All:
While another calendar year soon comes to a close, another HSLI year is already underway. All current members should have received a reminder from Membership Committee Chair Jonna Peterson to renew their membership. Please consider doing so, if you have not already. More importantly, consider encouraging someone who is not currently a member to join. While HSLI’s primary focus is on health sciences and medical librarianship, the organization has “something for everyone” when it comes to educational and networking opportunities. Our membership base, which includes librarians from a wide range of institutions, along with retirees, reflects HSLI’s broad appeal.
Whether you have been a member for one year or 20 years, I would encourage you also to “renew” your commitment to HSLI. As members, we all have varying degrees of involvement in the organization, depending on our other professional responsibilities and interests. Since HSLI is, at heart, a member-driven organization, HSLI grows when its members grow. That doesn’t necessarily have to mean a substantial new time commitment, but it does require stepping outside of one’s comfort zone and broadening one’s horizons.
I would encourage you to think about ways to make the most of your HSLI experience. Even with the worst parts of the pandemic seemingly in the rearview mirror, we still have logistical and financial challenges to holding in-person events, especially outside of the Annual Conference. Plenty of opportunities for virtual learning and networking remain available, however. If you haven’t attended a “Coffee & Conversation” informal networking event or a Journal Club meeting, please consider doing so–and, it is possible we may merge the two activities in the coming months. If you weren’t able to attend the 2023 in-person Annual Conference, think about possibly participating in the 2024 meeting, the format of which the Conference Planning Committee will determine soon. And, if you haven’t yet put your name into the hat for “Member of the Quarter”, please feel free to answer the trivia question for the February recognition, once that question goes out to the listserv in the near future.
These are just a few examples of the types of activities that make HSLI membership a worthwhile experience for current members, while also giving people an incentive to join. More importantly, if you have ideas for activities or initiatives that HSLI doesn’t currently offer, but that would make HSLI an even more robust and versatile organization, please don’t hesitate to share those. The listserv, to which all members have access, is a source of information on current activities, but it can also serve as a forum for brainstorming new ones. And, if you would rather share ideas with me directly, please send them to president@hsli.org or eedwards@ilsos.gov.
Thank you very much, again, for your ongoing commitment to HSLI and librarianship more broadly, and best wishes for a productive and safe 2024.
Eric Edwards
2022-2024 HSLI President