Post-Pandemic Libraries: The Upcoming Era of Change. March 17, 2022 - Friends of the National Library of Medicine

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Post-Pandemic Libraries: The Upcoming Era of Change

March 17, 2022

About this webinar

The COVID-19 global pandemic instantly reshaped how libraries function – from services to workflows, from technologies to communications. As librarians continue to adjust to these sudden changes, there remains the question of to what degree will these changes stick, especially as the world’s population encounters future global shifts. Numerous lessons were learned during this pandemic, but which ones will shape and improve the library profession? How will the social artifacts of our current pandemic become embedded in our organizations, creating a “new normal” as well as pathways for new models of work? How have the information needs and behaviors of our user communities informed our libraries’ adaptations during the pandemic, and how we will continue to meet their diverse needs in the long-term? The keynote speakers and panelists will share and discuss how libraries – particularly in the medical and health sciences fields – can leverage change to create more agile, informed, and impactful libraries and librarians and to forge a more exciting and advanced future for librarianship.

Sponsored by: Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries, Elsevier and Oxford PharmaGenesis

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Keynote

Dr. Gigi Louisa Johnson

Dr. Gigi Louisa Johnson “connects the digital dots.” Her work at the Maremel Institute, Rethink Next, and in the past at UCLA, focuses on how we can create intentionally healthier futures — as individuals and together — in a changing world.

Through the Maremel Institute’s various programs, Gigi creates programs to explore where belief, technology, education, creative work, and social/community ecosystems are going in a digitally accelerated age. At Maremel, she has produced executive programs with universities and companies, educational web series, podcasts, video oral histories with innovative leaders, and transformative talks at thought-leading conferences across the world. She has counseled leaders from tech and media companies on future trends and new markets. She speaks virtually and around the world on digital transformations — both of the past and in the extended future.

Through the non-profit Rethink Next, she also is launching collaborations on the futures of creative work in local communities. In 2020 and 2021, she co-launched the Amplify Music 25-hour virtual conference with 45+ great partners, exploring how local music communities were changing globally across the pandemic and focusing on emerging leaders and organizing.

For more than 20 years, Gigi created programs in industry transformation and taught future leaders at UCLA. Gigi founded UCLA’s Center for Music Innovation, where she was the Center’s Executive Director for four years. She taught courses in music industry transformation, marketing, and organizations for more than a decade at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. For eight years, she taught digital media and disruptive technologies courses at UCLA Anderson, as well as the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain; Columbia College; and Higher Colleges of Technology in Abu Dhabi. From 1999 to 2005, she ran a variety of thought-leadership programs at UCLA Anderson, including its Entertainment and Media Management Institute and Applied Management Research/Field Study Program.

Her for-profit background includes being SVP/General Manager of two video-on-demand channels at Studio 4 Networks and SVP/Managing Director at Bank of America. As a corporate banker in Bank of America’s Entertainment/Media practice, she financed mergers and acquisitions for entertainment conglomerates, movie studios, theatrical exhibition, radio and TV broadcast stations, publishing, cable television, theme parks, and wireless telecommunications. In addition, she has worked for leading advertising and public relations firms in media, as well as at a major studio in television finance. She also has worked with a variety of non-profits and trade associations in advisory and leadership roles.

Dr. Johnson received her doctorate in educational leadership and change, focusing on media studies, organizational change, and technologies, from Fielding Graduate University. She received her MBA in finance and accounting from UCLA Anderson, and her BA in Cinema-Television Production from the University of Southern California.

Links:

https://Linktr.ee/gigijohnson
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gigijohnson
Twitter @gigijohnson
Instagram @drgigiadventures

Panel 1

Panel 1: Taking Action on COVID Lessons Learned

Patricia Devine, MLS
Director, HEALWA
University of Washington Health Sciences Library, Seattle, WA

Patricia Devine is the Director of the HEALWA program at the University of Washington of Washington, working with healthcare providers in Washington State. She was previously with the Network of the National Library of Medicine doing outreach work for several years. Her interests include health disparities, implicit bias, and social determinants of health.

Sandra Franklin
Director, Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library
Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Sandra G. Franklin, MLS, AHIP, FMLA is director of Emory University’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library, Atlanta, GA. The library includes four clinical branches. Since joining the Emory Libraries, Sandra has served at Health Sciences as Reference Librarian, Head of Public Services, Assistant Director, Associate Director, and Director since 2002.

