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MLA Honors Excellence in Health Sciences Librarianship

The Medical Library Association (MLA) is pleased to announce that the following individuals were honored at the MLA ’12 Awards Ceremony and Luncheon in Seattle, WA, for their exceptional work and contributions to the health information profession:

Margaret M. Bandy, AHIP, FMLA (The Ida and George Eliot Prize)
Frederick (Skip) M. Burkle Jr. (The Joseph Leiter National Library of Medicine/MLA Lectureship)
Cancer Librarians Section (The Section Project of the Year Award)
Janet Cowen, AHIP (The Virginia L. and William K. Beatty Volunteer Service Award)
Jacqueline D. Doyle, AHIP, FMLA (The Marcia C. Noyes Award)
Rosalind F. Dudden, AHIP, FMLA (The Ida and George Eliot Prize)
Mark E. Funk, AHIP, FMLA (The 2012 Janet Doe Lectureship)
Alice Elizabeth Hadley, AHIP (The T. Mark Hodges International Service Award)
Steven B. Johnson (The John P. McGovern Award Lectureship)
Eva Jurcyzk (The Rittenhouse Award)
Susan Lessick, AHIP, FMLA (MLA Fellowship)
(Kathleen) Ann McKibbon, FMLA(MLA Fellowship)
Bart Ragon (The Estelle Brodman Award for the Academic Medical Librarian of the Year)
Connie Schardt, AHIP, FMLA (The MLA President’s Award)
Janet Gross Schnall, AHIP (The Lucretia W. McClure Excellence in Education Award)
Lynne K. Siemers (The Carla J. Funk Governmental Relations Award)
South Central Chapter of MLA (The Majors/MLA Chapter Project of the Year)
Mary Virginia Taylor (The Lois Ann Colaianni Award for Excellence and Achievement in Hospital Librarianship)
Laurie L. Thompson, AHIP (The Louise Darling Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Collection Development in the Health Sciences)
Kay E. Wellik, AHIP, FMLA(MLA Fellowship)

Margaret M. Bandy, AHIP, FMLA, Medical Library, Exempla St. Joseph Hospital, Denver, CO, and Rosalind F. Dudden, AHIP, FMLA, retired from the Tucker Memorial Medical Library, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO, are the winners of this year’s Ida and George Eliot Prize for their book, The Medical Library Association Guide to Managing Health Care Libraries, second edition. The Eliot prize recognizes a work published in the preceding calendar year that has been judged most effective in furthering medical librarianship. Their book provides both a philosophical and practical approach to health care library management, including an overview of trends, specific areas of library management, and onsite, offsite, and virtual library services. It “will help transition the reader toward embracing new roles for health sciences librarians to become masterful change agents.” The JAMA review of this book stated that it “is essential for anyone involved in management of a health sciences library and provides a plethora of invaluable information applicable to any setting.”

Frederick (Skip) M. Burkle Jr. presented the 2012 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. Burkle’s informative lecture concerning international disaster and humanitarian aid was delivered on Wednesday, May 9, at the Lister Hill Auditorium, NLM, Bethesda, MD.

The Section Project of the Year Award is awarded to an MLA section that demonstrates creativity, ingenuity, cooperation, and leadership within the framework of the mandate of the section. The 2012 winner, the Cancer Librarians Section, used an innovative programming approach that created an online video submission process for annual meeting contributions and a peer-review process for audience evaluation of multimedia content that increased participation at the national meeting for those who could not attend in person.

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 2012 winner is Janet Cowen, AHIP, Library Services, Maine Medical Center–Portland. Cowen, an active member of MLA for over twenty-five years, has served on MLA’s Nominating Committees, has been an Academy of Health Information Professionals mentor since 2008, has taught numerous continuing education courses, and has presented at many national MLA meetings. She was awarded the Maine Hospital Association’s Eleanor C. Cairns Distinguished Librarian award in 2008 and currently serves on MLA Chapter Council and as a member of the Executive Board of the North Atlantic Health Sciences Libraries.

The highest honor that MLA confers is the Marcia C. Noyes Award. Jacqueline D. Doyle, AHIP, FMLA, Arizona Health Sciences Library, College of Medicine, University of Arizona–Phoenix, has been selected as the 2012 Noyes Award winner. With a career spanning nearly forty years in health sciences librarianship, Doyle has been instrumental in establishing and/or leading at least twenty-five different professional groups at the national, state, regional, and local levels. She has been described as a consummate facilitator, passionate advocate, and an inspiration to all of her colleagues.
For her efforts, Doyle has received various national awards including MLA Fellowship, the Janet Doe Lectureship, the MLA Award for Excellence and Achievement in Hospital Librarianship (now the Colaianni Award), and the Hospital Libraries Section Professional Recognition Certificate for Achievement in Hospital Librarianship. She was also awarded the Louise Darling Achievement Award by the Medical Library Group of Southern California and Arizona (MLGSCA). These leadership roles have also made her one of the most effective advocates in promoting and fostering collaboration and cooperation among various types of libraries and librarians.

