MLA | SLA '23 Featured Speakers
Michelle Kraft, AHIP, FMLA
Janet Doe Lecture
Michelle Kraft, AHIP, FMLA, is the Director of Library Services at the Cleveland Clinic Floyd D. Loop Alumni Library where she coordinates library resources and services for the hospitals in the Cleveland Clinic Health System. Michelle started out her career as a reference librarian, an electronic resources librarian, and then became a “Jill of all Trades” as a community hospital librarian.
During this time, Michelle developed an interest in the use of technology, user experience, and social media within medical libraries which led to her launching her blog, The Krafty Librarian, which explores items of interest to medical librarians. As an early adopter of social media, she helped pioneer the use of bloggers and Twitter at the Annual Meeting as a method to connect and inform members and attendees of meeting events and activities.
Michelle is an active member of MLA. She has served on the Board of Directors and as MLA President. She is also a Distinguished Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals and is an MLA Fellow. She continues to promote the use of technology to discover information, communicate, and to demonstrate the positive impact hospital libraries have on medicine and research.
Terri Givens
John P. McGovern Lecture
Terri Givens is currently a Professor of Political Science at McGill University and is the founder of the Center for Higher Education Leadership and Brighter Professional Development.
Terri is the author of the book Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides. Beyond Radical Empathy, she is the author of books and articles on immigration policy, anti-discrimination politics, and comparative race politics.
As an accomplished speaker, author, consultant, and mentor, Terri is using her platform to develop leaders’ understanding of the importance of diversity and encourage personal growth through empathy.
Craig Robertson
Joseph Leiter NLM/MLA Lectureship
The Joseph Leiter NLM/MLA Lectureship was established in 1983 to stimulate intellectual liaison between MLA and the National Library of Medicine (NLM). Lectures are chosen for their ability to discuss subjects related to biomedical communications. The lecture is presented every other year at NLM and in alternating years at the association's annual conference.
Craig Robertson is an associate professor of communication studies at Northeastern University. He has a Ph.D. from the Institute of Communication Research at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. An award-winning author, Robertson researches the history of information. He focuses on the relationship between paper and information, specifically how the recording, classification, and storage of information on paper affects not only who gets to handle and access information, but also how information is conceptualized as something people can use.
The Atlantic described his most recent book, The Filing Cabinet: A Vertical History of Information, as a “captivating history.” In addition to writing two monographs and editing two volumes of essays, Robertson’s research has been published and reviewed across a wide range of fields and disciplines including communication studies, design studies, library and information science, history, surveillance studies, immigration studies, and legal history/ policy. An internationally recognized scholar, Robertson has been interviewed by multiple media outlets including the New York Times, National Geographic, NPR, BBC, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.