As we prepare for MLA’s 125th anniversary, we have not only taken a look at where we have been as a profession and organization but where we are going in the future. The purpose of the Vision 2048 Task Force is to identify themes of what future practice in libraries will look like and how MLA can plan for the future using those themes. The first step in identifying these areas is to talk to current members of our field to see what is important to you and see how you think libraries will make an impact in 2048. Having a variety of perspectives will be critical to planning for the future, which is why over the next year there will be multiple opportunities for information professionals within and outside of MLA to give input on what the future holds. The first opportunity to share and collaborate with the task force will come on November 17, with an open forum where we will discuss what successes, challenges, and opportunities related to health sciences libraries will look like in 2048. The purpose of this forum is to hear and interact with MLA members and information professionals on a variety of areas. To clarify, this is not about MLA specifically as an organization but about health sciences information professionals and libraries as a whole. To help you provide actionable feedback, the session will be in a workshop format with a brief introduction followed by a short twenty-minute breakout session where you will choose a topic to discuss.
Breakout topics:
- Leadership and Management
- Clinical Outreach
- Community Engagement & Outreach
- Curricular Involvement
- Technical Services
- Collection Management
- Data Management and Digital Curation
- Reference & Consultation
- Educating Health Care Professionals
- Educating Future Health Information Professionals
- Web and UX (User Experience) Design
- Miscellaneous
Since it is a short, twenty-minute breakout discussion, the facilitators in your group will ask the following questions:
- Why do you think it is important for the future success of our profession?
- What is the biggest challenge you see in moving forward in this area? What would keep us from being successful?
- What is the biggest opportunity you see?
After the breakout discussion, there will be a recap for sharing what was learned in the groups. The task force will take that feedback from the facilitators and apply it to our work. This is the kickoff as there will be at least a few more information gathering events prior to June of 2022.
Please watch upcoming issues of MLAConnect and MLA’s social media accounts for more information including a link to the Zoom session. Can’t make the open forum? Information will be forthcoming on how you can share answers to these questions on your own time using a link on the MLA website.
