Concurrent 5E: Chat with Librarians – The Sequel

Barbara A. Epstein, AHIP, is Director of the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Library System (HSLS), and Director of the Middle Atlantic Region of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine. Barbara serves as Chair of the Future Leadership Committee of the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL), and participated as a mentor in the NLM/AAHSL Fellowship Program in 2010-11. She recently completed a three-year term on the steering committee of the Group on Information Resources of the Association of American Medical Colleges. In the Medical Library Association, she currently serves on the Joint AAHSL/MLA Legislative Task Force, and chairs the Task Force for Advocating Scholarly Communication. Barbara is also co-principal investigator and project team member for a three-year grant for $991,311 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to develop an online post-master’s-degree certificate of advanced studies in health sciences librarianship. Prior to joining HSLS as Associate Director in 1995, she was Director of the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic Library in Pittsburgh. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and MSLS degree from Case Western Reserve University.

Cynthia K. Robinson is currently the Director of the George T. Harrell Health Science Library at Penn State University where she is responsible for the overall management and administration of the Library; an administrative role that requires a broad range of skill sets including innovative thinking, decision making, risk assessment, collaboration, and mentoring. In this role she has transitioned the library from print to electronic, oversaw a renovation of the library space, and completed a ground up reorganization. Prior to joining Penn State, she was the Director of the Jacobsen Library and Assistant Director for the Information Services Division at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison. While at the WNPRC she was the PI on a five year, $2.8 million, NIH P40 Resource Grant. She has been PI or Co-PI on 7 additional grants. Ms. Robinson has been the author or co-author of 9 publications, 4 presented papers, and 9 poster presentations. Previous positions include Associate Director of the Bio-Medical Library, University of Minnesota; Assistant Director for Collection Services, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia; and Head of Education, McGoogan Library of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center.

M.J. Tooey is Associate Vice President, Academic Affairs and Executive Director of the Health Sciences and Human Services Library at the University of Maryland where she has worked in various library positions since 1986. She is also the Director of the National Network of Libraries of Medicines Southeastern/Atlantic Regional Medical Library under contract with the National Library of Medicine at NIH. She received her MLS from the University of Pittsburgh in 1982 and her Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Clarion State University (formerly Clarion State College). Tooey served as president of the Medical Library Association (MLA) from 2005-2006 and was elected a Fellow of the association in 2009. She has also served on MLAs Board of Directors and as the Chair of the 2004 National Program Committee for the 2004 MLA Annual Meeting. In 1997 she received the MLA Estelle Brodman Award as Academic Medical Librarian of the Year. She has served as Chair of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Medical Library Association and has received the chapters Librarian of the Year and the Marge Abel Service Recognition Awards. She also chaired the Public Services Section of the Medical Library Association.

She is the 2011 recipient of Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Pittsburghs School of Information Sciences.

She recently completed her term as president of the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries, where she has also served as a Board member. Tooey has also served on the Board of Trustees for Lyrasis, the nations largest regional non-profit membership organization serving libraries. Additionally, she serves on the library advisory committees for FASEB and formerly served on the library advisory board for the New England Journal of Medicine. She is active in the University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions Council of Library Directors.

Tooey is the author or co-author of over 70 chapters, articles, presentations or posters.

Elizabeth Liz Lorbeer is the Library Director at Western Michigan University School of Medicine, the latest new medical school in the U.S. to be granted preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee of Medical Education. Lorbeers career spans nineteen years as a librarian and library administrator. She previously held positions at Boston University, Rush University Medical Center, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She holds masters degrees in library science and higher education administration and a bachelors degree in history. She is the principal investigator for three National Network of Libraries of Medicine Express Library Digitization Award grants and the recipient of the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries Leadership Scholarship. She speaks and publishes on topics such as digital scholarship, collection management, and publisher-vendor-library relationships. Liz also holds the rank of Associate Professor and teaches research literacy and scholarly communications. She consults regularly for publishers and vendors and is a distinguished member of The Academy of Health Information Professionals.

