Health Literacy Month occurs every October and started in 1999. Health literacy broadly covers how well a person can locate and comprehend health information and how accessible a health-related organization makes information on programs and health.  In health sciences libraries, we know that health literacy is an important part of receiving effective care.  Let's work to increase health literacy this month (and every month!)

You can learn more about Health Literacy from the video below from the the United States Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and at HealthLiteracyMonth.org

- Courtney Pyche

October is National Medical Librarians Month! 

You know that medical librarians and health information professionals provide essential partnerships in healthcare excellence.  Help MLA spread the word and recognize the value and positive impact of having a medical library and librarians.

There are many ways to celebrate: 

Share your impact stories and inspire each other. (Stories will be reviewed by the MLA Connect editorial team).  Complete this form to share your story with your peers.

Download and share official posters and add banners to your email signature  here. 

Participate in professional and career development opportunities and resources for practicing medical librarians, recent graduates, nurses, and other health information professionals. Check out the full library of instructor-led courses, live webinars, and self-paced courses on MEDLIB-ED. 

Attend a free live webinar on October 18, 2023 from 1:00-2:30 p.m., central time on Piecing Together The Steps of a Systematic Review to the MLA Systematic Review Services Specialization.

For printable and electronic marketing materials, please visit www.mlanet.org/page/national-medical-librarians-month?source=5

​Collection Development, Assessment, and Licensing Librarian
 
The University of Miami (UM) Libraries seeks nominations and applications for a creative, innovative professional to serve as the Collection Development, Assessment, and Licensing Librarian (CDAL). Reporting to the Director of Interlibrary Loan (ILL), Electronic, and Technical Services of the Louis Calder Memorial Library on the University of Miami (UM) Medical Campus, the CDAL Librarian is responsible for identifying, evaluating, and licensing electronic and print resources for the Medical Library’s collection in support of the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, UHealth, and Jackson Health System (JHS) educational, research and clinical programs.  The CDAL Librarian will work within the Libraries Big Deal Taskforce on issues related to big deals, open access, open scholarship, and other relevant topics. Overall, the collections librarian plays a crucial role in ensuring that the medical library's collection meets the information needs of its users, supports research and education, and contributes to the advancement of medical knowledge and practice.
 
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES (Administrative 75%, Research 10% and Service 10%, Other 5%)
Administrative Duties

• Oversees all aspects of collection development and collection management for the Calder Library;
• Coordinates with library administration to allocate and manage collection funds;
• Analyzes collection growth, use, subscription costs and other resource-related expenditures to inform library administrative decisions regarding budget and collection strategies, and for internal and external reporting;
• Assesses the strength of library resources for external review of existing academic programs and new program proposals;
• Works with vendors and consortia to identify products, arrange trials, and negotiate licenses for resources;
• Develops and implements evidence-based collection assessment; establishes and uses policies and processes to analyze, acquire, and evaluate library collections that service the teaching and learning mission of the university and the medical campus community specifically;
• Works with colleagues across the Libraries and the academic community to build support for open access and demonstrate its impact on scholarship and the collections budget;
• Collaborates with other medical libraries and consortia to explore issues, challenges, and opportunities related to cooperatively developed and managed collections, and, where feasible, develop shared collections;
• Coordinates engagement and communication with vendors on behalf of Calder Library;
• Builds a strong network of peers at comparable institutions; and
• Engages with Medical Campus stakeholders to gauge resource needs and to increase awareness of available collections and services.

Research Duties

• Identifies and assesses best practices and emerging trends in collection development;
• Coordinates with Calder’s Learning, Research, and Clinical Information Services, and biomedical data librarians, technical services librarians, and staff to identify resources for research
• Uses metrics and other evaluation criteria to support data-driven collection decisions, and to implement practices and tools for increasing decision-making efficiency and accuracy; and
• Undertakes quantitative and qualitative analysis to better assess and improve collections in support of the University’s priorities.

Service

• Network, collaborate, and actively participate in local, regional, national, and international organizations focused on medical library collections and licensing;
• Represent the University of Miami Libraries in local, state-wide, regional, national, and international organizations as appropriate;
• Serve on/participate in University organizations, committees, task forces, and teams as appropriate; and
• Participate in and/or lead library-level committees, taskforces, and/or special projects 

Other Duties

• Additional duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS
 
Minimum

• Master’s degree from an ALA-accredited institution;
• Minimum five years of experience in an academic medical library, including some experience in collection development and maintenance, acquisitions or equivalent, vendor negotiations and licensing, and budgeting;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills;
• Ability to fulfill the scholarly and service expectations of a non-tenure track librarian faculty position, including participation on university committees, professional development, and professional organization service;
• Ability to work cooperatively and productively with others; and
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.​

Preferred

• Demonstrated leadership ability;
• Minimum three years administrative experience;
• Experience with short- and long-term collections’ planning and successfully setting priorities;
• Experience with and an understanding of assessment practices within academic libraries;
• Demonstrated experience managing projects and deadlines;
• Knowledge of major copyright issues as they relate to collection development;
• Demonstrated awareness of scholarly communication trends within higher education;
• Experience with Library Management Systems / Library Integrated Systems;
• Strong analytical skills; and
• Experience with data analysis and statistical programs, and the advanced data analysis features of Excel.

THE UNIVERSITY
The University of Miami (www.miami.edu) is one of the nation’s leading research universities in a community of extraordinary diversity and international vitality. The University is a privately supported, non-sectarian institution located in Coral Gables, Florida, on a 260-acre subtropical campus with operations at three additional locations throughout the greater Miami region: Medical campus (downtown Miami); Marine and Atmospheric Science campus (Virginia Key); and South Campus (Richmond Facility). The University comprises eleven degree-granting schools and colleges, including Architecture, Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Communication, Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine, Music, Nursing, and Marine and Atmospheric Science.
 
