President's Message

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

 

 

 

January 17, 2020

Happy New Year!

  • The AAHSL Board will meet February 5-7, 2020, in San Antonio, TX. Committee and Task Force chairs are asked to turn in update reports to their Board Liaison for posting no later than Thursday, January 30th. If there are topics for discussion that may require extended agenda time, please let me know.

  • Congratulations to the new directors announced after our November Annual Meeting:

Nancy Allee, Taubman Health Sciences Library, University of Michigan
Kelly Thormodson, Harrell Health sciences Library, Penn State College of Medicine
Annie Thompson, Norris Medical Library, University of Southern California
Lisa Smith, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Library

  • After almost 10 years as Executive Director of AAHSL, Louise Miller will hand off executive duties to the newest addition to the SBI team, Shira Rosen. Louise has been promoted to Vice President of Executive Services at SBI Association Management and will be taking on more responsibilities with the company. Shira Rosen, MSW, will be the new Executive Director of AAHSL. We hope you had a chance to meet Shira at the November Annual Meeting. Shira comes to AAHSL with 20 years of experience in the non-profit sector ranging from an Executive Director, Program Director, and Development Director. She has served on three different association boards and has extensive experience with strategic planning, program management, board development, and event planning. Shira is thrilled to take on this role with AAHSL and is excited to get to know all of us. Louise will continue to support Shira in her new role and ensure there is a smooth transition.

  • A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by Pat Thibodeau to continue in her role as Program Director for the AAHSL Future Leadership Committee. Kathryn Deiss’ MOU as consultant in support of the NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program was also signed.

  • The AAHSL Board extended Steve Squires’ contract through March 2020 to complete the analysis of the 42nd edition of AAHSL statistics.

  • AAHSL joined MLA in submitting comments to the Draft NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing by the January 10th deadline.

Celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday on Monday, January 20, 2020.
Sandra Franklin 1/17/2020

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