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Press Releases

What's New: April 2005

MLA Among U.S. Library Associations to Set Up "Library Disaster Relief Fund" to Rebuild Libraries Destroyed by the Tsunami

MLA Awards Excellence in Health Sciences Librarianship-Winners to be Honored at MLA '0 5

MLA Among U.S. Library Associations to Set Up "Library Disaster Relief Fund" to Rebuild Libraries Destroyed by the Tsunami

As part of the international effort to help rebuild the libraries damaged or destroyed by the December 26 earthquake and tsunami in Asia and parts of Africa at the end of 2004, the 'U.S. Library Associations Library Disaster Relief Fund' has been created which will be able to accept tax-deductible donations.

The "Library Disaster Relief Fund" is a joint 501(c)(3) organization of the Medical Library Association, American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), American Library Association (ALA), Association of Library and Information Science Educators (ALISE), Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and Special Libraries Association (SLA).

The Chinese American Library Association is the first contributor to the fund, donating $3,900 that has been collected by its members.

Particularly hard hit in the region were libraries in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. In Sri Lanka, 177 school libraries, 53 public libraries and 68 libraries attached to religious institutions were damaged or destroyed. The National Library of Indonesia reports similar destruction in Aceh province, including the loss of 23 of the 72 staff at the Aceh Provincial Library.

The "Library Disaster Relief Fund" will be working with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) to assist in the rebuilding process.

Checks should be made out to 'Library Disaster Relief Fund' and sent to the Medical Library Association, c/o Carla J. Funk, 65 E. Wacker Pl., Ste. 1900, Chicago, IL 60601-7298.

Updates on the damage to libraries and the rebuilding efforts can be found on the SLA and ALA Websites.

MLA, a nonprofit, educational organization, is comprised of health sciences information professionals with more than 4,500 members worldwide. Through its programs and services, MLA provides lifelong educational opportunities, supports a knowledgebase of health information research, and works with a global network of partners to promote the importance of quality information for improved health to the health care community and the public.

For more information, please contact Evelyn Shaevel , mlaedo1@mlahq.org, 312.419.9094 x15.

MLA Awards Excellence in Health Sciences Librarianship Winners to be Honored at MLA '05

The Medical Library Association (MLA) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2005 MLA awards. Each year MLA's professional recognition program honors outstanding health sciences information professionals for their contributions to the profession and to the provision of quality health information. MLA will recognize the following professionals, an MLA chapter, and a health information network for their achievements at the annual Awards Celebration and Luncheon at MLA '05 in San Antonio, TX on May 17.

Arizona Health Information Network (AZHIN) (Thomson Scientific/Frank Bradway Rogers Information Advancement Award)
Ann Bett-Madhavan (Rittenhouse Award)
Deborah Blecic, AHIP (Louise Darling Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Collection Development in the Health Sciences
Jo Dorsch, AHIP (Lucretia W. McClure Excellence in Education Award)
Ursula Ellis, AHIP (Murray Gottlieb Prize)
Carla J. Funk, CAE (President's Award)
John J. Nance (John P. McGovern Award Lectureship)
Pacific Northwest Chapter (Majors/MLA Chapter Project of the Year)
Mary Fran Prottsman, AHIP (Lois Ann Colaianni Award for Excellence and Achievement in Hospital Librarianship)
Fred W. Roper, AHIP, FMLA (Janet Doe Lectureship for 2005)
Pamela Sherwill-Navarro, AHIP (Ida and George Eliot Prize)
Michele Tennant, AHIP (Estelle Brodman Award for the Academic Medical Librarian of the Year)
Patricia L. Thibodeau, AHIP (President's Award)
Addajane Wallace, AHIP (Ida and George Eliot Prize)
Linda A. Watson, AHIP, FMLA (President's Award)

The Thomson Scientific/Frank Bradway Rogers Information Advancement Award will be awarded this year to Arizona Health Information Network (AZHIN) for their strong impact on the delivery of health information in the state of Arizona. This award recognizes outstanding contributions in the use of technology to deliver health sciences information, in the science of information, or in facilitation of the delivery of information. Health sciences librarians in Tucson and Phoenix incorporated AZHIN as a non-profit corporation in 1994 to provide MEDLINE and other electronic resources in health care to health sciences students and professionals in the state. It has since expanded to provide a host of electronic resources and educational services to thirty-three member institutions who are charged on a sliding scale, including hospitals, small rural health clinics, the Arizona prison system, county public health departments, telemedicine sites, and academic institutions.

Ann Bett-Madhavan, College of Information Science and Technology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, will receive this year's Rittenhouse Award for her paper, "The Information Needs of Medical Journalists: A Role for Information Specialists." The paper explores medical journalism and addresses the information needs of medical journalists, educational background that prepares medical journalists to report health news, and issues facing the profession. Sponsored by Rittenhouse Book Distributors, the award is presented for the best unpublished paper on medical librarianship written by a student in an American Library Association (ALA) -accredited school of library sciences or an intern in health sciences librarianship.

Deborah Blecic, AHIP, Richard J. Daley Library, University of Illinois-Chicago, was selected to receive this year's Louise Darling Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Collection Development in the Health Sciences. The award recognizes accomplishment in collection development health sciences. Blecic is regarded in the profession as a leader in collection use studies and has published articles on the use of monographic, special, and journal collections. In 2001, she earned the MLA Collection Development Section's Daniel T. Richards Prize and chaired MLA's Collection Development Section.

