Tell us briefly about the purpose and/or background of your SIG.
The Mental Health Special Interest Group is a gathering of librarians who are
interested in mental health resources and services. This group includes
librarians who work with behavioral sciences programs such as psychiatry,
psychology, substance abuse, social work, and related disciplines.

Do you have a website and/or list-serv?
 Since we have a common mission, we share an electronic discussion list with
the Association of Mental Health Librarians. This allows us to interact with a
larger group of colleagues with similar interests. Information about the list
can be found here. The Mental Health SIG’s website is hosted by the University of Miami Pomerance Psychiatry Library. It includes a lot of helpful resources like a core list of recommended journals for mental health.

Will you be meeting at MLA? If so, when and what is on your agenda? Is the meeting open to non-members?
 We will be meeting Monday, May 19th at 3:30 PM (between our two sponsored
programs) to brainstorm ideas for next year’s meeting, to share the wonderful
things that are happening in our libraries and lives, and to provide a
sounding board for challenges. The meeting is not limited to members of the
SIG; all are welcome to come. Co-conveners for this year’s MH SIG informal
meeting will be Toni Yancey (University of Maryland) and Carmen Bou-Crick
(University of Miami Miller School of Medicine).

Is there anything else about your SIG that you’d like to share with MLA blog readers?
If you can’t attend our meeting, please drop by our sponsored programs to hear excellent information about mental resources. Our first program is titled “Interconnections: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Medical History”. The program will explore ways in which human physical health has been historically impacted by collateral fields such as veterinary medicine, psychiatry/psychology, and other disciplines outside the strictly biomedical sciences. Our second program is “Connecting Veterans, Military Personnel, and Families to Mental Health Resources.” This session will highlight how libraries are helping assist Citizen soldier families and veterans in accessing mental health resources and services. Please check the official program for times and locations.

And just for fun, what’s on your must see/do list for Chicago?
For fun, some of us are planning to visit the Mythic Creatures: Dragons,
Unicorns, and Mermaids exhibit at the Field Museum, and maybe take a boat ride
down the river to see the beautiful architectural designs of Chicago’s
buildings. And, we definitely are going to go have some deep dish pizza,
Chicago style!

- Thanks to co-conveners Toni Yancey and Carmen Bou-Crick for the inside scoop on Mental Health SIG activities at MLA ‘08!