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Press Releases

June 2011

MLA Honors Friends of the National Library of Medicine
MLA Honors Excellence in Health Sciences Librarianship

MLA Honors Friends of the National Library of Medicine

The MLA Award for Distinguished Public Service was established in 1988 to honor persons or groups whose exemplary actions have served to advance the health, welfare, and intellectual freedom of the public. MLA recognized the Friends of the National Library of Medicine (FNLM) with this award at the association’s awards ceremony in May 2011 in Minneapolis, MN, on FNLM’s twenty-fifth anniversary of promoting and supporting the National Library of Medicine (NLM), and for development and publishing of MedlinePlus, the magazine, in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

A coalition of individuals, medical associations and societies, hospitals, health sciences libraries, corporations, and foundations, FNLM is dedicated to increasing public awareness and use of NLM, as well as supporting its many programs in research, education, and public service. FNLM helps to ensure that the US public has access to NLM resources that can help them make informed decisions regarding their health. With NIH, FNLM publishes NIH MedlinePlus in English and Spanish, providing consumers and health professionals with a gold standard of reliable, up-to-date health information in a user-friendly format. NIH MedlinePlus magazine has been recognized twice as a valuable resource for consumers by the US Senate who continue to encourage wider distribution of the magazine.

Accepting the award on behalf of FNLM was Chairman of the Board Donald W. King, Richard Crane Professor Emeritus,University of Chicago, and long-time member of FNLM.

MLA is a nonprofit, educational organization with more than 4,000 health sciences information professional and institutional members worldwide. Founded in 1898, 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.

MLA Honors Excellence in Health Sciences Librarianship

The Medical Library Association (MLA) is pleased to announce this year’s award winners, selected through the MLA professional recognition program. The award recipients, recognized for their outstanding achievements in health sciences information, were honored at the Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on Monday, May 16, 2011, during MLA ’11 in Minneapolis, MN. This year’s winners are as follows: A complete list of awards and applications can be found on the awards website.

Gale G. Hannigan, AHIP (Lucretia W. McClure Excellence in Education Award)

Barbara J. Henry, AHIP (Lois Ann Colaianni Award for Excellence and Achievement in Hospital Librarianship)

J. Michael Homan, AHIP, FMLA (Carla J. Funk Governmental Relations Award)

Peter Hotez (Joseph Leiter NLM/MLA Lectureship)

Mahria Lebow (Rittenhouse Award)

Medical Library Group of Southern California and Arizona (Majors/MLA Chapter Project of the Year Award)

National Institutes of Health Division of Library Services (Green Project of the Year Award)

T. Scott Plutchak, AHIP (Janet Doe Lectureship)

Clay Shirky (John P. McGovern Award Lectureship)

Nancy Tannery (Estelle Brodman Award for the Academic Medical Librarian of the Year)

Lei Wang (Thomson Reuters/Frank Bradway Rogers Information Advancement Award)

Kay E. Wellik (Virginia L. and William K. Beatty Volunteer Service Award)

The Virginia L. and William K. Beatty Volunteer Service Award recognizes exceptional contributions to furthering the mission, goals, and objectives of MLA and the profession as demonstrated by outstanding and significant service in the association’s leadership, publications, research, a special project, or combination of these four elements. The 2011 winner is Kay Wellik, AHIP, director, Library Services, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ. Wellik, a member of MLA for over thirty years, has served on a number of committees for MLA, including Continuing Education, Credentialing, and Grants and Scholarships Committees. She was also actively involved in the JCAHO Standards in Health Sciences Libraries Task Force and has held numerous offices in the Hospital Libraries Section, including chair. Wellik has published several articles and serves on the editorial boards of Medical Reference Services Quarterly and the Journal of Hospital Librarianship. Wellik’s colleagues describe her as “very supportive and encouraging of our professional growth” and as the go-to resource for all medical searches that stump us and for the names of key players in MLA that can mentor us.”

Nancy Tannery received the 2011 Estelle Brodman Award for the Academic Medical Librarian of the Year. Established in 1986, this award recognizes an academic medical librarian at the midcareer level who demonstrates significant achievement, continuing excellence, and leadership potential. Tannery, associate director for user services for the Health Sciences Library System, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, is an outstanding mentor and leader. She has initiated or collaborated on a number of important programs at the school of medicine including a “longitudinal librarian” program matching medical students with health sciences librarians for assistance throughout medical school, the National Library of Medicine–funded Biomedical Informatics Training Program, the HealthCAS project that offers a certificate of advanced study in health sciences librarianship, and the development of a federated information search tool for the electronic health record. In 2009, she was selected to participate in the highly competitive NLM/Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries Leadership Fellows Program.

The Lois Ann Colaianni Award for Excellence and Achievement in Hospital Librarianship is given to a member of the association who has made significant contributions to the profession through overall distinction or leadership in hospital library administration or service, production of a definitive publication related to hospital librarianship, teaching, research, advocacy, or development or application of innovative technology to hospital librarianship. This year’s award is bestowed on Barbara J. Henry, AHIP, Junior Board Cancer Resource Library, Helen F. Graham Cancer Center, Christiana Care Health System, Newark, DE, for her service and leadership in consumer health, patient education, and health information literacy. Her latest initiative, Cancer Awareness Resources To Go (CART), brings resources directly to the patients’ bedsides, not only for the patients, but also for the patients’ families. Henry has taught computer skills to community health leaders and worked with her hospital system to install the GetWell Network and WiredMD, making them directly accessible from patients’ rooms. She is a Distinguished Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals and has been noted for exemplary service four times by MLA’s Hospital Libraries Section, where she has served in several leadership capacities.

