Meeting with Public Health Librarian

Yesterday, August 6, I met with Matt who is the public health librarian. He had never thought about becoming a librarian for public health, he instead studied English Language at James Madison College in Virginia. His friend had inspired him where he was working in a library to become a librarian. He then decided to go the University of Illinois to receive a degree as a public health librarian. The important things that he does are helping people find information that they need, making sure that they need it and when they it. The challenging thing that his does in his job is never having enough money to go through the evaluation of what resources are to be received. He communicates with people through email, Facebook, Twitter, going to different places, and attending student orientations. In the students orientations he talks about the information that the public health library offers, and the availability of the resources.

A typical day for him is checking his email, dealing with people's problems through email, and meeting with medical students. He says that a key trait that one needs for his job is being curious about things. Some things that are necessary to keep him happy in his job are getting paid, having fun, and enjoyable colleagues. He is also working on a special project that let students, who perform certain requirements, be paid to the Public Health Association meeting. He says that it is an educational experience for them. His job has allowed him to travel around the country such as San Diego, Orlando, and Columbia where he trained people. The achievements his most proud of are making tough decisions and making them happen. Matt has been in this job for 11 years and hopes that he is still having fun in the future.

Meeting with Library Director(continue August 5, 2009)

After meeting with Denise I met Kenny, who is the library director and deals with public relations. She works to encourage her staff, and makes sure that they have enough funds. She went to Southerner Connecticut and Albertus Magnus College to get her degree in public relations. She also has a bachelors degree in history. Important things about her in her job is being a good listener, letting people to disagree with her, and recognizing people. She likes to see her staff happy and feel a satisfaction in what she does. Kenny mentioned to me that liking to work with people, listening to others, being a team player, having good communication skills including having good technical skills are important traits that one needs in her job.

Her typical day involves getting to work early, and going to meetings which could be faculty, university, or alumni affairs. Also she says that her favorite thing so far has been working on a project called MERCY which focuses on how to spend the collection budget and how people use the collection. She communicates with the users of the library by getting to know them, speaking with surgeons, and the Liaisons. She is currently working on planning a retreat for the historical library, looking at spaces in library, and is also thinking of creating a swipe system. Her proud achievements are hiring good people to work for the library, and the endowment for the historical library. Kenny has been in this career for 30 years and still loves the job, the people as well as the environment.

Meeting with Liaison Librarian

Yesterday, August 5, I met with Denise who is Liaison to the anesthesiology and cancer center. She connects with the faculty, promotes and markets the use of resources and new resources. She makes people know what tools they have to use, and by creating an online site she lets people use easier ways to locate the resources. The most challenging thing about her job is finding new ways to help other Liaisons within limited time. She also works with Holly who is a Liaison to the OBGYN department. They both work to find new resources for their departments. Denise had majored and had a Phd in American History because she had wanted to become a historian. However she didn't feel that it was her calling. She then applied for an internship at the catalog at the University of Massachusetts and received her librarianship degree at Southern Connecticut.

She downloads resources, searches through datalike tools to store resources, and visit operating rooms to speak with surgeons. Her memorable experiences include having worked with surgeons in the ER, attending a anthesisologist meeting, and telecommunicating. I asked her about her experience in Japan having been spoken by Charlie. She bascially said that she gets to go because of her husband's job and it is only temporal. She is still able to work through skype. She is currently working with a group of people to redo the library website. Everyday is different for her but what is necessary to keep her happy is learning new things, her colleagues, and the supervisors who support her. She still will like to be in the library in the next 5 to 10 years.

