For Immediate Release
February 24, 2023
Heather K Moberly, MLS, AHIP Agricultural and Veterinary Librarian, Pennsylvania State University, and Steven Wilson, MLS, AHIP Web Architect & Outreach Librarian and Coordinator, Center for Disability Resources Library, University of South Carolina, have each been selected to receive the Michael E. DeBakey Librarian Outreach and Community Award for their extraordinary work as librarians in the health sciences. They will be honored at the Friends of the National Library of Medicine’s (FNLM) 2023 Awards Gala.
The Friends of the NLM Awards Gala will be held starting at 6:00 PM ET on Wednesday, April 4, 2023, at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, DC. Registration is open to all. “Librarians Moberly and Wilson richly deserve this recognition,” said the Friends of the NLM’s DeBakey Awards Co-Chair, Jean Shipman. “As librarians in the health sciences, Heather and Steve have worked tirelessly and passionately in providing services to rural and underserved communities.”
Heather Moberly is the Agricultural and Veterinary Librarian at Pennsylvania State University. Her efforts to improve information access for rural veterinarians and ensure access to healthy food and human-animal well-being within the states of Oklahoma and Texas, as well as nationally and internationally attribute to her recognition. Her outreach efforts have focused on improving access to information by those in veterinary practice, an underserved profession, who are largely unaffiliated with academic center libraries. She is an active member of a professional group promoting veterinarians’ access to evidence-based information and its adoption into veterinary practice. Through her one-on-one instruction to veterinarians and trainees and her efforts to support open access to scientific information, she has had a significant and beneficial impact on veterinary care and the public’s health.
Steven Wilson is the Coordinator of the Center for Disability Resources Library, one of the largest and most successful outreach programs within the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, in Columbia, S.C. Collaborating with local and national disabilities organizations, Steven has grown the Center’s Library into one of the largest that focuses on intellectual and developmental disability collections and lends these materials to individuals located in the more rural parts of the state who often lack access to quality, robust library services. These individuals, most of whom are family members of recently diagnosed children with intellectual and developmental disabilities and/or professionals that work with these families, benefit directly from this free service. Steven also participated in a weekly local radio show on Health, Wellness, and Happiness. This show provided an opportunity to reach the general public and supply them with information about consumer health websites and promoted the disability resources provided by the library.
2023 FNLM Awards
The Friends of the NLM’s Annual Awards recognize scientific and medical leaders who have made significant contributions to health care, biomedical science, librarianship, and public health. These life changing awardees are our contemporaries and the Friends of the NLM has the honor of thanking them. Past recipients include Nobel Laureates, leading scientists who opened new fields of breakthrough discoveries, and developers of innovative technologies. In addition, outstanding health science librarians, leaders of public office, and those who have demonstrated a deep commitment to advancing medical and health science communication are among past and this year’s recipients.
For a full list of past and 2023 awardees, please click here.
Contact Ann Hill, FNLM Operations Manager at 301-318-9368 or annhill@fnlm.org with press inquiries.
About The Friends of the National Library of Medicine
The Friends of the National Library of Medicine supports and promotes the world’s largest medical library, the National Library of Medicine (NLM), a vital part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the nation’s premier medical research agency.