The individuals chosen to deliver the Janet Doe Lecture are selected for their unique perspectives on the history or philosophy of medical librarianship. The Doe lectureship was established in 1966 by anonymous donation. This year’s presenter, T. Scott Plutchak, AHIP, is exceptionally qualified for this distinguished honor. Plutchak, associate professor and director, Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences, University of Alabama–Birmingham, has long been recognized for his thoughtful and provocative presentations and writings, including editorials that he wrote during his six-year tenure as editor of the Journal of the Medical Library Association. Plutchak delivered this year’s intriguing and quotable lecture at MLA ’11: “Breaking the Barriers of Time and Space: The Dawning of the Great Age of Librarians.”

J. Michael Homan, AHIP, FMLA, director, Libraries, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, received the Carla J. Funk Governmental Relations Award at the MLA ’11 awards ceremony. The award recognizes a medical librarian who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the area of governmental relations at the federal, state, or local level and who has furthered the goal of providing quality information for improved health. The award is sponsored by Kent Smith, FMLA. A past president of MLA, Homan has also served as chair of the Joint MLA/Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries Legislative Task Force and as a member of the PubMed Central National Advisory Committee. He has prepared numerous Congressional fact sheets and statements about issues of importance to the profession and participated in the development and presentation of “Health Information for All: Research to Health Professional to Patient” Congressional briefing.

The Green Project of the Year Award is a one-time award for 2011 established by the MLA Board of Directors to encourage health sciences librarians to develop creative ways to reduce the damage currently being done to the environment. Funded by Mary L. Ryan, AHIP, FMLA, director, UAMS Library, University of Arkansas for the Medical Sciences–Little Rock, the award recognizes special projects or ongoing efforts demonstrating advocacy, leadership, service, or innovations that contribute to reducing the impact of library operations or section or chapter meetings on the environment. The award winner is the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Division of Library Services, Bethesda, MD, for its project, “Greening of the NIH Library.” It documents the leadership taken by library staff to apply green principles to everything done in the library with emphasis on the renovation of an abandoned smoker’s court into a user-friendly, self-sustaining, green-compliant roof/terrace. The library has also reduced waste products by 80%, reduced paper usage by 57%, and reduced energy consumption, serving as an example for other units of NIH.

Peter J. Hotez presented the 2011 Joseph Leiter National Library of Medicine (NLM)/MLA Lecture. The Leiter lectureship was established to stimulate intellectual liaison between MLA and NLM. Lecturers are chosen for their ability to discuss subjects related to biomedical communications. Hotez’s inspiring lecture, on the control of neglected tropical diseases and what is being done to eradicate them, was delivered on Wednesday, May 18, at the meeting.

The Majors/MLA Chapter Project of the Year Award is sponsored by the J. A. Majors Company and recognizes excellence, innovation, and contribution to the profession of health sciences librarianship. These attributes must be shown through special projects beyond the normal operational programming of a chapter. The Medical Library Group of Southern California and Arizona (MLGSCA) was selected to receive this award for the chapter’s innovative use of MLA’s MegaMeeting for MLGSCA’s 2010 spring continuing education and business meeting, effectively increasing participation in professional development programs at low cost to members and giving members flexibility in their participation.

Gale G. Hannigan, AHIP, received the 2011 Lucretia W. McClure Excellence in Education Award. Named for one of the profession’s most revered leaders and one of MLA’s most esteemed members, the McClure award recognizes outstanding practicing librarians or library educators in the field of health sciences librarianship and informatics who demonstrate skills in one or more of the following areas: teaching, curriculum development, mentoring, research, or leadership in education at local, regional, or national levels. Hannigan, Medical Sciences Library, Texas A&M University–College Station, has numerous accomplishments in education including development of an evidence-based medicine curriculum for the College of Medicine at Texas A&M, problem-based learning components for the Texas A&M School of Rural Public Health, and an MLA DocKit, Informatics in Health Sciences Curricula. She is actively teaching health informatics in three different venues as well as serving as a course instructor for MLA. She is an informatics content reviewer for Academic Medicine and has served on the accreditation team for the State of Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

The John P. McGovern Award Lectureship invites a significant national or international figure to speak on a topic of importance to health sciences librarianship at the MLA annual meeting. This year’s lecturer, Clay Shirky, author and provocative new voice on all things Internet, delivered the McGovern lecture, “Technology/Media: The Future, Innovation, Business Strategy, Marketing and Sales, Ethics, and Culture,” during MLA ’11. He is also an adjunct professor in the New York University graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program.

Mahria Lebow, School of Library, Archival and Information Sciences, University of British Columbia–Vancouver, Canada, received this year’s Rittenhouse Award for her paper, “Looking for Answers: On Screen and Off." The Rittenhouse Award, sponsored by Rittenhouse Book Distributors, is presented for the best unpublished paper on medical librarianship written by a student in an American Library Association–accredited school of library sciences or by an intern in health sciences librarianship.

Lei Wang, instructional design librarian, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT, is the winner of the 2011 Thomson Reuters/Frank Bradway Rogers Information Advancement Award. The award is presented annually in recognition of outstanding contributions to the application of technology to the delivery of health sciences information, to the science of information, or to the facilitation of the delivery of health sciences information. Wang created a library of over 150 video tutorials covering topics from EndNote to evidence-based practice to citation analysis and shared these tutorials and his experiences and expertise with more than 30 other institutions. There were 60,500 downloads of this collection in 2009/10. He received a Yale University Library Standing Committee of Professional Awareness (SCOPA) grant for 2010 to develop and test new multimedia production technologies that can allow him to teach tutorial creation and video editing to others.