MLA ‘08 Blog

The Federal Libraries Section invites you to the following MLA ‘08 events:

About the Federal Libraries Section

The Federal Libraries Section is an organization of . . . Government Librarians. Our purpose is to improve library services through increased communication and cooperation among U.S. Government Libraries.

If you are interested in learning more about our section, please stop by the Section Shuffle from 6:00pm-7:00pm on May 18th. Or join us for the section business meeting Sunday, May 18th, at 4:30 PM in the Goldcoast Room.

Programs

Please also consider attending the following programs sponsored by the Federal Libraries Section (a complete list of presenters and abstracts is available from the Online Program Planner):

Connecting veterans, military personnel, and families to mental health resources
Time: Monday, May 19th, 2:00-3:30pm
Room: Columbus GH
Description: In 2005, the U.S. Congress established the National Demonstration Program for Citizen-Soldier Support (CSSP). Citizen Soldier families and Veterans face numerous personal and family life challenges that severely tax their resource. Maintaining and achieving good mental health is vital for these individuals. It is important that they have access to Mental Health Resources. This session will highlight how libraries are helping to assist them in accessing mental health resources and services.

Connecting with administrators to show the value of libraries and librarians
Time: Monday, May 19th, 4:30-6:00pm
Room: Columbus GH
Description: Best practices showing how librarians/libraries are communicating their value, return on investment, cost benefits, etc. to their administrators.

- Alice Hadley & Edward Poletti

The Research Section is sponsoring for the first time an informal 1.75-hour meeting called “The Research Connection.”

Sunday, May 18, 2008
7:00 AM - 8:45 AM
Hyatt/Water Tower
Continental Breakfast

This is a great opportunity for all MLA members interested in research to network with Research Section members and to learn more about Research Section activities and the new MLA Research Policy. There will be an opportunity to get practical advice and assistance with your own research ideas. So bring you ideas and don’t miss this opportunity to explore new research avenues and make a “Research Connection” at MLA!

- Rosalind Dudden

Here’s the inside scoop on Top Technology Trends from Janis Brown, Chair of the Medical Informatics Section:

At last year’s Medical Library Association meeting, members of the standing-room-only audience for the Medical Informatics Section invited panel on Top Technology Trends used audience response system clickers to signal that they wanted overwhelmingly at this year’s meeting: MORE.

So the Medical Informatics Section and their co-sponsors, the Educational Media Technologies Section, have done just that: come up with a sequel to top last year’s event.

MEDICAL INFORMATICS SECTION DELIVERS
TOP TECHNOLOGY TRENDS II: BRIDGE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW
Monday, May 19, 2008, 10:30 AM - 12 noon
Room Columbus KL, Hyatt Regency, Chicago
(Please check the on-site schedule in the event of any room changes)

Topics to be covered, among others, will include:

• Hospital 2.0, personal health record, including Google initiative and local hospital developments
• Next-generation interfaces, specifically moving from mouse/click to touch/feel screens; visualization
• Learning Management Systems (Angel, Moodle, Sakai, Sumtotal, etc.)
• iPhone revolution (touch factor, etc.); spawning other mobile devices such as Instinct and Google phone; open cell phones
• Applications, gadgets & Widgets in Fackbook & iGoogle; extending content through RSS feeds; QR codes

Don’t miss the returning participants . . .

• Susan Lessick (panel moderator), Head, Grunigen Medical Library, University of California, Irvine; Google
• Rikke Ogawa (jockey), Emergent Technologies Coordinator, University of California, Los Angeles Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library
• Wallace McLendon, Director, University of Florida Health Science Center Libraries, Gainesville
• Bart Ragon, Associate Director for Library Technology Services and Development, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia
• Eric Schnell, Associate Professor and Assistant Director, Prior Health Sciences Library, The Ohio State University, Columbus.

And additions to this year’s panel are:

• Gabriel Rios, Deputy Director, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Lister Hill Library
• Michelle Kraft, Senior Medical Librarian, Cleveland Clinic Alumni Library
• Sadie Honey, Information & Web Services Librarian, University of California, San Francisco Library & Center for Knowledge Management.

Janis says it’s an interactive session, with an “energetic and sometimes irreverent” panel. Don’t forget to add this one to your itinerary!