Judy Cohn is Associate Vice President for Scholarly Information/University Librarian at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). She holds appointments as an Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health in the UMDNJ – New Jersey Medical School and also as a Clinical Associate Professor of Community Health at the UMDNJ – New Jersey Dental School. J. Cohn served as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Virtual Academic Library Environment (VALE), a statewide consortium of New Jersey’s 52 academic libraries committed to inter-institutional connectivity and collaborative library projects. She also served as a mentor in the 2009-2010 National Library of Medicine/Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (NLM/AAHSL) Fellowship program. Other professional activities include roles in the Medical Library Association and the National Network of Libraries of Medicine – Middle Atlantic Region. Judy also served on the Scholarly Communications Committee of the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries.

Cynthia L. Henderson, MILS, AHIP is the Executive Director of the Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library at Howard University. Ms. Henderson is a Distinguished Member of the Medical Library Associations Academy of Health Information Professionals and has practiced Librarianship for 20 years. She received her Undergraduate Degree Cum Laude from Alcorn State University, and her Graduate Degree in Information and Library Studies from the University of Michigan. She has worked at a variety of institutions including: Iowa State University; Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science; the University of Illinois at Chicago; Samuel Merritt College (now Samuel Merritt University) and before coming to Howard University she was the Director of the Morehouse School of Medicine Library.

Laura Abate is the Electronic Resources and Instructional Librarian at the Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library, George Washington University. Ms. Abate has dual responsibilities in managing the Librarys database and e-text collections and in teaching on health information tools and systems. Ms. Abate coordinates online access to the Librarys online collections, and works to integrate and cross-link access to different types of online information tools. Ms. Abates primary teaching responsibilities include medical students for whom she designs and delivers instruction in the discovery, evaluation, and application of health sciences information, as well as undergraduate students. Ms. Abate has more than 15 years of experience in health sciences information, including nearly 10 years in managing online information tools. She began her career in research and reference and has collaborated extensively with faculty members in developing searches to support educational, human, and animal research projects. Her current work focuses on integrating information sources and services in the clinical environment, and in delivering information via mobile devices. She holds a certificate from the GWU Graduate School of Education and Human Developments Master Teacher Leadership Development Program.

Jean Shipman is Director, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library and the MidContinental Region and National Training Center of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine at the University of Utah. She served as president of the Medical Library Association for 2006-2007 and promoted health literacy as her primary presidential initiative. Jean graduated from CWRU and Gettysburg College. She has worked in academic health sciences libraries (Johns Hopkins University, University of Washington, VCU), a hospital library (Greater Baltimore Medical Center) and with the Southeastern/Atlantic NN/LM at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Her professional interests include: health literacy, library administration, scholarly communications, and innovation and LEAN principles.

Richard Huffine is a third-generation librarian and has been a practicing librarian in Washington, DC since 1996 when he relocated from Asheville, North Carolina. Richard moved to Washington, D.C., to take a position with a contractor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Richard spent nine years working on library and information projects for the U.S. EPA, rising to the position of National Program Manager for the EPA’s National Library Network. Richard is currently the Director of the Libraries Program for the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia. The U.S. Geological Survey operates five branch libraries in Reston, VA; Denver, CO; Flagstaff, AZ; Lafayette, LA; and Menlo Park, CA. Richard has been an active member of the Special Libraries Association since 2004 when he was the founding Chair of the Government Information Division. Richard served on SLA’s Public Policy Advisory Council from 2007 until 2010 when he was elected to the SLA Board of Directors. Richard has also been an active member of the American Library Association since his time as an MLIS student at the University of Norh Carolina – Greensboro. Richard is a member of the Government Documents Round Table, the Maps and Geography Round Table, and is a Past-President of the Federal and Armed Forces Round Table. Richard served on the ALA Subcommittee on Federal Libraries in 2006-2008 and currently serves as Chair of the Government Information Services Subcommittee of the ALA Committee on Legislation.