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Linkages to the Future: Stages and Strategies
Computer Programs in Biomedicine 8 (1984) 285-287 Elsevier
285
Report - 84th MLA
Meeting
Linkages to the Future: Stages and Strategies Denver, Colorado, May 25-31, 1984
The 84th Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association (MLA) in Denver, Colorado, May 25-31, 1984, attracted 1538 registrants, including 21 international visitors from 14 different countries, who gathered to attend sessions and courses and to visit 91 exhibits, as they explored the theme of the conference: 'Linkages to the Future: Stages and Strategies'. This theme was based on a report entitled 'AcademicInformationin the Health SciencesCenter: Roles for the Library in InformationManagement',by Nina W. Matheson [1983/84 MLA President] and John A.D. Cooper [1].
The MLA Board of Directors committed a major portion of its formal agenda to planning, and the Association Business Sessions in large part followed suit, with an open forum on strategic planning scheduled to share information on the ongoing professional development strategies. Part of the change in direction taken by the Association and so evident in the meeting is reflected in the wording of the new draft mission statement adopted by the Board. This new mission, which provides an added impetus to the strategic planning already in progress, reads: The Medical Library Association dedicates itself to excellence in health information services. The association fosters the professional growth of its members; sets standards of professional practice; promotes the provision of quality service; and provides leadership in solving problems of health information delivery. MLA works with other professionals and associations to ensure exellence in health through access to information. Frank Bradway Rogers, M.D., the 1984 John P. McGovern Award Lecturer, and former director of the National Library of Medicine, delivered the keynote speech, warning his listerners to beware, lest they be 'seduced into a secular millenialism'. President Nina W. Matheson addressed the as[1] Matheson, N.W. and Cooper, J.A.D., Academic Information in the Health Sciences Center: Roles for the Library in Information Management, Special Edition of Association of American Medical Colleges, J. Med. Educat. (Oct. 1982).
sembly at the first Business Session on Tuesday, May 29 on the topic of strategic planning amidst what Oppenheimer called 'the prevalence of newness'. Matheson's talk ended with challenges: to abandon old mindsets; to move from a concentration on the exchange of biomedical information to an intentional involvement in the advancement of science and medicine through the advancement of biomedical information. Matheson urged a further development of the conceptually integrated framework of achievement and recognition proposed by the Ad Hoc Committee on Professional Development, to develop a strong national organization, to develop new communication linkages with other professional organizations which share MLA's goals, to strengthen liasions with other scientific groups, and to make overtures toward new groups in order to be fortified with vision and knowledge. Her goal for the Association in the year 2000 was: that the MLA president will be invited as the keynote speaker for the AHA, AMA, AAMC, or the American Association of Health Centers, and receive that association's highest award in recognition of contributions to excellence in health through access to information. Executive Director Raymond A. Palmer's state of the association address on Tuesday morning with the MLA's budget deficit under control, headquarters being computerized, a conceptual framework for professional development, and the publication program at its zenith. MLA needs to question the definition of information, to entertain new concepts of the role of libraries in the management of information science, and to implement
286 the results of strategic planning. The Ad Hoc Committee on Professional Development's impact on the continuing education program was evident, in the 1984 curriculum, which showed evidence of MLA's expanding horizons and appealed to a wide audience, from entry level librarians to directors. The pre-conference continuing education courses attracted 740 registrants this year, 40% registered for the New Perspectives Seminar Series; 60% for MLA's Dimensions of Current Practice Series. Technology was stressed in many courses, but new roles for librarians were also explored. The star course was the New Perspectives course 'Health Care Systems - DRGs and Beyond', designed to review the political and economic evolution of the DRG-style reimbursement and the implications for all participants in the health care systems. Other popular courses included 'Information Management Software', 'The Basic Currency of Biotechnology-Biocatalysis', the first of a series of continuing education courses on biomedical topics, MLA's courses 'Media Services Management', 'Online Biochemical Searching in the Health Sciences' which were taught for the first time at an annual meeting, and 'Marketing Library Services.' The Continuing Education Committee's projections for 1985 include not only exposure to current developments in librarianships, but also a critical appraisal of the biomedical literature and an emphasis on specialty knowledge, of which the projected course on immunology is an example. The Committee has defined five curriculum areas in which courses on three levels will be taught. In order to present the full curriculum, 19 courses have been chosen for development over the next four years. The MLA Board accepted the following guidelines for policies and activities. (1) Standards for professional performance and career development shall be identified and developed within specialist groups of MLA instead of through centrally prescribed programs.