Sandra’s service to MLA began as a member and then chair of the Credentialing Committee. She served MLA on a Nominating Committee, Secretary/Treasurer of Leadership & Management section, three years on the Board of Directors, National Program Committee member and chair of the Local Assistance Committee for MLA 2018 in Atlanta, and chair of MLA’s Diversity & Inclusion Task Force. Sandra was the 2015 Southern Chapter/MLA Academic Librarian of the Year and in 2017 became a Medical Library Association Fellow. Sandra delivered MLA’s 2021 Janet Doe Lecture. Other professional association service includes Georgia Health Sciences Library Association president; service to Southern Chapter of MLA as Treasurer, Credentialing Liaison, Program Chair, and President; service to the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) on various committees, as chair of the NLM/AAHSL Future Leadership Committee, Board member, and President. Sandra is a member of the Friends of the National Library of Medicine Board of Directors and serves as co-chair of the Education Committee

Beth Whipple
Assistant Director for Research and Translational Sciences
Indiana University School of Medicine, Ruth Lilly Medical Library, Indianapolis, Indiana

Elizabeth (Beth) Whipple is a full librarian and Assistant Director for Research & Translational Sciences at the Ruth Lilly Medical Library (RLML), Indiana University School of Medicine. Ms. Whipple joined RLML after completing the NLM Associate Fellowship and has led the library’s Research Team since its inception in 2017. She currently spearheads the library’s involvement with the two Indiana University School of Medicine’s (IUSM) research strategic initiatives around information management—an electronic lab notebook (ELN) project (using the tool LabArchives) and the required data management plan (DMP) for all federally funded investigators at IUSM. One of her research interests has been using bibliometrics to track publication trends, specifically related to gender in the orthopaedic discipline.

Kelvin Watson
2023-24 ALA Presidential Candidate
Executive Director Las Vegas-Clark County Library District

As executive director of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, Kelvin Watson oversees 25 branches run by 600+ employees, spanning 8,000 square miles, with a budget of $77 million and a collection of 3.2 million items. Kelvin has brought innovative, award-winning leadership to Nevada’s largest library system and his deep experience in fundraising, technology, program development, and demonstrated success in addressing the digital divide, has brought a new era to this library system.

Regarded as one of the most highly respected thought leaders in the library industry, Kelvin is credited with expanding his customer base in multiple library management roles, through outreach efforts to underserved and diverse populations. Two examples of these in Las Vegas are a partnership with the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, which made digital access to the library available to bus riders and won an Honorable Mention from the ULC Innovation Awards; and the Library District’s many literacy programs for adults and children, which received the Crystal Bookmark Award from the Las Vegas Book Festival.

Kelvin joined the Library District from his role as the director of the Broward County Libraries Division, where he managed through 38 locations in the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida region. During his tenure at Broward County Libraries, he brought transformative change through ambitious and groundbreaking initiatives, such as streamlining access to resources, introducing new technology, and developing new collaborative partnerships. He was named the 2021 winner of the Margaret E. Monroe Library Adult Services Award, sponsored by Novelist, for his dedication to implementing new and innovative ways to meet customers – both existing and new – “where they are,” with initiatives targeting non-traditional library users.

Under Kelvin’s leadership, the Florida Library Association (FLA) named Broward County Libraries as the 2020 Library of the Year. The FLA also named Kelvin the 2019 Librarian of the Year, and the American Library Association (ALA) named the Broward County Libraries the Library of the Future, all of which he credits to the work of his staff. Other awards over his career have included the 2016 inaugural ALA Ernest A. DiMattia Award for Innovation and Service to Community and Profession; the 2017 DEMCO/ALA Black Caucus Award for Excellence in Librarianship; and as the 2019 Community Service & Distinguished Achievement Honoree by the Friends of the African American Research Library and Cultural Center, just to name a few.

Previously, he served as COO/senior vice president for Queens Library, after rising through the leadership ranks of the organization from a distinguished background in technology. In his prior role as chief innovation & technology officer/vice president, information, technology, and development, he was instrumental in establishing several groundbreaking programs, and he developed and implemented digital divide strategies, which promoted equality and equity for all.

