African-American Medical Librarians Alliance

African-American Medical Librarians Alliance
Medical Library Association SIG

2003 Annual Meeting Minutes

DATE: Sunday, May 4, 2003
TIME: 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
LOCATION: Town and Country Resort and Convention Center, Regency Ballroom - Sheffield

I. Introductions

Members present introduced themselves to the group. An attendance sheet was circulated.

II. 2004 Meeting Venue

The group discussed meeting on a day other than appointed MLA SIG meeting time to capitalize on our time and allow more members to attend.

The group decided on a dinner meeting after the exhibits opening on Saturday
May 22, 2004 either at B Smiths or Sweet Georgia Browns. These locations will be contacted to see about their accommodations for groups.

III. Improved Communication Among the Group

Tracy asked the group for feedback on how to improve the webpage and the group communications.

Suggestions were to put information on the website -such as:

Individual member photo's with work location
Updated Contact List of Members
Linking photos to CV's
Expertise List (providing skills and expertise of members)
Mentor/Mentee list (Beverly Murphy and Brenda Green will work on this)
(Ros Lett will send a copy of the SLA list as a template)
(Tracy will create a template for this information and send it out to the group)
Bylaws were suggested for inclusion on the website
(Dorice will send an electronic copy to Tracy)
Provide orientation information for new members with links to special MLA and other information
Create a section identifying AHIP members

IV. MLA Committee Information

Beverly Murphy announced that the Oral History Committee needs representation. Contact Diane McKensie if interested. A digital archives is being created and people are being sought to interview.
Cassandra Allen and Tammy Mays were interested in this project.

V. MLA Website

It was announced that the MLA website will soon be free to Sections and SIGS for hosting of webpages. The webmaster monitor this situation to see when the SIG webpage can be added to the MLA site.

VI. Recruitment & Mentoring

Ros Lett will be the MLA Board liaison to the new recruitment committee.

Members discussed letting other AAMLA member know about mentoring opportunities.
It was noted that groups that now have formal mentoring programs are AAHSL and ARL. Information on these programs is included on their websites. (suggestion: link from AAMLA site to these sites)

The group suggested means for recruiting to the profession:

Train the trainer session (successful in New York)
Create classes to teach in your chapter
Skills development workshops
Participation in city-wide career fairs

VII. 2004 AAMLA Convener

A call was put out for anyone interested in being the 2004 convener of the SIG. No one displayed interest. This call will be posted on the website.

Erica Powell and Tammy Mays were suggested. Follow up is needed.

VIII. Special Recognitions

Cassandra recognized Steven Hill for the work he did planning the Tuesday program.

AAMLA is cosponsoring a program with NLM/SIS:
Sharing Our Success from Idea to Impact
Tuesday, 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Pacific Salon 6&7

IX. Alliance Discussion

Cassandra Allen recommended the AAMLA group work closer with the NMA. She asked if MLA has a representative to NMA and if not how is this facilitated. Ros Lett will check into this.

Suggestion that came out of the discussion:

Create liaison positions to regional NMA groups
Promote AAMLA in February during Black History Month
Publish in NMA publications
Cassandra will talk with the President of the NMA to suggest an alliance between the two groups

XII. Suggested Committees

Oral History of Black Medical Librarians in MLA
NMA-AAMLA Alliance
Recruitment & Mentoring
AHIP

The group discussed the need to capture the oral of history of Black Librarians in MLA. Members need to be solicited to work on this committee.

Cassandra Allen, Dorice, Ros Lett, and Dell volunteered to work on the NMA-AAMLA Alliance
Dorice stated that she had a draft plan that she would send to Cassandra by June 15.

AAMLA will be called upon by MLA to provide suggestions and assistance in recruiting minorities to the profession. These efforts need to be coordinated by a committee. No committee named.

AHIP mentoring is needed to help and encourage other members to obtain AHIP certification and to inform new members about the process. AHIP members will be posted on the website. Formalized buddy relationships need to be established.