THE LIBRARY
The University of Miami Libraries (UML) rank among the top 50 research libraries in North America with a collection of over 4 million volumes and 123,652 current serial subscriptions. UML comprises six libraries across the University’s three campuses. UML locations on the Coral Gables campus include: the Otto G. Richter Library (the central, interdisciplinary library); the Paul Buisson Architecture Library; the Judi Prokop Newman Business Information Resource Center; and the Marta and Austin Weeks Music Library. The downtown Miami campus hosts the Louis Calder Memorial Library. The Virginia Key campus hosts the Rosenstiel Marine and Atmospheric Science Library. Libraries at the School of Law and the Department of Ophthalmology in the Medical School are administered independently. The University of Miami Libraries provide support and services for 11,307 undergraduates, 6,504 graduate students, and 16,846 full- and part-time faculty and staff. UML employs 103 professionals (including 70 librarian faculty), 78 support staff, and 90 student employees. UML is a member of and contributor to the Association of Research Libraries, Association of Southeast Research Libraries, Association of Academic Health Science Libraries, Council on Library and Information Resources, OCLC Research Library Partners, International Federation of Library Associations, Center for Research Libraries, International Association of University Libraries, Library Publishing Coalition, Digital Library Federation, Hathi Trust, Academic Preservation Trust, Consortium of Southern Biomedical Libraries, Florida Collaboration of Academic Libraries of Medicine, and Southeast Florida Library and Information Network. UML licenses electronic resources through the Northeast Research Libraries and Lyrasis consortia. UML is a member of the Rosemont Shared Print Alliance, Scholars Trust, and Florida Academic Repository (FLARE).
 
The Louis Calder Memorial Library is located on the UM medical campus near downtown Miami, approximately 8 miles from Coral Gables. Its staff of 22 primarily serves the Miller School of Medicine’s educational and biomedical research programs, and UM’s clinical enterprise, UHealth. Library services are also provided to the Medical School’s primary teaching hospital, which shares a campus with the Miller School. The Miller School of Medicine’s regional campus is in Boca Raton, Florida.
 
Salary and Benefits:
Compensation will be competitive and will be commensurate with the experience and qualifications of the person selected. The University of Miami offers a comprehensive benefits package including: 403b retirement plan; medical, dental, and vision benefits; life, disability, and long-term care insurance available; tuition remission; thirteen paid holidays; and twenty-two days annual vacation. Additional employment benefits available include credit union; Employee Assistance Program; bookstore and sporting event discounts; and optional fee-based membership in a state-of-the-art wellness center. Moving allowance is available. No state or local income taxes.
 
Applications:
Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Applications should be submitted here and must include a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, and the names of three references. The references will not be contacted before the appropriate time and after confirming with the applicant. Materials should be combined in one .pdf file and uploaded when prompted for one’s Resume/CV (5MB max).
 

Dear Readers,

September's Programming Spotlight features the University of Florida's Health Science Center Library's hosting of the National Library of Medicine's traveling exhibit, "This Lead Is Killing : A History of Citizens Fight Lead Poisoning in Their Communities", courtesy of Courtney Pyche, MS, AHIP. If you have a program or event that you would like to share with your colleagues, please submit the information to:  fhlsanews@gmail.com  

Q:  What motivated or inspired this project? 

A:  The UF Health Science Library has previously hosted exhibits from the National Library of Medicine. The goal of the exhibit is to highlight the power of citizen activism in support of public health and to raise awareness about the risk of lead in water. In this instance, our group, lead by Sarah Meyer and including Mary Edwards, Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig, and myself, was inspired to apply for a grant from the Network of the National Library of Medicine Region 2 to supplement and increase interest in the exhibit. With the help of our library's grants team and with the commitment of our partner organization the Alachua County Library District, we received over $6,000 to do so.  The exhibit arrived on August 28 and leaves us on October 5, 2023. It also has an online component that can be viewed on the National Library of Medicine's website.

Q: What additional events or programs did you host related to the exhibit?

​A:  In addition to the traveling exhibit, we've planned a host of other activities. The first is a screening of the NOVA documentary "Poisoned Water", an hour long documentary about the Flint water crisis. After the screening, we hosted a demonstration of how to test your pipes for lead using a citizen science method from Crowd the Tap.  Our archivist, Nina, guided us in creating a complementary in-house exhibit where we've written labels and gathered artifacts to tell the story of lead poisoning and environmental justice in our community. That exhibit will likely stay up through next spring. We've also got two reading groups planned. The first is for adults where we'll read "What the Eyes Don't See" by Dr. Hanna-Attisha with the other club being geared for teenagers in partnership with the Alachua County Library District where we will read "Poisoned Water" by Candy J. Cooper. We are also in the planning stages for a speaker panel on lead poisoning, especially in relation to pediatrics. You can keep up with our events using our LibGuide.

Q: What advice would you give to someone who may want to implement a similar program at their library?
As a newcomer to health sciences librarianship, my first advice is to learn from your peers and join teams. It has been such a pleasure to learn from colleagues on how to plan, market, and evaluate these events. Utilizing a regional grant is also a great idea. It has given me experience with the grant process on a smaller, less intimidating level. Finally, I recommend looking at the resources that are available to you. Do you have a supervisor who has done this before? What exhibit might your community be interested to learn about? Are there existing exhibit or grants teams in your organization to support you? I've found this experience incredibly helpful, and I think its something worthwhile for all health science libraries to engage in.
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