Kelvin started his career as a Commissioned Officer in the Active U.S. Army and Army Reserves. He transitioned into the private sector as a leader with Ingram Library Services, Borders Group, and The Library Corporation (TLC). These positions fueled his passion for the field of library science and he went on to join the USDA National Agricultural Library.

Throughout his career, he has remained active as a speaker and panelist at conferences and an author of articles in national library publications. He serves on the San Jose State University School of Information, Leadership, and Management Program Advisory Committee, co-chairs the American Library Association Digital Content Working Group, and serves on the American Library Association Business Advisory Group, REALM Project Steering Committee and on the Board of the Book Industry Study Group. He is a past president of Black Caucus of the American Library Association and past Public Library Association Board member.

Additionally, Kelvin has served in a diverse number of volunteer leadership roles: FLA Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility Task Force, bringing together young, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ individuals to make their voices hear within the Florida Library Association; a member of the ALA Committee on Accreditation; New York State Regents Advisory Council on Libraries; Metropolitan New York Library Council Board of Trustees; Asian/Pacific Librarians Association Research and Travel Awards Committee; Coretta Scott King Book Award Juror; AASL Diversity Task Force member; Spectrum Scholarship Juror; Young Librarians ALA Presidential Task Force member; Legacy South Florida magazine’s “50 Most Influential and Powerful Black Professionals of 2020; Profiled in Black Issues Book Review Jan/Feb 2006 Issue as one of the “Influential African Americans in the Book Industry”; and Parkway Alumni Hall of Fame – Class of 2006.

Kelvin earned a BS Degree in Business Administration, with a Minor in Military Science, from Lincoln University (MO). He earned his MLS Degree from North Carolina Central University. In 2019, he completed the MIT SLOAN School of Management Executive Program Certificate, Internet of Things: Business Implications and Opportunities and the MIT SLOAN School of Management Executive Program Certificate, Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy. In 2020, he completed the MIT SLOAN School of Management Executive Program Certificate, Cybersecurity, 2020. Kelvin is also a member of Life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and Beta Phi Mu Honor Society.

Panel 2

Panel 2: Future of Space

Anne Seymour has been the Director of the Welch Medical Library at Johns Hopkins University & Medicine since 2014, overseeing library and information services for the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health, and the Johns Hopkins Health System and she holds a faculty appointment at all three health science schools. She leads an expert team of managers, informationists, and IT/digital systems specialists serving the information needs of, and collaborating with, faculty, researchers, clinicians, and students. Prior to Johns Hopkins, she was the Associate Director for Information Services at the University of Pennsylvania’s Biomedical Library.

She has a special interest in global health issues and their relationship to local public health and health disparities. She has applied her expertise in evidence-based health care and health sciences informatics to research projects and capacity building in the global health arena, especially in resource-limited settings. She is a regular presenter on building and sustaining informationist programs; librarian leadership in healthcare settings; and on global health research and opportunities for librarians. She is actively engaged with the Association of Health Sciences Libraries and the Medical Library Association

Dianne Babski serves as the Associate Director for Library Operations, and is responsible for overall management of one of the National Library of Medicine’s largest divisions with more than 450 staff who provide health information services to a global audience of health care professionals, researchers, administrators, students, historians, patients, and the public. She oversees budget, facilities, administration, and operations, including a national network of more than 8,000 academic health science libraries, hospital and public libraries, and community organizations to improve access to health information. She also serves as the Scientific Review Administrator to the federal advisory committee recommending journals for MEDLINE (Literature Selection Technical Review Committee) and represents NLM to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and the Association of Research Libraries. She received her master’s degree in information management from the University of Maryland.

Dan Wilson is the Associate Director for Collections & Library Services at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Library. From 2007 to 2016, he was the Coordinator for the Network of the National Library of Medicine’s National Emergency Preparedness & Response Initiative where he facilitated training programs about emergency preparedness for libraries, communities, community-based health organizations, and emergency planners. Since 2016, Dan has presented several workshops for NNLM and other library networks.