Doyle has twice served as a member of the MLA Board of Directors and served as president of MLA. She has also served as chair of the National Program Committee, of both the Hospital Libraries and Public Health/Health Administration Sections, and of MLGSCA and twice as a member of the MLA Nominating Committee. She played a key role in establishing the Arizona Health Information Network (AZHIN). Doyle has also been very influential in the development of hospital library standards, serving as one of MLA’s representatives to the Joint Commission Information Management Task Force and as a major contributor to the 2002 MLA Standards for Hospital Libraries. She has shared her expertise widely through presentations, publications, and courses on many aspects of hospital librarianship and co-authorship of a major chapter in both the first and second editions of the well-regarded Medical Library Association Guide to Managing Health Care Libraries.

Outside of her association activities, Doyle was part of the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM’s) “Information STAT: Rx for Hospital Quality” satellite broadcast in 1992 and served on the 2005/06 planning panel for NLM’s current long-range plan and on the Board of Directors for the Friends of the National Library of Medicine. She is also in demand as a library consultant, working with institutions in Hawaii, Arizona, California, and New York.

The individuals chosen to deliver the Janet Doe Lectures are selected for their unique perspectives on the history or philosophy of medical librarianship. This year’s presenter, Mark E. Funk, AHIP, FMLA, is known for his work in collection development and acquisitions. Funk, Samuel J. Wood Library, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, has served on many library advisory boards for national and international publishers and is a much sought-after speaker. He delivered this year’s lecture, “Our Words, Our Story: A Textual Analysis of Articles Published in the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association/Journal of the Medical Library Association from 1961 to 2010” during MLA ’12 in Seattle, WA.

The T. Mark Hodges International Service Award was established in 2007 to honor outstanding individual achievement in promoting, enabling, and/or delivering improvements in the quality of health information internationally through developing health information professions, improving libraries, or increasing use of health information services. Alice Elizabeth Hadley, AHIP, Medical Library, US Naval Hospital, Barrigada, Guam, has spent the past twenty-eight years reaching out to serve health practitioners and consumers throughout Micronesia and the Asia-Pacific Region as the only professionally trained medical librarian in the area. This is in addition to her naval hospital duties. Most recently, Hadley played a significant role in establishing nine hospital libraries in the Pacific Islands/Micronesia area through two grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and continues to serve as a consultant to the Ayuda Foundation of Guam on establishing medical libraries and training staff.

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, Steven B. Johnson—noted author, social critic, and technologist— delivered the McGovern lecture on where new ideas come from and received his award and certificate during MLA ’12 in Seattle, WA.

Eva Jurcyzk, Faculty of Information-iSchool, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, received this year’s Rittenhouse Award for her paper, “Developing a Custom Health Search Tool to Meet Diverse Health Literacy Needs.” 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. Her paper provides a well-written description of the efforts of one hospital’s librarians to handle important issues related to consumer health and health literacy through designing and implementing a successful hospital patient web engine tool.

Susan Lessick, AHIP, FMLA, Grunigen Medical Library, University of California–Irvine, is a recognized copyright expert and has authored papers and articles as well as presented seminars on the topic. She has authored many papers and is a chapter author for the acclaimed second edition of the MLA Guide to Managing Health Care Libraries. Lessick has chaired the MLA Hospital Libraries Section, the Research Section, and the Medical Library Group of Southern California and Arizona and held numerous section and chapter committee positions. She has also served on two National Program Committees and on the Editorial Boards of both the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association and Journal of the Medical Library Association, and has been an active mentor and served as a National Library of Medicine Associate Fellow supervisor.

(Kathleen) Ann McKibbon, FMLA, Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, DeGroote School of Medicine Faculty of the Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada, has served MLA on the Board of Directors and several task forces. She is best known as a continuing education instructor for her evidence-based medicine courses and teaches the courses at the international, national, state, regional, and local levels. McKibbon developed the ACP Journal Club (supplement to the Annals of Internal Medicine) and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of the Medical Library Association, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, and Annals of Emergency Medicine. She is a past recipient of MLA’s Lucretia W. McClure Excellence in Education Award and was recognized in Canadian Health Librarians: Leaders, Past and Present.

