Understanding Your Institution: Aligning Library Services with Mission, Accreditation, and Patron Needs

Scheduled: Wednesday, November 18, 2026, 1:00pm–2:30pm, Central Time

Health sciences librarians are most effective when they can clearly connect library services to the mission, priorities, and structures of their institutions. This webinar will help participants understand how their library fits within the larger organization and how to use that knowledge to strengthen relationships, demonstrate value, and support accreditation, education, clinical care, and research.

A panel of experienced health sciences librarians from academic/hospital/solo settings will share their experiences. Participants will learn how to describe their institution’s mission and vision; explain how the library supports institutional goals; identify where the library sits within the organizational chart; and recognize the accrediting body, accreditation cycle, and library roles relevant to the disciplines they serve. The course will also help learners identify key patron groups—such as students, faculty, clinicians, researchers, and staff—and better understand their common information needs, communication norms, milestones, and workflows.

By the end of the session, participants will be prepared to develop a concise description of library services, identify opportunities to connect with campus or clinical partners, and apply relationship-building strategies that support excellent customer service and long-term professional growth.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:

• Describe the institution’s and library’s mission and vision, and explain how library services support institutional priorities in clinical care, education, and research.
• Identify the institution’s organizational structure and articulate how the library fits within and contributes to that structure.
• Recognize relevant accrediting bodies and cycles, and describe the library’s role in supporting accreditation, self-study efforts, and institutional effectiveness.
• Identify key patron groups and their information needs, and describe program structures, workflows, and communication norms that shape effective service delivery.
• Apply strategies for engaging faculty, clinicians, researchers, and students; identify opportunities for collaboration; and develop a concise, audience-appropriate description of library services.

Audience

Early- to mid-career librarians, liaison librarians, and those new to health sciences, academic, or hospital settings who are seeking practical strategies for navigating institutional context and effectively communicating library impact.

Panelists

Chris Eaton is a Health Science Librarian at the Borland Library in Jacksonville, Florida which is part of the University of Florida Health Science Center Libraries. In this position, he supports the information needs of faculty, staff, and students at the University of Florida–Jacksonville Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy, as well as the clinicians and staff of UF Health–Jacksonville.

Alla Iansavitchene, MLIS, is a Clinical Librarian on the Academic & Research Operations team at the London Health Sciences Centre. She specializes in systematic reviews and advancing evidence-based practice. Her collaborative work with Team LHSC has led to numerous peer-reviewed publications, demonstrating her commitment to advancing scholarly knowledge. Before joining the Clinical Research Library at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) in 2007, she completed internships at the Health Sciences Library at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) and the Chalmers Research Group, formerly known as the Thomas C. Chalmers Center for Systematic Reviews, at the CHEO Research Institute in Canada.

Michelle Keba Knecht is the Senior Medical Librarian and Head of the Medical Health Sciences Collection and User Services Department for the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University. In this position, she manages the College of Medicine library resources and provides leadership for the evidence-based medicine curriculum as the co-director of the Life-Long Learning & Discovery thread.

Christine Willis, MLIS, AHIP, is the Clinical Information Librarian at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta – Arthur M. Blank Hospital in Atlanta, GA. She provides research assistance to clinicians. Prior to her role at Children’s, Christine was the Director of Knowledge Management and Learning Services at Shepherd Center for 10 years. Christine has been published in multiple library journals, developed and taught several CE courses, and was the past editor of MLAConnect. Christine is involved in national, regional, and local professional organizations.

MLA CE credits: 1.5