President's Message

Sandra Franklin, MLS, AHIP, FMLA
AAHSL President
Director, Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library
Emory University

 

 

 

November 22, 2019

Greetings everyone!  It is my pleasure to serve as your AAHSL President for the coming year.  My thanks to Past President Judy Cohn for her outstanding leadership.  I look forward to working with Judy, the AAHSL Board, and AAHSL Staff in the coming months.

Annual Meeting Highlights – Phoenix, AZ on November 8, 2019

  • All information from annual meeting presenters is located on the website here.
  • Registration for the business meeting, Matheson Lecture, and education program was 127; participation in the committee and task force round robin sharing session was 76 with 10 chairs or their designees serving as speakers. 
  • Carla Pugh, MD, PhD delivered the Matheson Lecture “The Quantified MD Project: Precision Learning through Wearable Technology.”
  • Annie Weisman, PhD, MPH, LMT conducted the education program “Refilling your Cup,” encouraging self-care for resilience and to avoid burnout.
  • AAHSL membership is currently 182 institutions; several renewals are outstanding.
    • Retired Directors – 8
    • Interim/Acting Directors – 7
    • New Directors – 14
    • New AAHSL Members – 5

AAHSL President Judy Cohn recognized the 2019-2020 cohort of Fellows and Mentors. You can find them here. 

  • The AAHSL Future Leadership Committee, Program Director Pat Thibodeau, and Consultant Kathryn Deiss oversee the Fellows program. We thank Dr. Patty Brennan and NLM for continued financial support.  Two prior Fellows were appointed directors over the last year bringing the total number to 46 out of 87 Fellows (53%) in permanent director positions. A Fellow in the 2018-2019 cohort became director.
  • New for this meeting was a Code of Conduct written by the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee. It was approved by the AAHSL Board on September 30th. The code will go into full effect at the 2020 meeting. A sub-group of the Board and DEI Committee are developing the process to be used should an incident be reported.  At registration, all attendees were asked to sign an Event Code of Conduct in acknowledgement of its implementation for the 2019 Annual Meeting. 
  • Len Levin, a member of the DEI Committee, read the Land Acknowledgement statement written to honor the grounds and indigenous people associated with our Phoenix meeting. We recognize the land as an expression of gratitude and appreciation to those whose territory hosts our annual meeting and to honor the Indigenous People who have been living and working on the land from time immemorial.
  • The Nominating Committee presented the following slate of officers during the business meeting:
    • President-Elect: Chris Schaffer, UCSF
    • Board Secretary/Treasurer: Tania Bardyn, University of Washington
    • Member-at-Large: Kelly Gonzalez, University of Texas
    • Member-at-Large: Gabe Rios, Indiana University

There were no nominations from the floor and the vote was unanimous.

Submitted by the Nominating Committee

Rikke Ogawa, Dale Prince, and Sandra Franklin, Chair

  • Revised Committee and Task Force rosters are available here.
  • While in Phoenix, Board members had lunch with new Fellows and Mentors, and dinner with the new directors.  It was great to meet everyone.

AAHSL Board News

  • The AAHSL Board voted to renew association support for the MLA Research Training Institute scholarships.  AAHSL member institution applicants have been the beneficiaries of several scholarships, and there is an open call for applications by a January 2020 deadline.  Site link https://www.mlanet.org/p/cm/ld/fid=1333
  • Judy Cohn thanked the many members who took time to participate in Strategic Planning discussions at MLA and throughout the summer.  The Board will continue evaluating comments. We heard the need to focus on improved, consistent communication.
  • Speaking of communication, be sure to manage your email by making AAHSL an accepted contact.  Include the following:

For whatever reason, there is a gmail account with my name and the word president in the address.  This is SPAM, so do not respond.

  • Finally, the Cornerstone Award recipient this year was Past President Ruth Riley.  Judy Cohn presented the award and played Ruth’s recorded remarks during a lovely outdoor Networking Reception at the Arizona Health Sciences Library, Phoenix Biomedical Campus. Thank you to our host colleagues for an enjoyable evening.  Congratulations, Ruth! 

NOTE:  The 2nd deadline for completing statistics surveys is November 27, 2019.

That’s it for November.  More next month!

I wish you all a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday with family, friends, and furry companions.

Regards,

Sandra