Bart Ragon received the 2012 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. Ragon, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia–Charlottesville, is a nationally recognized speaker in the field of library technology. He has served MLA as cochair of the 2011 National Program Committee, cochair of MLA’s Technology Advisory Committee, and chair of the Task Force on Social Networking Software. Ragon was also selected as a National Library of Medicine/Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries Leadership Fellow for 2009–2010 and as a participant in the 2007 Association of College and Research Libraries Harvard Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians.

From time to time, the MLA Board of Directors sees that an exceptional contribution has been made to the profession and the goals of the association and elects to present the MLA President’s Award recognizing that significant contribution. This year’s award goes to Connie Schardt, AHIP, FMLA, Public Services, Medical Center Library & Archives, Duke University, Raleigh-Durham, NC, in recognition of her work in mentoring the development of an important and critical assessment of the Center of Research and Education (CORE) Tool Box. This is but the latest in a number of her contributions to the profession, including being an internationally recognized champion of evidence-based practice, a prolific continuing education instructor, an active mentor for the next generation, and a past president of MLA.

Janet Gross Schnall, AHIP, is the recipient of the 2012 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. Schnall, information management librarian, Health Sciences Libraries University of Washington–Seattle, is well known for her outstanding research, teaching, and mentoring activities in health sciences librarianship. She has been a member of MLA for over forty years, and has taught numerous times on evidence-based practice, health information on the web, and other topics to both librarians and the nursing community. Schnall is one of MLA’s allied representatives to the Interagency Council on Information Resources for Nursing (ICIRN) and served in various capacities, including chair, of the Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section (NAHRS). She is a past recipient of the NAHRS Award for Professional Excellence.

Lynne K. Siemers, Library, MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC, is the recipient of the Carla J. Funk Governmental Relations Award. 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 endowed by Kent Smith, FMLA. Siemers has made many contributions to the association in the area of governmental relations over almost fifteen years of service. She served as chair of the Joint MLA/Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries Legislative Task Force and member of MLA’s Governmental Relations Committee and represented MLA at the Second White House Conference on Library and Information Services. Siemers has also represented MLA at sessions concerning the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act and the Technology Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act. While chair of the legislative task force, she helped reorganize the legislative priorities and increase the size of the task force to create a broader advocacy base.

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 South Central Chapter of MLA (SCC) was selected to receive this award for their innovative MLA continuing education course, “Get Mobilized: An Introduction to Mobile Resources and Tools in Health Sciences Libraries.” This online, free-of-charge, six-hour course reached out not only to SCC members, but to the entire MLA community, and was developed by instructors from all over the country.

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 Mary Virginia Taylor, Medical Library, Overton Brooks VA Medical Center, Shreveport, LA, for her forty years of service in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) libraries, including mentoring new librarians; codeveloping VALNET (Virtual Reference Task Force), a service that provides back-up reference to all VA Medical Center libraries, and Librarians on Call (LOC), a back-up reference service via email; updating the VA librarian’s handbook; and providing outreach services to clinics and the community. She is also a past winner of the Southern Chapter’s Hospital Librarian of the Year Award among other honors.

The Louise Darling Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Collection Development in the Health Sciences recognizes accomplishment in collection development for the health sciences. The 2012 winner, Laurie L. Thompson, AHIP, Library, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center–Dallas, is the editor-in-chief of the Medical Library Association’s Master Guide to Authoritative Information Resources in the Health Sciences, a definitive and invaluable work in collection development in the health sciences and a much-needed update to the “Brandon/Hill Selected List of Print Books and Journals for the Small Medical Library.” She gathered over 100 contributors to produce this work, expanding on the Brandon/Hill list and filling a major gap in the librarian’s collection development tool box. Thompson, an MLA member for over thirty years, has previously been awarded the Collection Development Section’s Daniel T. Richards Prize for collection development. She is an active mentor, teacher, and consultant.

Kay E. Wellik, AHIP, FMLA, Library Services, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ, has served MLA extensively and impressively, including serving on the MLA Board of Directors, as chair of the Hospital Libraries Section, and as a member of the Nominating, Credentialing, Continuing Education, two National Program, and Grants and Scholarships Committees. She has also held offices in the Medical Library Group of Southern California and Arizona. Wellik also teaches numerous courses for nurses, physicians, and others in the medical community and has published numerous articles, book chapters, and an MLA Dockit. She has received MLA’s Virginia L. and William K. Beatty Volunteer Service Award, serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Hospital Librarianship, and is a past editorial board member for the Medical Reference Services Quarterly.

For more information about the MLA Awards Program, please visit www.mla.org/awards/honors/, or contact Maria Lopez, mlapd2@mlahq.org, 312.419.9094 x15.

Released July 30, 2012.