(2) Personal professional integrity and competence shall be promulgated by MLA through a Code of Ethics.
(3) Achievement of high professional development and competency shall be recognized by MLA through a comprehensive system of professional recognition. (4) Achievement of high professional development and competence shall be encouraged and promoted by MLA through a comprehensive program of publications, education, career services support, grants, scholarships and awards for initial and continuing professional education.
(5) MLA will seek a close interaction with a variety of professional schools and departments to ensure an adequate pool of entry-level and retrained personnel with appropriate skills and competencies. (6) All MLA programs and its organizational structure shall support its professional development principles. Topics of general sessions, courses and papers included: impact of technology on the work place; questions of access; electronic publishing; social and political ramifications of scientific information delivery; networking; and issues of interest to specialized groups. Lois Ann Colianni, Associate Director for Library Operations at the National Library of Medicine, named several programs which show that N L M is intentionally moving toward improved bibliographic access which will permit interface with numerous systems, improve access to materials in all formats, and develop standards for access to electronic publishing. Michael Annison, President of the Westrend Group, Denver Colorado, presented'Trends: Their Effect on Health and Medical Libraries, January 1, 1984'. Librarians must meet the needs of a decentralized society and local communities, place a value on their services, anticipate the transfor-
287 mation from an 'either/or society' to a 'multiple option society' and shift from hierarchies to networks. M. Roy Schwarz, Vice President of Medical Education at the AMA added that the Association of Medical Colleges recommends information management to be placed in the hands of libraries, which means increased responsibilities and opportunity for greater impact. The final speaker, Richard W. Boss, Senior Consultant Information Systems Consultants, Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, urged librarians to see the future in terms of complex mosaics. There will also be contraints: user networks, tradition-bound staff members, completion, perceptions of libraries, inadequate technology, and money. In order to cope with these constraints librarians should be familiar with all forms of information; oriented toward problem solving; and multidisciplinary. At the Honors and Awards Ceremony on Tuesday morning, the Marcia C. Noyes Award, was conferred upon Frederick Kilgour for his role in the development of online library systems; the Frank Bradway Rogers Information Advancement Award, sponsored by the Institute for Scientific Information, was awarded to Louise Darling for her contributions to the applications of technology in health sciences information retrieval. Alice D. Ball, James W. Barry, Frederick Kilgour, Miriam H. Libbey, and Priscilla M. Mayden were made lifetime fellows of MLA in recognition of
their advancement of the purposes of the Association, while Marjorie P. Wilson's contributions were recognized with lifetime honorary membership. Other awards conferred were the Ida and George Eliot Prize to Jana Bradley for her editorship of Hospital Library Management, the Murray Gottlieb Prize to Christopher Hoolihan for the best unpublished paper in the history of medicine by a librarian, and the Rittenhouse Award to Linda Boettcher, for the best student paper. Two scholarships were awarded, the MLA Minority Scholarship to Eric Brashley and the Cunningham International Fellowship to Lise Norregaard Christensen, of Aalborg, Denmark. P.S. Mahesh, the 1983/84 Cunningham Fellow was also recognized at the ceremony. The Janet Doe Lecture concluded the ceremony: Irwin Pizer presented 'Looking Backward 1984-1959: Twenty-five Years of Library Automation - A Personal View', a history of the efforts at developing a technology which could implement the visions of those librarians who had been able to imagine the future. Pizer had been asked to give the lecture in recognition of his early involvement in automation, including his work on the PHILSOM serials control system and the Suny Biomedical Communications System, which later evolved into BRS. President Phyllis Mirsky tied together the various themes of planning, imagination, and excellence which characterized the conference in her inaugural speech on Thursday morning. The Medical Library Association will continue define a role for its members through strategic planning.