Tim Tripp, BSc, MLIS, is the Director of Library and Information Services at the University Health Network in downtown Toronto where he leads a team of 12 library professionals serving UHN’s four hospitals. Before returning to UHN, Tim was the Director of Library Services and Knowledge Mobilization at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, where he oversaw the library, archives, and digital innovation teams. Before CAMH, Tim spent 14 years at UHN leading cross-functional teams to design, build, enhance and deploy clinical tools to link evidence at the point of care. Aside from collecting vintage medical romance novels, Tim’s primary interest is the use of technology to accelerate the integration of the best evidence into practice.

Catherine Soehner, MLS, AHIP, is the Associate Dean for Research and the Director of the Eccles Health Sciences Library at the University of Utah. She has 33 years of experience in librarianship with 23 of those years spent in named leadership positions. Her research interests are focused on change management and leadership with publications and presentations focused on systems thinking, conspiratorial thinking in the workplace, and assessment of library programs.

Panel 3

Panel 3: Organizational Design/Development

Tara Landry has accumulated a decade of experience supporting health professionals with their research and educational pursuits, in both hospital and academic libraries. Previously coordinator of the medical libraries of the McGill University Health Centre, Ms Landry currently holds a leadership position as head of reference and collection development in the health sciences library of the Université de Montréal, where her primary mandate is to manage and develop library services for students and faculty. She is currently serving as President on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Health Libraries Association/Association des bibliothèques de la santé du Canada.

David Lankes is the Virginia & Charles Bowden Professor of Librarianship at the iSchool at University of Texas at Austin. Lankes has always been interested in combining theory and practice to create active research projects that make a difference. His work has been funded by organizations such as The MacArthur Foundation, The Institute for Library and Museum Services, NASA, The U.S. Department of Education, The U.S. Department of Defense, The National Science Foundation, The U.S. State Department, and The American Library Association.

Lankes is a passionate advocate for libraries and their essential role in today’s society earning him the Reference and User Services Association Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award for distinguished contribution to reference librarianship in 2021 and the Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship in 2016. He also seeks to understand how information approaches and technologies can be used to transform industries. In this capacity he has served on advisory boards and study teams in the fields of libraries, telecommunications, education, and transportation including at the National Academies. He has been a visiting fellow at the National Library of Canada, The Harvard School of Education, the French national library school Enssib, and was the first fellow of ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy. His book,The Atlas of New Librarianship won the 2012 ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Award for the Best Book in Library Literature.

Chris Shaffer joined the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) as University Librarian, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Information Management, and Adjunct Professor, Department of Medicine, in August 2017. Previously, he was University Librarian and Associate Professor at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) for nine years. Chris is an active member of the Medical Library Association (MLA), a Distinguished Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP), and recently served as President of the Association of Academic Health Science Libraries (AAHSL). His other past positions include Assistant Director for Technology and Outreach at the University of Iowa Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, Technology Coordinator for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Greater Midwest Region, and Resident Librarian at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He holds a BA in Philosophy from Texas A&M University and an MS in Information Science from the University of North Texas.

Elaine L. Westbrooks has been Vice Provost for University Libraries and University Librarian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 2017. She leads a library system that includes 10 libraries; nearly 10 million volumes; 270 librarians, archivists and staff; and a budget of approximately $45 million.

Westbrooks has held library leadership positions at the University of Michigan, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the Cornell University. She began her career as a cataloger and digital research librarian at the University of Pittsburgh.

Westbrooks is a member of the Association of Research Libraries’ Scholars and Scholarship Committee and the Executive Committee and Governing Board of the Triangle Research Libraries Network. She serves on the boards of the Center for Open Science, Digital Public Library of America and the HathiTrust Digital Library.

She co-edited “Metadata in Practice” with Diane Hillmann (2004) and “Academic Library Management: Case Studies” with Tammy Nickelson Dearie and Michael Meth (2017). She is a frequent speaker on issues of open access, transforming the scholarly communications system and inclusion, diversity, equity and access in libraries and higher education. Westbrooks has a B.A in Linguistics and an M.L.I.S. from the University of Pittsburgh.

Bridgit McCafferty is the Dean of the University Library at Texas A&M University-Central Texas, and has led the library for nine years. Prior to this, she was in charge of reference and instruction services. She has taken on major administrative projects for her university, including recently chairing the SACSCOC Accreditation Reaffirmation Compliance Committee. She is the author of Library Management: A Practical Guide for Librarians and the coauthor of British Postmodernism: Strategies and Sources. She has also written several book chapters about library assessment and library support for nontraditional students.