Because of her skills as an educator and leader in the health sciences information profession Jo Dorsch, AHIP, Library of the Health Sciences-Peoria, University of Illinois-Chicago, will receive this year's Lucretia W. McClure Excellence in Education Award. The award acknowledges an outstanding educator in the field of health sciences librarianship and informatics who demonstrates leadership in education or skills in teaching, curriculum development, mentoring, or research. For two decades, Dorsch has designed and delivered educational content to successive classes of medical and nursing students at her institution. She introduced evidence-based medicine content into courses and later developed a companion Website, Evidence-Based Medicine: Finding the Best Clinical Literature (ww.uic.edu/depts/lib/lhsp/resources/ebm.shtml). She has greatly contributed to MLA's education program by serving as chair of both the MLA Continuing Education Committee (1999-2000) and Credentialing Committee (2003-2004).

The Murray Gottlieb Prize honors the best unpublished essay on the history of medicine and the allied sciences written by a health sciences librarian. For her paper, "The Japanese Adoption of Western Medicine: From Sakoku to the Meiji Era," Ursula Ellis, AHIP, Robert M. Bird Library, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center-Oklahoma City, earned this year's prize. Ellis's paper details the historical transformation of Japanese medicine from traditional, Chinese-based techniques to contemporary Western practices during the period of the mid-sixteenth to the late nineteenth century.

The MLA President's Award is given to individuals whose contributions have enhanced the profession of health sciences librarianship or furthered the objectives of the association. This year, the award is presented to Patricia L. Thibodeau, AHIP, Medical Center Library, Duke University, Durham, NC; Linda A. Watson, AHIP, FMLA, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia Health System-Charlottesville; and Carla J. Funk, CAE, Medical Library Association, Chicago, IL, for their valuable advocacy initiatives in the area of scholarly publishing advocacy initiatives on behalf of MLA and all of its members.

John J. Nance, University Place, WA, one of America's most dynamic professional speakers will deliver the annual John P. McGovern Lecture at MLA '05 speaking about the important role information plays in the health care delivery system. Nance is an internationally recognized air safety analyst and advocate who appears on ABC World News Tonight as aviation analyst and Good Morning America as aviation editor. In addition, he has made numerous appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Today Show, Larry King Live, and other nationally televised shows. A licensed attorney and decorated Air Force pilot veteran, Nance is the author of five nonfiction and twelve fiction books. His latest book, Saving Cascadia was published in 2005.

Every year, MLA teams with Majors Scientific Books, to sponsor the Majors/MLA Chapter Project of the Year Award which recognizes chapter excellence, innovation, and contribution to the profession of health sciences librarianship. This year's winner, Pacific Northwest Chapter of MLA (PNC), was selected for The PNC/MLA's E-Journal Group Purchasing, an innovative e-journal project on consortial buying for librarians at both the chapter and national level.

The Lois Ann Colaianni Award for Excellence and Achievement in Hospital Librarianship recognizes an individual who has made lasting and outstanding contributions to the profession in hospital librarianship. Mary Fran Prottsman, AHIP, Medical Library, Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Jackson, MS, is such an individual and is this year's recipient of the award. She has a distinguished career that spans thirty years in military and veterans hospital libraries and is known for her technical expertise and significant computer science knowledge. From 1999-2001, she served the association as a member of the MLANET Editorial Board and was the Book Panel's BibKit coordinator from 1995-1998. A distinguished member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals, Prottsman is former chair of MLA's Southern Chapter and, in 1997, was recognized as the chapter's Hospital Librarian of the Year.

The Janet Doe Lectureship recognizes individuals who offer a unique perspective on the history or philosophy of medical librarianship. This year's presenter is Fred W. Roper, AHIP, FMLA, retired, School of Library and Information Sciences, University of South Carolina-Columbia. One of MLA's most active members, Roper served as president of the association in 1994/95 and twice served on the Board of Directors, from 1987-1990 and 1993-1996. He also served as chair of MLA's Governance Task Force as well as the Task Force on Skills and Knowledge, which produced MLA's educational policy statement, Platform for Change. Roper has received several MLA honors including the 2000 President's Award and the 1998 Marcia C. Noyes Award, the association's highest honor. In 1997, he was elevated to Fellow status in the association. A widely published author, Roper coauthored Introduction to Reference Resources in the Health Sciences, published by MLA.

Pamela Sherwill-Navarro, AHIP, Health Science Center Libraries, University of Florida-Gainesville, and Addajane Wallace, AHIP, Medical Library, Halifax Medical Center, Daytona Beach, FL, will receive the 2005 Ida and George Eliot Prize for their paper, "Research on the Value of Medical Library Services: Does It Make an Impact in the Health Care Literature?" The Ida and George Eliot Prize recognizes a work published in the preceding calendar year that has been judged most effective in furthering medical librarianship. The study's goal was to determine the impact of four specific articles on research in health care.

Michele Tennant, AHIP, Health Science Center Libraries and University of Florida Genetics Institute, University of Florida-Gainesville, is the 2005 recipient of the Estelle Brodman Award for the Academic Medical Librarian of the Year, which recognizes an academic medical librarian at mid-career who demonstrates significant achievement, the potential for leadership, and continuing excellence. A highly regarded leader in the field of molecular biology, genomics, and bioinformatics, Tennant has contributed significantly to the genetics knowledge of librarians. She is an approved instructor for MLA, the Special Libraries Association (SLA), and the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Biotechnology Information and has taught many MLA continuing education courses on genetics concepts, laboratory techniques, and databases. Tennant is a widely published author who has been an invited speaker on bioinformatics at several conferences. She is a senior member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals.

For more information, please contact Lisa C. Fried, mlapd2@mlahq.org, 312.419.9094 x28.