, if not all of us are working to identify efficiencies, reduce expenditures, and meet some budget reduction targets imposed by our institution.
Many of you may have seen the ARL statement issued February 19 to scholarly publishers and vendors – “The Global Economic Crisis and its Effect on Publishing and Library subscriptions.” Jointly, AAHSL and MLA have decided to develop a similar statement, but with an emphasis on health science libraries – encouraging publishers and vendors to work with our members to control costs and maintain access to information resources during this difficult economic time. Together, the Scholarly Communications Committees of both organizations will draft the statement for review by the MLA and AAHSL boards before release.
AAHSL Strategic Plan: Last month I told you that the Board was very close to finishing its work on a new plan that defines our priorities and lays the groundwork for our programs and services for the next three years. I have attached the AAHSL Strategic Plan 2009-2011. We are excited to share this with our members, as it reflects the input of more than 60 of you who completed the planning survey, as well as the serious deliberations of the Board and the additional planning session participants (Gary Byrd, Elaine Martin, and Chris Shaffer). Our discussions focused on the work that AAHSL does for health sciences libraries, their directors, and their institutions, as well as the association infrastructure that is required for success. We feel confident that this new plan – including vision, mission, goals and objectives -- outlines the priorities that will guide us through these times, times that are both challenging and exciting. Please contact me if you have any questions about the plan.
Innovation Award: AAHSL members are invited to submit applications for the 2009 Innovation Award. This award is given to honor and acknowledge an AAHSL member library demonstrating innovative programs, products, services or projects in support of an area of knowledge management outlined in Building on Success: Charting the Future of Knowledge Management in the Academic Health Center. Please visit the AAHSL website for more information on the application process. The deadline for applications is June 1st and winners will be notified by September 1, 2009.
Cornerstone Award: The AAHSL Board is soliciting nominations (including self-nominations) for the 2009 Cornerstone Award. This award is given for a notable or important contribution made during the most recent four years that has assisted AAHSL in achieving its mission or had significant impact on the profession of academic health sciences librarianship. The award may be given to an individual (member or non-member), an informal or formal group working on a project or activity (committee, task force, ad hoc working group, team, etc), or an institution (library, university, or association). The deadline for submittal is April 30, 2008.
IT Changes: Paul Schoening (Secretary-Treasurer) and Chris Shaffer (Webmaster), with help from the AAHSL Office, continue to work on the migration of AAHSL’s public website and directory to the MemberClicks server. They also sent out the information about using our new Survey Monkey subscription. Contact Chris with any questions.
Meetings with Partners: Connie Poole (President-Elect), Linda Watson (Past-President) and I will be traveling to Washington, D.C. at the end of March to meet with the leaders of our association partners – NLM, ARL, AAMC, AAHC, and AMIA. It will be a busy couple of days. We’ll report back to you after the meetings.
Teaching and Learning: There will also be a special meeting during that same D.C. trip to discuss with Brownell Anderson, AAMC’s Senior Director of Educational Affairs, several Teaching and Learning initiatives – the MERC online searching module and possible research collaborations with RIME (Research in Medical Education). Rick Forsman, AAHSL’s Teaching/Learning Project Manager, and Cynthia Robinson, Chair of the Teaching/Learning Oversight Committee, will attend, along with Connie and Linda.
Advocacy: The MLA/AAHSL Joint Legislative Task Force will also be meeting the last week of March. As President, I will be joining them to get my first taste of Capitol Hill visits!
Chicago Collaborative: The AAHSL website has a new section on the Chicago Collaborative, accessible by clicking the link in the top navigation bar. This provides access to several documents including the framework, FAQ, and executive summary notes.
Assessment and Statistics: Gary Byrd is looking forward to getting your input on the annual statistics opinion/suggestions. The deadline for that survey is March 13. Gary has also been working with the U. Buffalo statistics portal programmer to develop tools for comparing your statistics to those of peer libraries. Stay tuned!
Transitions: Welcome to the following new members: Mark Penn, MD, Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy; Julie Schneider, University of Wisconsin-Madison (Acting Director); Daniel Burgard, University of North Texas Health Sciences Center (Acting Executive Director); April Colosimo, McGill University. (Interim Head, Life Sciences Library).
We were all deeply saddened by the passing of Elizabeth Eaton, Executive Director at the HAM-TMC Library. Our sincere sympathy goes out to her family, as well as to Deborah Halsted and the staff of the library. The AAHSL Board wants you to know that AAHSL is making a contribution in Liz’s name to the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library.
