Submitted by Pam Rees, Chapter Council Representative
State Library of Iowa, Des Moines, IA
The 2010/11 MLA election is now under way. Official candidate information for the election is available on MLANET, including videos of presidential candidates Gerald (Jerry) Perry, AHIP, and Laurie Thompson, AHIP. An abridged form of the candidate information also appears in the November/December 2009 MLA News. Members with email addresses on file at MLA headquarters were sent an election email on November 4. The email voting process will run until 11:59 p.m. CST on December 8. Paper ballots are being sent to MLA members without email addresses. Those ballots must be mailed in the return envelope included in the mailing and postmarked by December 4, 2009. Please contact Evelyn Shaevel at MLA headquarters for more information.
Did you know that the MLA has many valuable online resources to help you in your professional career? Here are a couple of examples:
MLA Core Toolbox
The CORE Toolbox endeavors to make widely dispersed resources available in a single location. Its goal is to provide access to a collection of tools that you can use to continually learn, teach and sharpen your professional skills. There are topics on administration and management, collection development, education and instruction, and evidence-based medicine. Don't reinvent the wheel - explore solutions your colleagues have already created! To locate this toolbox, go to the MLA site. Click on Center of Research and Education in the top left corner. Then click on CORE Toolbox.
Advocacy Toolbox: A Practical Guide to Communicating Your Value
Here you will find information on communicating with administrators and users, compensation issues, copyright issues, and showcasing your library's services.
MLA's "Cut the Cord: Connecting to our Mobile Users" webcast is scheduled for November 18, 2009, 1:00-3:00 p.m. CST. The goal of this program is to familiarize information professionals with current and emerging mobile technologies, innovative initiatives using mobile devices, useful mobile software applications and funding options for projects using mobile devices. The Greater Midwest Region (GMR) of the NN/LM is again making this presentation free to designated sites within the GMR.
The following deadlines are approaching:
2010 EBSCO/MLA Annual Meeting Grant Applications Due December 1, 2009
The EBSCO/MLA Annual Meeting Grants, sponsored by EBSCO Information Services, enable MLA members to attend the association's annual meeting. Each year, grants of up to $1,000 for travel and meeting-related expenses are awarded to four librarians. To qualify applicants must have two to five years' experience in the profession at the time of the MLA 2010 conference. Contact Jury Chair Patricia Gallagher, AHIP, for more information.
MLA Scholarship Applications Due December 1, 2009
MLA is accepting applications for its annual scholarship. The award provides up to $5,000 to a student who shows excellence in scholarship and potential for accomplishment in health sciences librarianship. Details and the application form can be found on MLANET. Contact Jury Chair Victoria Pifalo for more information.
Apply Today for the David A. Kronick Traveling Fellowship
The Kronick Fellowship provides $2,000 to an experienced librarian to support travel and research promoting excellence in health sciences librarianship. The award covers expenses for travel to three or more medical libraries in the United States or Canada for the purpose of studying a specific aspect of health information management. Eligibility requirements and additional information are available on MLANET. www.mlanet.org/awards/grants/index.html?focus_20091015 The application deadline is December 1, 2009. Please contact Jury Chair Susan Steelman for more information.
The MLA Membership Committee has been highlighting some of the benefits of belonging to MLA. Think about travel! The MLA annual meeting and your MLA Chapter annual meeting are wonderful reasons to visit a new place. Vancouver, Canada, isn't on most vacation itineraries, but MLA held its annual meeting there in 2000. The cruise ships still bring memories. Chicago and Philadelphia are pretty regular meeting sites, but 2009 in Hawaii was exceptional! Phoenix in 2006 was another out-of-the-ordinary city, and San Diego in 2003 was beautiful but chillier than expected. As a member of MLA, you can look forward to Washington, D.C., in 2010, Minneapolis in 2011, Seattle (fresh salmon!) in 2012, and Baltimore in 2013. The latter will be a joint meeting with the International Congress on Medical Librarianship (ICML).
MLA is accepting ideas for exciting and innovative courses and symposia to offer at MLA 2011 in Minneapolis, MN. Suggestions must be submitted by Tuesday, December 15, 2009, for consideration by the MLA Continuing Education Committee (CEC) at its midwinter meeting in January 2010. More information and forms are available on MLANET.