X. Announcements

Beverly Murphy announced that she was looking for technology editors for the MLA News.

Michelle Orchillo an NLM Associate is working on a Medicine and Biomedicine African American Collection Database. She needs information on collections of materials that she can include in her database. If she can compile enough collection information she can possibly convince NLM to invest money in processing of some of the African American Medical collections that are not yet processed. Information about these collections will be put on the NLM website for public access and information when her project is completed.

Margaret Alexander gave her a contact person at Tuskegee who has historical medical collection information.
Ros Lett gave her contact information for Robert Copeland at Howard University who is working on a similar project.
Any other members with information contact: OchillM@nlm.nih.gov or 301-451-6873

XIII. 2004 Program Ideas

The group was asked for suggestions for Program ideas for 2004.

Suggestions include:

Competencies (skills, i.e.searching)
Cultural Competencies
Public Health Issues
Health Information Literacy

Tracy Allen and Ros Lett will attend the Program Planners Meeting on Wednesday May 7, 2003 to search out viable program partners for next year.

Co-sponsored Contributed Paper Session
Sunday, May 4th - 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Primary Sponsor: Leadership and Management Section
Secondary Sponsors: Collection Development, Hospital Libraries, and Technical Services Sections
and African American Medical Librarians Alliance SIG

TITLE: Building Castles in the Shifting Sand: Sculpting Partnerships and Alliances to Withstand the
Incoming Tide

Description: Two sessions on this theme will be offered. Each session is dedicated to Association of
Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) on its twenty-fifth anniversary.

Our world today demands cooperation on all levels. We find ourselves in all kinds of creative
arrangements to purchase and disseminate information. We form strong bonds and even sometimes
find ourselves with strange bedfellows, to further patient care, research, and medical education. We
forge coalitions of common interests and willingly share financial burdens, resources, and personnel.

You will hear ten outstanding papers of all kinds of creative partnerships and alliances.

Co-sponsored Contributed Paper Session
Monday, May 5th - 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Primary Sponsor: Hospital Libraries Section
Secondary Sponsors: Corporate Information Services, Health Association Libraries, Consumer
and Patient Health Information, Nursing and Allied Health Resources, and Chiropractic Libraries Sections and African American Medical Librarians Alliance SIG

TITLE: Up Periscope: Who's Watching Your Information?

Description: What is the outlook for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA),
consumer privacy, and confidentiality? Are our computer systems and insurance records secure? Can
ethnicity or health status information be used to prevent employment or diminish health care
opportunities? How do we cope with the murky waters of information overload and overlapping or
conflicting responsibilities to our profession and our clientele? Fishing for tips and solutions to similar
problems? Get a clear view above and below the surface of this "monster from the deep."

Co-sponsored Invited Speaker Session
Tuesday, May 6th - 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Primary Sponsor: Health Association Libraries Section
Secondary Sponsors: History of the Health Sciences Section and African American Medical
Librarians Alliance SIG

TITLE: Sharing Our Success: From Idea to Impact (NEW TITLE!)

Description: This program will focus on the impact of the National Library of Medicine's (NLM's)
Toxicology Information Outreach Panel (TIOP) program on the education of health and allied
health professionals at participating Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). In 1991,
NLM established the TIOP as a forum for the exchange of information regarding the use of NLM's
Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program databases. The TIOP program set
out to strengthen the capacity of HBCU to train students in the health professions in the use of
toxicological, environmental, occupational, and hazardous waste information. The nine member
schools of the original TIOP program reported on the tremendous impact that TIOP has had,
including increased graduate student enrollment, increased graduate degree programs such as
the master's in public health, increased ability to compete for federal grants, and more efficient
use of student time devoted to research. In some cases, this program provided the first computer
in the medical library that was available to faculty, staff, and students for individual online
searches.

For the program at MLA '03, two speakers will present different aspects of this endeavor. One from
NLM will discuss the background and objectives of the program, and one from Howard University
College of Medicine will talk about the impact of the program. If time allows, another member of
the panel will discuss a specific environmental outreach project located in a minority community.