Interview by Jason Young
Genesis Medical Center, Davenport, IA
Carole Gilbert, the chapter's 2006 Distinguished Librarian of the Year, was born while her father was interning at Norwegian America Hospital. She notes that her mother's hospital stay of fourteen days cost $12.35 because her dad received a discount. Growing up in Toledo, Ohio, she was the eldest of three and the only girl. Both of her brothers are physicians.
She and husband Bill have three children and five grandchildren. She was a stay-at-home mom who worked at a number of jobs (alterations and repairs for a dry cleaner, making costumes for a local theater) until her son went to college. She worked in inventory control for a local lawn equipment dealer and went to Wayne State University's library school at night. She enjoys reading, quilting and high school football and spend lots of time going to her grandson's sporting events and at her cottage in northern Michigan. Over thirty years, she worked in three hospital libraries. Carole has served the chapter in many capacities, including parliamentarian, president and chapter council representative.
You're no longer working in a hospital library. What are you up to these days?
Last summer, I taught an acquisitions course to students in the library technician program at Oakland Community College. I loved teaching, and fortunately they have asked me to continue. Unfortunately, the class only meets once a year, from mid-May to mid-August, but I have also been asked to put the class online. That's a totally new thing for me. I have never even taken a class online. The Library Council would like the class to be as interactive as possible, so if anyone in the Midwest Chapter has done this I'd sure like some tips. I am still editing Journal of Hospital Librarianship and that takes a lot of my time, but it is exciting to note that we are just starting Volume 10.
How did you get interested in librarianship in the first place?
I sort of fell into it! My son was starting college and my youngest child was being bused to a new school due to the renovation of our local elementary school so she was gone all day, no longer coming home for lunch. The time was right and I knew I needed to go to work after being a stay-at-home mom. Talking with a friend (who happened to be a librarian at General Motors), I said I had no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, but I had promised an undergrad professor and my dad that I would someday get a master's. My friend said, "With your background, you should be a medical librarian." My response: "What's that?" But the rest is history. There was one semester that we had three of us in college!
How did you come to be editor of the Journal of Hospital Librarianship?
My journey as editor of Journal of Hospital Librarianship (JHL) really began when I was asked to be a hospital libraries column editor for Medical Reference Services Quarterly by Sandy Wood. We were on the MLA Board together and roomed together for board meetings, so we became good friends. Bill Cohen, owner and publisher of Haworth Press, decided that there should be a market for a journal for hospital librarians since there was nothing like that available. He asked Sandy to recommend someone to start a journal for hospital librarians, and I was it! I had no idea what I was getting into since I had done very little publishing let alone editing. But I'm always up for a challenge, so I agreed to do it.
How long does it take you to publish an issue start to finish?
JHL is a quarterly journal. It has an editorial board and a group of column editors. All of us look for articles all the time - at meetings, conferences, on MEDLIB-L, wherever we can find them. Feature articles come to me via email and once I receive them I send them to members of the editorial board for peer review. Columns are solicited by the column editors and reviewed by two reviewers. Feature articles are reviewed by at least two editors.
It is hard to put an actual time on the editing/submission process, but generally I get the articles 4 to 6 weeks before my deadline. During that time, I read and edit every article and put it in a holding file. About ten days before my deadline to the publisher, I start putting the articles and columns into CATS, the Taylor & Francis production department database. This usually takes a couple of days depending on whether or not I have all the material needed for submission, including copyright releases, mailing addresses, etc. So I guess the answer to the question is, after I submit the issue to the publisher I take a couple of weeks off and then start all over again!
In your opinion, what's the biggest challenge facing hospital libraries today?
MONEY! Hospital librarians need a lot of money to keep up with technology, and hospital administrators do not understand that. The medical staff understands - at least partially - but physicians no longer have the power they once had. I have seen first had what has happened when librarians and/or libraries are eliminated, and it isn't pretty!
What must hospital librarians do to stay vital?
I'm not sure I can answer that question. I believe that we just have to keep plugging along, keeping up to date and adapting as the health care environment changes. We need to be out there, teaching, being proactive, taking on new roles. But even that may not be enough. Administrators who are satisfied with what they can find on the Internet think that is enough for everyone. Perhaps it will take another "Hopkins affair" to open their eyes, but I'm not sure even a huge tragedy will be enough for some of us.
What will the hospital library look like in five years?
It will be interesting to see what the hospital library will look like in five years. I believe that some print materials will have to be maintained, at least for emergency situations where loss of power happens. But who knows? Maybe we will all be carrying Kindles or something similar at that point.
What is your greatest professional accomplishment?
I would like to believe that my contribution was the impact I had on the lives and training of more than 3,000 young doctors, nurses and allied health professionals in training as well as hundreds of other medical professionals. I know I helped save some lives over the thirty years I was a practicing hospital librarian, and that is intensely gratifying.
What is your greatest personal accomplishment?
My greatest personal accomplishment was rearing three wonderful, talented children, who have all become accomplished members of society and of their professions, and who have provided me with five grandchildren, all of whom are well on their way to being contributors to their own generation.
What was your first job in the libraries?
My first job was as the librarian at the Henry Ford Hospital School of Nursing Library. I loved working with the nursing students and with a great boss who let me "do my thing." But that's another story!
Who are your heroes?
I don't know if she would consider herself a hero, but the professor who taught the medical libraries curriculum at Wayne State University Library School certainly had an impact on the way I practiced. And my father, a family practice physician, and my mother (a pioneer who went to dental school in the early 1930s when women were not supposed to do such things), who encouraged me to try lots of new things and never told me I couldn't do something just because I was a girl.
What book(s) are you currently reading?
I have a huge collection of books on the Civil War that I promised myself I would read after I retired. I'm working my way through them. I also like historical novels (I majored in history in college), mysteries and books about quilts. Right now I am reading a novel about England in the 1100s. I don't read a lot of nonfiction, but occasionally something I hear about on the radio or television or see in the bookstore will strike my fancy and I'll read it. The last nonfiction book I read was about autism.
If you weren't a librarian, what else can you imagine yourself doing?
Interestingly, I started out as a junior high school teacher. Now, after fifty years, I am back teaching again and enjoying it. But being a hospital librarian was my dream job, and I miss it every day!
Is there anything that others might be surprised to know about you?
During World War II, my father was stationed in the Panama Canal Zone at the Albrook Field Medical Dispensary. After VE Day, we were allowed to join him and I celebrated my eighth birthday two days after arriving in Panama. I have always wanted to go back, so in February my husband and I are taking a cruise to Panama, where we will get to tour the city and go through the canal.