Day: Tuesday, April 7
Time: 10:00 a.m., pacific time; 11:00 a.m., mountain time; noon, central time; 1:00 p.m., eastern time
MLA members Lori E. Harris and Kimberly F. Yang will lead the interactive gathering, Professional Partnerships in the Time of COVID-19: Masks and More. Harris, Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library and Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, will share the story of how her library pulled together to provide masks to clinicians. Yang, Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD, will share resources for medical librarians serving various constituencies in this time of COVID-19. They will invite you to share your stories, resources, and ideas on how you can maintain and build professional partnerships.
This is the second in a series that MLA has launched of free, live, online conversations, Coping and Caring in the Time of COVID. These weekly conversations for MLA members and the wider health information professional community are designed to help share ideas and to address professional and personal pain points related to the current crisis.
We are experimenting with a new format designed to foster sharing on an ongoing basis, without overloading your email inbox. We welcome your feedback and will adjust offerings accordingly.
- Thirty-minute online gatherings, using Webex, no registration, free to attend
- Online discussion using a new MLA Slack channel, during and after the gathering, for you to ask questions, provide support, and share experiences by creating new threads and replying to existing ones
The first conversation, How to Be with Others When You Are Alone, on March 31, was led by MLA member Rachel Keiko Stark, AHIP, University Library, California State University–Sacramento. Stark shared tips and engaged with participants on how to connect with friends, colleagues, family, and strangers when you are socially isolated.
Action item 1: Click Join the Slack* workspace Medical Library Association, and use your browser or download the Slack application on your phone. Do you already have Slack? Add the workspace medicallibrar-t9h9995.slack.com.
Action item 2: Join the conversation for this session at #covid19-professional-partnerships in the MLA Slack channel, select the conversation directly in the Slack browser window or phone application, or connect at https://app.slack.com/client/T010XDNF4UU/C01184S1DLY.
On Tuesday, April 7, at the scheduled time: Open Slack to join the conversation, and open WebEx to join the session:
- Password: MLACOVID
- No registration. No cost.
Coming up:
- April 14: COVID-19 Searching: Strategies and Sources: Sarah T. Jewell, Medical Library, Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center, Bronx, NY, and Margaret Jane Foster, AHIP, Medical Sciences Library, Texas A&M University–College Station, will explore searching for COVID-19 resources in this time of rapidly updating databases, 10:00 a.m., pacific time; 11:00 a.m., mountain time; noon, central time; 1:00 p.m., eastern time.
- April 21: Managing Remote Workers and Work (tentative title): Michell Kraft, AHIP, Medical Library, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, and Ellen M. Aaronson, AHIP, Mayo Clinic Libraries, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN: 10:00 a.m., pacific time; 11:00 a.m., mountain time; noon, central time; 1:00 p.m., eastern time.
Other topics under consideration: Mental Health and COVID-19, Music: Merriment and Motivation and Quickly Moving Face-to-Face Courses Online.
For questions and support, please contact Kate Corcoran.
Spread the word! Share ideas for topics and presenters! Volunteer to present!
We look forward to speaking with you April 7!
* Slack is a proprietary instant messaging platform developed by Slack Technologies. Slack happens in channels, similar to chat rooms—a single place for messaging, tools, and files to collaborate. Here is an introductory YouTube video.