Annual Report 1999/2000 

Research Section

The Research Section works primarily to support Goal 4 of the Strategic Plan: MLA promotes the research role of the health sciences library and information professional. Section 1999/00 objectives and activities also supported other MLA Strategic Plan goals as indicated below.

Section Goal 1. Work with the MLA Credentialing Committee to strengthen and balance the credits for the research activities evaluated for membership at the various levels in the Academy of Health Information Professionals [Also supports Goal 1 of the MLA Strategic Plan: Professional Development].

• An AHIP Research Credit Task Force was appointed and charged to work with the MLA Credentialing Committee to review the AHIP credits offered for research activities and to make recommendations to strengthen and balance research credits in relationship to the credits offered for other continuing education and professional activities. Ann Weller, who also serves as liaison to the MLA Credentialing Committee, chairs the Task Force. Other Task Force members include: Jonathan Eldredge, Carole Gilbert, Carolyn Lipscomb and Ellen Marks. They will present their preliminary recommendations at the Section business meeting on May 7 in Vancouver, BC.

Section Goal 2. Plan and implement strategies to update the Section research mentors database and promote this service to the broader MLA membership via the Section Website [Also supports Goal 1 of the MLA Strategic Plan: Professional Development].

• A Research Mentors Program Task Force was appointed and charged to recommend and work to implement strategies to update the Section mentors database and to promote this service to the MLA membership via MLANET and the Section Website. Gary Byrd chairs the Task Force and other members include: Elizabeth Connor, Nancy Roderer, Dixie Jones and Ellen Nagle. The Section Task Force has communicated with the chair of the new MLA Mentoring Program Task Force and offered to work to integrate our planning efforts with the broader association program. Preliminary recommendations to strengthen the Section mentoring service will be presented at the May business meeting.

Section Goal 3. Work with the MLA Continuing Education Committee to develop a distance learning course on research methods, targeted at the general MLA membership [Also supports Goal 1 of the MLA Strategic Plan: Professional Development].

• A Research Distance Learning Task Force was appointed and charged to formulate recommendation for the development of one or more MLA distance learning courses on research methods targeted at the general MLA membership. Ellen Detlefsen chairs the Task Force and other members include: P. Zoe Stavri, Andrea Ball, Kay Wagner, David King and Julia Kochi, who serves as liaison to the MLA Continuing Education Committee. The Task Force will present its preliminary recommendations at the May Section business meeting.

Section Goal 4. Work with the Editorial Board for the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association to further strengthen and highlight the research contents of our primary professional journal [Also supports Goal 1 of the MLA Strategic Plan: Professional Development].

• With the appointment of a new Bulletin editor in January, the Section chair began a series of email and telephone discussions with him regarding his priorities for using the journal to help promote research.

Other Section Activities

• The Section held its 1999 annual business meeting on May 18 in Chicago, IL. The meeting included reports from the Chair, Chair-elect, Section Council Representative, Newsletter Editor, Website Editor and the following committees: Research Resources, Awards, Bylaws, Continuing Education, Government Relations, Membership, and Nominating. The bylaws changes, proposed by the Bylaws Committee to bring them in line with MLA guidelines, were approved [supports Goal 3 of the MLA Strategic Plan: Organization].
• The Section sponsored or co-sponsored four program sessions at the Annual Meeting in Chicago: "A Medical Informatics Research Agenda for the Next Century", "Research Process Panel: Expert Advice for Taking the Pain out of Research", "Reports of Informatics Research Results: Understanding Our Present to Help Create a More Perfect Future", and "Outreach Services Evaluation and Planning" [also supported Goal 1 of the MLA Strategic Plan: Professional Development]. The Awards Committee presented the Best Research Paper Award to Andrea C. Talbot for her paper titled: "Information Behavior of Pediatric ER Physicians" [also supported Goal 2 of the MLA Strategic Plan: Advocacy].
• Three 1999/00 issues of the Section newletter, Hypothesis, will have been published prior to the Annual Meeting in Vancouver under the editorial leadership of Jan LaBeause, with the assistance of her layout editor, Miriam Hudgins and an editorial board including Alexandra Dimitroff, Jon Eldredge and Ruth Fenske. Hypothesis is now indexed in CINAHL and published electronically as well as on paper via the Section Website [also supports Goal 2: Advocacy and Goal 6: Information Technology of the MLA Strategic Plan].
• The Section Website (which is linked to MLANET) was updated with revised guidelines for structured abstracts and additional new Section information by editor Kristin Stoklosa. A Website editorial board was appointed to work with the editor including Kristine Alpi and Linda A. Martin. The editor also joined the Webmasters Group organized by the MLANET Editorial Board [also supports Goal 6 of the MLA Strategic Plan: Information Technology].
• Chair-elect and Program Chair, Jon Eldredge, has planned two program sessions for the May 2000 Annual Meeting in Vancouver on "Evidence-Based Librarianship: Tools We All Can Use."
• These sessions will include invited speaker presentations on randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, ethnographic studies, and systematic reviews in health sciences librarianship [also supports Goal 1 of the MLA Strategic Plan: Professional Development].

MOTION
This report is informational and requires not action by the Board of Directors.

Section Officers
Gary D. Byrd, Chair
Jonathan Eldredge, Chair-Elect
Ruth Fenske, Past Chair
Joyce Backus, Secretary/Treasurer
Julie Kelley, Section Council Representative
John Coffey, Section Council Alternate