A small group of MLA leaders including past presidents has been meeting to consider fresh and exciting ways to engage with publishers and vendors serving our membership. Our intention was to develop a context and framework to advance innovative thinking about health information: how it is generated, used, and valued. After a series of initial brainstorming meetings, the team found that there was resonance with our organizations who also are stakeholders in the health information space around the idea of twice-yearly, in-depth summit-style conversations regarding this broad topic.
With that momentum, the InSight Initiative Task Force was established by MLA’s Board of Directors in May. Since then, the team has been working closely with Doody Consulting to develop the summit’s concept, where we will convene thought leaders from our community of practice together with leaders in the health sciences information industry for highly active discussions around health information–related topics. Tangible outcomes include publicly accessible white papers, journal articles, and other resources that we intend will help steer future directions in the health sciences–related scholarly communications sphere. Organizations who have committed to participate in the initiative and whose financial support is making this effort possible include the American Psychiatric Association, Annual Reviews, Elsevier, F1000, the JAMA Network, McGraw-Hill, NEJM Group, and Wolters Kluwer. We are thankful to them and appreciate their interest and engagement.
Through the InSight Initiative, we hope to schedule two summits in 2018, with the first focusing on how health sciences library users engage with information resources and the “value add” that health sciences librarians/information specialists, publishers, and other intermediaries bring to our users’ practice.
Please look for future news about this exciting effort, including an invitation to MLA members to submit their expressions of interest in participation. Participation will be limited, due to the highly focused nature of the event. Visit the InSight Initiative web page to learn more.