285
Report - 84th MLA
Meeting
Linkages to the Future: Stages and Strategies Denver, Colorado, May 25-31, 1984
The 84th Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association (MLA) in Denver, Colorado, May 25-31, 1984, attracted 1538 registrants, including 21 international visitors from 14 different countries, who gathered to attend sessions and courses and to visit 91 exhibits, as they explored the theme of the conference: 'Linkages to the Future: Stages and Strategies'. This theme was based on a report entitled 'AcademicInformationin the Health SciencesCenter: Roles for the Library in InformationManagement',by Nina W. Matheson [1983/84 MLA President] and John A.D. Cooper [1].
The MLA Board of Directors committed a major portion of its formal agenda to planning, and the Association Business Sessions in large part followed suit, with an open forum on strategic planning scheduled to share information on the ongoing professional development strategies. Part of the change in direction taken by the Association and so evident in the meeting is reflected in the wording of the new draft mission statement adopted by the Board. This new mission, which provides an added impetus to the strategic planning already in progress, reads: The Medical Library Association dedicates itself to excellence in health information services. The association fosters the professional growth of its members; sets standards of professional practice; promotes the provision of quality service; and provides leadership in solving problems of health information delivery. MLA works with other professionals and associations to ensure exellence in health through access to information. Frank Bradway Rogers, M.D., the 1984 John P. McGovern Award Lecturer, and former director of the National Library of Medicine, delivered the keynote speech, warning his listerners to beware, lest they be 'seduced into a secular millenialism'. President Nina W. Matheson addressed the as[1] Matheson, N.W. and Cooper, J.A.D., Academic Information in the Health Sciences Center: Roles for the Library in Information Management, Special Edition of Association of American Medical Colleges, J. Med. Educat. (Oct. 1982).
sembly at the first Business Session on Tuesday, May 29 on the topic of strategic planning amidst what Oppenheimer called 'the prevalence of newness'. Matheson's talk ended with challenges: to abandon old mindsets; to move from a concentration on the exchange of biomedical information to an intentional involvement in the advancement of science and medicine through the advancement of biomedical information. Matheson urged a further development of the conceptually integrated framework of achievement and recognition proposed by the Ad Hoc Committee on Professional Development, to develop a strong national organization, to develop new communication linkages with other professional organizations which share MLA's goals, to strengthen liasions with other scientific groups, and to make overtures toward new groups in order to be fortified with vision and knowledge. Her goal for the Association in the year 2000 was: that the MLA president will be invited as the keynote speaker for the AHA, AMA, AAMC, or the American Association of Health Centers, and receive that association's highest award in recognition of contributions to excellence in health through access to information. Executive Director Raymond A. Palmer's state of the association address on Tuesday morning with the MLA's budget deficit under control, headquarters being computerized, a conceptual framework for professional development, and the publication program at its zenith. MLA needs to question the definition of information, to entertain new concepts of the role of libraries in the management of information science, and to implement
286 the results of strategic planning. The Ad Hoc Committee on Professional Development's impact on the continuing education program was evident, in the 1984 curriculum, which showed evidence of MLA's expanding horizons and appealed to a wide audience, from entry level librarians to directors. The pre-conference continuing education courses attracted 740 registrants this year, 40% registered for the New Perspectives Seminar Series; 60% for MLA's Dimensions of Current Practice Series. Technology was stressed in many courses, but new roles for librarians were also explored. The star course was the New Perspectives course 'Health Care Systems - DRGs and Beyond', designed to review the political and economic evolution of the DRG-style reimbursement and the implications for all participants in the health care systems. Other popular courses included 'Information Management Software', 'The Basic Currency of Biotechnology-Biocatalysis', the first of a series of continuing education courses on biomedical topics, MLA's courses 'Media Services Management', 'Online Biochemical Searching in the Health Sciences' which were taught for the first time at an annual meeting, and 'Marketing Library Services.' The Continuing Education Committee's projections for 1985 include not only exposure to current developments in librarianships, but also a critical appraisal of the biomedical literature and an emphasis on specialty knowledge, of which the projected course on immunology is an example. The Committee has defined five curriculum areas in which courses on three levels will be taught. In order to present the full curriculum, 19 courses have been chosen for development over the next four years. The MLA Board accepted the following guidelines for policies and activities. (1) Standards for professional performance and career development shall be identified and developed within specialist groups of MLA instead of through centrally prescribed programs.