Julie
AAHSL President's Message #3
February 2, 2009
Happy Groundhog Day! Here in Rochester, and in many other locales, this winter has been especially harsh. Here’s hoping that the groundhog does not see his shadow! (Late-breaking news -- he DID see his shadow and we’re in for 6 more weeks of winter! Oh well…)
AAHSL Board Meeting: The AAHSL Board of Directors met last week, January 28-29, in Atlanta for our planning retreat and Board meeting. Here are some of the highlights:
Planning: Louise Miller, AAHSL’s Executive Director, facilitated the Thursday planning session; she did an exceptional job of leading the group (including all board members, plus Gary Byrd, Elaine Martin, and Chris Shaffer) through a process to develop new priorities – goals and objectives – for the next three years. We also made some progress in revising the AAHSL vision and mission, based on our deliberations and many valuable comments from all of you through the planning survey. We aren’t finished yet, but we are confident that within a month or so we will be able to share a plan for AAHSL that defines our priorities and lays the groundwork for our programs and services.
Membership Categories and Benefits: The Membership Task Force, with Elaine Martin as Chair, presented its report clarifying membership category definitions and benefits. The Board was able to use these recommendations during the Thursday planning session. The Task Force has some follow-up work to complete, but will be sharing its report with all of you very soon.
IT Changes: Paul Schoening (Secretary-Treasurer) and Chris Shaffer (Webmaster), with help from the AAHSL Office, have been working to populate a new online directory using the MemberClicks association management technology framework. MemberClicks provides a members-only directory and bulletin board capability, as well as a password storing feature. Paul and Chris will also arrange for migration of AAHSL’s public website to the MemberClicks server. MemberClicks rollout is slated for this spring.
The Board also approved an AAHSL subscription to Survey Monkey so that committees and task forces can use this tool for surveying our members. Individuals might also choose to use it for mini-surveys sent out via the listserv. You will be hearing from Paul or Chris with more information on using the AAHSL Survey Monkey subscription.
Budget: The Board approved the revised 2009 AAHSL budget.
Advocacy: In preparation for discussion of health care reform, AAHSL and MLA jointly submitted two statements to President Obama's transition team. The first statement outlines three meaningful principles for health care reform. Robust investment in health information technology improves health care quality and lowers health care costs.
The National Library of Medicine's (NLM) infrastructure of databases, networks, and systems is critical to clinical excellence, advancement of biomedical science, and education of the nation's health care consumers. NLM must receive significant, ongoing support to ensure that its databases are properly maintained, expanded, and easily accessed by the public and health professionals.
Transparency must be maintained for federally funded medical research through efforts like the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) public access policy to ensure that the advancement of science fuels future discovery and benefits the public, which funds it.
The second statement addresses the benefits of the NIH Public Access Policy to Advance Science and Promote Healthy People and urges the new administration to support the policy by opposing any effort to undo the twelve-month mandatory deposit requirement, and in fact encouraging the NIH to adopt a six-month requirement, consistent with international norms and the protocols of many privately funded medical research ventures.
Annual Statistics: Gary Byrd reports that his committee will be sending out a survey to solicit your feedback on the annual statistics – on the overall direction as well as thoughts on specific survey questions. Please keep an eye out for that survey and be sure to respond.
Member Transitions: Teresa Knott (currently Deputy Director at the Health Sciences and Human Services Library, University of Maryland, Baltimore) has been named the Director, Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences and Associate University Librarian, VCU Libraries, at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. Congratulations, Teresa!
Julie
AAHSL President's Message #2
December 31, 2008
Looking toward 2009: Based on what we heard reported by our AAHSL committees and task forces at the annual meeting, it will be another busy and productive year for AAHSL. The Board of Directors is holding its planning retreat January 29-30 in Atlanta, where we will finalize our 2008 budget based on committee requests. We will also, as you know, engage in strategic planning (see next section).
Planning: Sixty AAHSL members responded to the planning survey I sent out earlier this month. Thank you so much for taking the time to provide your valuable thoughts and suggestions. We will use the results during our planning sessions in January – you’ll hear more about the survey results and our planning later in the winter.
Advocacy: In December AAHSL signed on to a letter developed by the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research (supported by AAMC) that was sent to President-elect Obama, urging him to support additional funding for NIH in any upcoming economic stimulus package legislation. We will put that letter on the web site when we have a final copy in hand.
Annual Statistics: On December 22 Gary Byrd informed us that all of the summary tables for the 31st Edition Annual Statistics and Salary Surveys were completed and ready to view on the Web Portal. Once again, we thank Gary and his committee for getting the statistics completed so early this year!
Cornerstone Award Nominations: The AAHSL Board is soliciting nominations (including self-nominations) for the AAHSL Cornerstone Award. This award is given for a notable or important contribution made during the most recent four years that has assisted AAHSL in achieving its mission or had significant impact on the profession of academic health sciences librarianship. The award may be given to an individual (member or non-member), an informal or formal group working on a project or activity (committee, task force, ad hoc working group, team, etc), or an institution (library, university, or association). The deadline for submittal is April 30, 2008. For details about criteria and how to submit a nomination, please see the Cornerstone Award web page.