Meeting with Human Resource Administrator(continue August 4, 2009)

So after getting to know more about Charlie, I met Diane Turner, who is the human resource administrator of all libraries. She is responsible for hiring staff, how the staff gets paid, and recruiting new employees. Also she makes decisions about human policies, trains and coaches the staff. She went State University in Albany, New York to get her degree. No two days are the same for her because she goes to a lot of meetings, catches up on her emails, and has the opportunity to meet different people, though she wishes that she had more time in the day. In the 32 years of her career, her memorable experiences are doing outstanding work, making new discoveries, and seeing people overcome their frustrations. She currently is working on getting agencies in need and taking in new students. Her job has allowed her to travel around the world like South Africa, Togo, South America, and California. She says that the achievement that she is most proud of is her children and "having the voice to do the right thing". In the next 5 years she sees herself telecommuting and tele-conferencing but still hopes to have fun in her job.

Getting to know more about Charlie(continue August 4, 2009)

After my meeting with Judy and Lynn, I had the chance to know more about Charlie Greenberg. He is a Liaison for surgery and emergency medicine as well as coordinator of curriculum and research support. For the past 11 years in the medical library he has managed the information desk as well as the chili program. By communicating with people through email, telephone, appointments, etc he understands what the users of the library likes and dislikes, therefore thinking about new ways to improve the resources. He also teaches people how to use tools in the computer like Refworks. He finds ways to his relationship with the users of the library.

As a teenager he hadn't considered becoming a medical librarian though he spent his time reading and studying in the library. In 1981, he was offered an interview by the public library in Rocklyn, New York. There he taught people how to use the pc Apple computer. He had been hired to work for the Law school Library where he videotaped graduations and was a reference librarian for 2 years. After 4 years he got bored of the job and discovered that he didn't need a medical degree in order to become medical librarian and switch to the medical library in 1989.

He is working on an electronic way in which Yale students can put their thesis on line, and on the Yale Research Institution website. Also he is part of the International Librarian Leadership program, which focuses on helping librarians serve their doctors, and hosts librarians from around the world. A memorable experience was when he presented in front of a group of surgeons which he says was interesting to do. Librarianship has enabled him to travel around the world like Australia, Germany, Scotland, Sweden and Armenia. You can find out more about his experience in Armenia at http://ysmuvisit.blogspot.com/. He also hopes to travel to South Africa. According to him one of the most challenging thing is making people feel more comfortable using technology. Overall, Charlie loves his job because he likes his hours, the ability to create new projects, the environment and his colleagues.

Meeting with Curriculum Support Librarian (continue August 4, 2009)

I also met with Judy who is a Curriculum Support Librarian in the medical library. She is Liaison to the Basic Science Department of the school of medicine. Sometimes she works at the information desk. Also she attends meetings, respond to technical problems, and is working on organizing orientations and schedule for the new medical students. Her meetings have allowed her to travel around the country such as Utah, Denver, Vancover, and Dallas. During the meetings, discussions are about networking and new things. When she was my age she didn't know what career she wanted to follow. She had a bachalor degree in English but got a librarianship degree from Southern Connecticut. She loves being a medical librarian because she enjoys working with her collegues, learning new things all the time, and interacting with the medical students. She has been in this job for 14 years and isn't ready to retire. What keeps her happy is her interactions with people and being recognized for her efforts.

Meeting with Library Publicity( August 4, 2009)

Yesterday I met with Lynn who does marketing, promoting, and publicity. She keeps people aware of what is going on by scheduling events for people to visit the library and making annoucements which appear on the Yale website . She is also a Liaison for pedriatrics and dermatology. Her activities varies from day to day. She doesn't spend the day sitting at the desk all day. For instance she attends meetings and goes to the hospital. She received her library degree at Southern Connecticut. She also has a Phd in anthropology, humanities and technical services. Actually she had wanted to become a teacher but there wasn't enough jobs at the time. It was in 1979 that she had gone to the medical library and discovered that there was a job opening. She has ever since been in the medical library for 30 years. What keeps her happy in her job is the people she works with, the support that she receives from her collegues, and the physical environment. One of her memorable experiences was when the medical library was opened after it was rennovated. She is working on supplying articles to nurses and on creating resources for the consumer health website for the public.