(2) Personal professional integrity and competence shall be promulgated by MLA through a Code of Ethics.
(3) Achievement of high professional development and competency shall be recognized by MLA through a comprehensive system of professional recognition. (4) Achievement of high professional development and competence shall be encouraged and promoted by MLA through a comprehensive program of publications, education, career services support, grants, scholarships and awards for initial and continuing professional education.
(5) MLA will seek a close interaction with a variety of professional schools and departments to ensure an adequate pool of entry-level and retrained personnel with appropriate skills and competencies. (6) All MLA programs and its organizational structure shall support its professional development principles. Topics of general sessions, courses and papers included: impact of technology on the work place; questions of access; electronic publishing; social and political ramifications of scientific information delivery; networking; and issues of interest to specialized groups. Lois Ann Colianni, Associate Director for Library Operations at the National Library of Medicine, named several programs which show that N L M is intentionally moving toward improved bibliographic access which will permit interface with numerous systems, improve access to materials in all formats, and develop standards for access to electronic publishing. Michael Annison, President of the Westrend Group, Denver Colorado, presented'Trends: Their Effect on Health and Medical Libraries, January 1, 1984'. Librarians must meet the needs of a decentralized society and local communities, place a value on their services, anticipate the transfor-
287 mation from an 'either/or society' to a 'multiple option society' and shift from hierarchies to networks. M. Roy Schwarz, Vice President of Medical Education at the AMA added that the Association of Medical Colleges recommends information management to be placed in the hands of libraries, which means increased responsibilities and opportunity for greater impact. The final speaker, Richard W. Boss, Senior Consultant Information Systems Consultants, Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, urged librarians to see the future in terms of complex mosaics. There will also be contraints: user networks, tradition-bound staff members, completion, perceptions of libraries, inadequate technology, and money. In order to cope with these constraints librarians should be familiar with all forms of information; oriented toward problem solving; and multidisciplinary. At the Honors and Awards Ceremony on Tuesday morning, the Marcia C. Noyes Award, was conferred upon Frederick Kilgour for his role in the development of online library systems; the Frank Bradway Rogers Information Advancement Award, sponsored by the Institute for Scientific Information, was awarded to Louise Darling for her contributions to the applications of technology in health sciences information retrieval. Alice D. Ball, James W. Barry, Frederick Kilgour, Miriam H. Libbey, and Priscilla M. Mayden were made lifetime fellows of MLA in recognition of
their advancement of the purposes of the Association, while Marjorie P. Wilson's contributions were recognized with lifetime honorary membership. Other awards conferred were the Ida and George Eliot Prize to Jana Bradley for her editorship of Hospital Library Management, the Murray Gottlieb Prize to Christopher Hoolihan for the best unpublished paper in the history of medicine by a librarian, and the Rittenhouse Award to Linda Boettcher, for the best student paper. Two scholarships were awarded, the MLA Minority Scholarship to Eric Brashley and the Cunningham International Fellowship to Lise Norregaard Christensen, of Aalborg, Denmark. P.S. Mahesh, the 1983/84 Cunningham Fellow was also recognized at the ceremony. The Janet Doe Lecture concluded the ceremony: Irwin Pizer presented 'Looking Backward 1984-1959: Twenty-five Years of Library Automation - A Personal View', a history of the efforts at developing a technology which could implement the visions of those librarians who had been able to imagine the future. Pizer had been asked to give the lecture in recognition of his early involvement in automation, including his work on the PHILSOM serials control system and the Suny Biomedical Communications System, which later evolved into BRS. President Phyllis Mirsky tied together the various themes of planning, imagination, and excellence which characterized the conference in her inaugural speech on Thursday morning. The Medical Library Association will continue define a role for its members through strategic planning.