HSLI President, Fran Kovach, M.L.I.S, is the reference and education librarian at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.
At the beginning of the year, not only is it time to pay our professional dues and start thinking about taxes, we must plan for the year ahead or even perhaps the next coming years. We also may recollect the adventures over the past year.
Thanks are given to our conference co-chairs, Virginia Gale and Linda Feinberg, and the committee for organizing a stellar conference at Starved Rock State Park. “Opportunities to Reach, Balance, Achieve. Doing Better What We Have Always Done Well” was the keynote address by Michelynn McKnight, PhD, AHIP. In her address, she challenged us to engage in critical thinking and risk taking. Please visit http:// hsli.org/conference for an outline of her keynote address. Updates followed by Jacqueline Leskovec, Outreach and Evaluation Coordinator for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Greater Midwest Region (NN/LM GMR) who relayed new developments from the NN/LM GMR. We were fortunate this year to have Anne B. Craig, Director of the Illinois State Library, join us at Starved Rock with the state library report. Three CEs were offered at the conference this year. Thanks to Michelynn McKnight, Max Anderson, NN/LM GMR, Linda O’Dwyer and Michelle Frisque, both of Galter Health Sciences Library, Northwestern University for their expertise! To all of our sponsors and exhibitors, thank you for your participation and support of the conference.
The Extinction Timeline 1950-2050 created by What’s Next and Future Exploration Network predicts the end of things, such as, the end of landline phones in the yeare2011. Also, in fine print, are words that state not to be taken too seriously. Seriously enough, post offices and libraries are on the extinction list for 2019. Fifty-eight percent of the librarians are expected to retire in 2019. Postal retirements have brought closure to post offices in communities. Not to follow suit of this trend, health science and hospital libraries can take measures to remain off the extinction list. Information professionals can proactively align with the mission of parent institutes, advance the Open Access (OA) movement by educating decision makers, contribute to patient safety by revisiting our health literacy roles, and keep technologically savvy with the continuing landscape of mobility options. Taking part in our upcoming conference in 2012 will offer information professionals the opportunity to obtain the skills needed in the future.