Yes, the Medical Library Association met in Honolulu in May, but don’t let the exotic venue trick you into thinking it was just a party. MLA 2009 was, as always, a national-level professional meeting brimming with contributions from medical librarians of all kinds. Each of the four librarians who attended from MU did so because of an individual or team-member contribution that was highlighted in some way at the meeting. And they each attended many sessions crammed into the program to bring back new learning and ideas to MU. As one person stated, “I had no time to realize where I was. I was once again at MLA, surrounded by professional content and an endless stream of sessions and meetings!”

We’re proud of all of our contributors, but especially so of Trenton Boyd, who won the Murray Gottlieb Prize for best essay on the history of medicine. Not only did winning the prize bring professional recognition to the University of Missouri, it also helped to cover expenses for Trenton’s attendance at the meeting. See the photograph of Trenton receiving the prize at the meeting, and a photograph of him with Donald Lindberg, Director of the National Library of Medicine, and Lucretia McClure, one of MLA’s most esteemed emeritus members. The Murray Gottlieb prize is awarded annually, dating back to 1956, in order to recognize and stimulate health sciences librarians’ interest in the history of medicine.

The Tiger pride continues. Diane Johnson served on an invited four-member panel sponsored by the Collection Development Section to address the topic: “Technology and E-Resources: Evolving with the Times.”

Barb Jones and Rebecca Graves also attended the meeting, and presented on their collaborative efforts. MLA hosts contributed paper and poster sessions each year, the selections for which are based on criteria for professional rigor. Competition to contribute a paper is stiff, with only about one in four accepted. Poster sessions are not as competitive, but inclusion can never be taken for granted, since there are always more submissions than slots. The papers and posters are listed below.

Presented Papers:
“What might Google Books mean for medical libraries?” by Diane Johnson
“Infusing Health Sciences Libraries with Economic Muscle” by Elizabeth Kelly, Barbara B. Jones, John Bramble
Posters:

“Creating a Framework for Collaborative Regional Library Research” by Deborah H. Ward AHIP, MaryEllen C. Sievert and Barbara B. Jones

“”Mapping Information Literacy: Using Concept Mapping to Understand Nurses’ Sources of Health Information” by Louise C. Miller, Rebecca S. Graves AHIP, Barbara B. Jones and Mary Ellen C. Sievert

Congratulations to all of our MU authors for this recognition of their work!
Deb Ward

P.S. Rebecca’s poster was blogged about at http://npc.mlanet.org/mla09/?p=662