Lisa Kallman Hopkins is an associate librarian at Texas A&M University-Central Texas in Killeen near Fort Hood. She is the head of Technical Services and assistant dean of University Library and serves as the university copyright specialist and one of the university copyeditors.

Panel 4

Panel 4: Bold Library Leadership

LaMoya N. Burks is a native of Texarkana, Texas. She has a Master’s of Science in Curriculum and Instruction from Texas A&M University – Texarkana (TAMUT). She also has a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science with Graduate Academic Certificates in Advanced Management in Library and Information Agencies, Data Analytics, and Digital Content Management. Currently, LaMoya Burks is a Doctoral Candidate at TAMUT. She is appointed as Library Commissioner for the City of Texarkana Texas. She has served on the YALSA Pura Belpre Task Force, Committee of Literacy, Research, and Legislation committees with the American Library Association. Her involvement with the Texas Library Association includes current Chair of Community and University Library Division, Bylaws, and has served Chair of District 5, one of 10 Districts in the state of Texas. She was selected in 2021 for the Tall Texans Leadership Institute. Additionally, she is serving the Bowie and Miller Counties Literacy Council Advisory Council and TAMUT Alumni Association. LaMoya works collaboratively with 104 library professionals to develop skill and research through the Harvard Library Institute at Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts. LaMoya Burks is employed with Texarkana College as Head Librarian/Adjunct Professor/Faculty Advisor as well as a Radio Talk show Host for KTOY 104.7 FM. She has recently been appointed Interim Executive Director of YALSA, a Division of the American Library Association.

Jonathan O. Cain currently serves as the Associate University Librarian, Research and Learning at Columbia University Libraries. In this role, Jonathan is entrusted with supporting the libraries’ strategic directions through providing leadership to the libraries research support and teaching support, digital scholarship, and access units at Columbia University Libraries.
Before joining Columbia University Libraries, Cain served as Interim Director of Digital Strategies and the Head, Data Services at the University of Oregon Libraries. Previously he served as the Government Information Librarian at the University of Oregon and as an Assistant Professor at Hunter College Libraries.
Jonathan’s library work has focused on providing access to digital education, educational technologies, and digital scholarship and scholarly communications. Outside of his work directly in libraries, Jonathan has lent his expertise to nonprofit organizations. He serves on the board of Code for Science and Society. Previously he served on the Board of Directors of the Oregon Black Pioneers. Cain holds an M.S.L.I.S. from Pratt Institute, an M.A. in Africana Studies from New York University, and a B.S. in Anthropology from the College of Charleston.

Hannah Rutledge is the Director of the Biotech Commons at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries in Philadelphia, PA. Originally from a small town in south Arkansas, she holds a PhD in Information Science and an MLIS from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, and a BA in Anthropology from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. Hannah’s career includes 15 years of experience in leadership across hospital, corporate, and academic library environments. She is an active member of the Medical Library Association, the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries, the Association of College and Research Libraries, and the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation. In addition to working with Maureen, LaMoya, and Jonathan in developing the theory of Bold Library Leadership, Hannah is also partnering with her mentor from Millsaps College, Dr. George Bey, to build a research library at the Kaxil Kiuic Biocultural Reserve in Yucatan, Mexico. Some of her ongoing research interests include the history and future of libraries; the history and social impact of medicine; information and emotion; leadership development and mentorship; and diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, justice, and anti-racism in all areas of life.

Maureen Sullivan is a widely-recognized leader and educator in the library profession. Her career has included positions as the human resources administrator at two major research libraries, the University of Maryland and Yale University; a consultant and trainer with the Association of Research Libraries. She has served as a consultant to numerous academic and public libraries on the development of their strategic plans and their programs to redesign work and create organizational cultures in which equity, diversity and inclusion are core values. Among the libraries with which she has worked are the National Library of Medicine, The Countway Library of Medicine, the University of California, San Francisco Library, and the University of Massachusetts Medical Center Library. She has designed and led numerous leadership development programs, including the American Library Association’s Leading to the Future Institute and the Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Maureen served as the 2012-2013 president of the American Library Association.

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