Interview by Jason Young, MIDLINE editor
Genesis Medical Center, Davenport, IA
New Midwest MLA Chapter President Elaine Skopelja grew up in Highland, Indiana, which is about 30 miles from Chicago. She's the oldest of seven children as is her husband. They have three children: Brooke, Erin and Michael. Brooke is expecting a baby in April, and Elaine is excited to become a grandmother. "Completing the typical librarian trifecta, I like reading, cats and gardening," she says. Elaine received her MALS at Rosary College (now Dominican College) in River Forest, IL. She has worked at library positions in Illinois, Ohio and Indiana. Elaine is associate librarian at Ruth Lilly Medical Library at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. She also has worked as a selector for MedlinePlus since 1999.
I hear you have been a Jeopardy contestant. Please share about that experience.
I have always loved the game so I took the test when the Brain Bus was here in Indianapolis in 2004 and eventually got selected. I had a good time, but ended up playing the 43rd game dominated by Ken Jennings, the eventual $2M winner, and of course, I lost. I still hate the name "Ken."
What are your priorities as Midwest MLA president for the coming year?
I'd like to focus on the strengths of librarians as knowledge managers, organizers and creators. I think that it's interesting that the Special Libraries Association is going to vote on changing their name and focus soon. The name they have selected is the Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals (ASKPro), which is a mouthful. However, the idea is one that medical librarians might start thinking about. Learn more here.
What advice do you have for new librarians?
Be very flexible and be ready for change at all times. Always look for opportunities to make a good impression on decision-makers. Never miss a chance to teach medical professionals and administrators about what modern librarians can do and the complexities and expense of today's electronic information environment. How and when you do this is up to you and the limits of your job, but it can be done.
What's the techiest thing you own?
My cell phone, which is, according to my children, the Neanderthal version. I really focus technology-wise on what I need to use for work and what I absolutely need to know to not look like an idiot. Other than that I freely admit that I am not a techie.
In your opinion, what's the biggest challenge facing health sciences libraries today?
Changing times. We have profoundly changed how we do our jobs over the last ten years and we have adapted, but the outside world is still not aware of our capabilities. This discrepancy is causing havoc, especially in the hospital arena. We need to find our new niche(s) again in the information/knowledge world.
What is your greatest professional accomplishment?
I have worked in public, hospital and academic libraries and have hopefully been effective in each venue. Other than that, I don't have a greatest accomplishment (yet)!
What is your greatest personal accomplishment?
I am too young (youngish, anyway) to have a greatest personal accomplishment.
Will the physical library exist in 50 years?
It might be just the librarian's office, or it might be something like a combination of study areas and computer labs. It might not even be called a library. Maybe the word "library" will be used, as it often is now, for online libraries.
What was your first library job?
I worked in my high school library. The librarian was not fond of me because I could shelve and do other chores pretty fast and then I would goof around with my friends. When I asked her for a reference for library school, I thought her head would explode. But she signed it.
How did you become interested in librarianship?
I am one of those really annoying people who knew that I wanted to be a librarian since I was 12, mostly because I read everything I could get my hands on. I am happy that I loved working with computerized information and so gladly went along with the changes in the profession in the century or so since I started as a librarian.
Who are your heroes?
There are too many to list. However, they all share the characteristics of being kind and generous people who want to leave the world a better place than when they entered it.
What book(s) are you currently reading?
I read murder mysteries, biographies, history, natural history and popular science. I also like satirical fiction. I read about 2-3 books a week, and I am actually reading a few things for work on health information literacy.
If you weren't a librarian, what else can you imagine yourself doing?
Probably knowledge management or database management of some kind eventually.
Is there anything about you that others might be surprised to know?
I talk too much so everyone probably knows way more than they wanted to know about me!