Please see the “Policy Flash: What’s Out and What’s In for 2009,” below, from AAHC (Association of Academic Health Centers). I think you’ll enjoy this very clever piece developed by Elaine Rubin.
I WISH EVERYONE A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR! CHEERS!!
Julie
AAHSL President’s Message #1
November 30, 2008
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve as your President this year. I will work to sustain our vision, to keep us on track, and to communicate with you. Here’s my first communication attempt… AAHSL is involved in so many new and exciting initiatives right now -- the Chicago Collaborative, e-science, curricular development, online learning, education research, partnerships, assessments, leadership development, identification of future trends, advocacy, membership benefit review, and more. With all this in the works and in the pipeline, the AAHSL Board has determined a need to develop organizational priorities, so that we know where to concentrate our energy and our funds. We will be working on those priorities at a strategic planning session during our Board meeting in January. Within the next week or so you will be asked to provide input into this process – please be sure to offer your ideas.
Annual Meeting Highlights: AAHSL held a very successful annual meeting in November in conjunction with the AAMC in San Antonio, TX. Kudos to Barbara Epstein, Linda Walton and the Program and Education Committee for all of their hard work, including conducting the workshop on Saturday on Determining Our Worth: The Value of Libraries. (The Logic Models on education and research that were developed in the small group sessions will be posted soon on the AAHSL web site.) Nancy Lorenzi’s Matheson lecture was a fitting culmination to celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Matheson-Cooper Report during the course of 2008. On Monday morning the Joint AAHSL/Publisher Liaison Task Force members presented a briefing to the membership, to describe the task force’s activities to date and to introduce the formation of a new working group of publisher/editor organization representatives and AAHSL called the Chicago Collaborative. Finally, thanks to EBSCO for their sponsorship of the AAHSL/GIR reception Monday evening.
New Board Members: Connie Poole, President-Elect, and M.J. Tooey, Board Member, were elected to the AAHSL Board at the annual business meeting. Please join me in congratulating and welcoming them to the Board. We thanked departing Board members for their service: Pat Thibodeau, and Elaine Martin.
Appointments: Committee Chairs for FY 08-09 include: Karen Butter, Scholarly Communications; Gary Byrd, Assessment and Statistics; M.J. Tooey, Charting the Future; Carol Jenkins and Judy Consales, Leadership Committee; Gail Yokote and Michael Homan, Joint AAHSL/Publisher Liaison Task Force; Cynthia Robinson, Teaching/Learning Oversight Committee; Karen Brewer, Education Research Task Force; Kerry O’Rourke, LiME/AAHSL Joint Task Force; Barbara Epstein and Jim Curtis, Program and Education Committee; Elaine Martin, Membership Task Force. Michael Homan is Vice-Chair of the Joint AAHSL/MLA Legislative Task Force and Gary Byrd and Logan Ludwig are our CAS Representatives. Chris Shaffer serves as the AAHSL web site manager.
Membership: With many new and emerging medical school libraries taking shape, AAHSL leaders have received numerous questions during this past year related to membership categories and benefits. This has led to our trying to clarify and document our current practice, and also think about membership in a strategic way. Should there be new categories of membership which could potentially expand our numbers? How do we differentiate between categories in terms of benefits? To help with this task I have recently appointed a task force that will look into these membership issues and develop recommendations. Members of the Membership Task Force are: Elaine Martin (chair), Joanne Muellenbach, Liz Bayley, Lynn Kasner Morgan, Sandra Martin, Etheldra Templeton, Jacque Doyle, Connie Poole (board liaison).
Advocacy: In October 2008, MLA and AAHSL signed onto a letter from the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research and the Campaign for Medical Research urging the U.S. Congress to support the higher Senate funding level for NIH in the FY 2008 Labor-HHS-Education bill.
Leadership Development: The 2008/2009 class of fellows and mentors met for the first time in Washington for their orientation and introduction to the program.
Annual Statistics: Gary Byrd, Chair of the Assessment and Statistics Committee, reports that they are close to reaching the goal of completing the submission and editing of the Annual Statistics surveys before the end of November, with even more institutions reporting than last year. The committee still expects to be able to complete the summary tables for these surveys and make them available on the Statistics Web Portal before the end of December holidays. Thanks to all of you, and kudos to Gary and his committee for getting the statistics completed so early this year!
Member Transitions: Along with the AAHSL Board members, I was pleased to host a luncheon for 12 of the new or interim/acting directors named this year, to welcome them to our Association. This group included Mary Blanchard, who became Director, Boston University Medical Center Library, just days before the annual meeting. We have also just received word of a new associate member – Hofstra University School of Medicine in partnership with North Shore-Long Island Jewish Medical Center, represented by Daniel Rubey, Dean of Library & Information Services. Welcome!
Julie |
Julia Sollenberger