Professional Development Committee Annual Report - 2003-2004

Objectives:

To plan and implement one or more continuing education opportunities to the membership and interested nonmembers
To provide, when feasible, brown bag or “lunch ‘n learn” sessions prior to general membership meetings
To prepare a projected budget and submit an expense report for the 2003-2004 fiscal year
To work with the program committee chairperson and coordinate efforts to provide programs
Prepare an annual report
Submit relevant materials to the archives
Notify membership of appropriate timely information applicable to medical libraries

Committee Members:

Audrey Bondar, chair
Diane LeBar (2004)
Chris Hunt (2004)
Donna Marshall (2005)

Accomplishments:

Three continuing education opportunities were planned and implemented this year. They are as follows:

“Technology Planning for Libraries”

A four-hour course was held on Tuesday May 4,2004 at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn . Swets Information Services worked in conjunction with the committee to cosponsor the afternoon course. The speaker, Mr. Wallace McLendon from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , gave an informative presentation on planning for technology for the future for libraries to the 39 attendees. I feel that the increased number of attendees was due to the posting on MDMLG, MHSLA, the Michigan SLA and MICHLIB-L listserves and the topic which was not specific to medical libraries. A presentation was given by Swets Information Services informing us how they can better meet our subscription needs with an eye to the future. Working with Swets allowed us to provide the course along with a buffet lunch at a reasonable fee of $20.00. Overall, the feedback was very positive.

“What’s Up at NLM and Other Federal Agencies for the Health Science Librarians”

A four-hour course is being held in the morning at Wayne State University on June 15, 2004 . This course will focus on the latest updates at NLM and other resources from the NIH. Leslie Behm, training and reference technology librarian at Michigan State University , is the instructor. This course takes the place of the former “NLM update” courses that were held in the past. Cost: free.

“MeSH from the Ground Up”

This four-hour course is also being held at Wayne State University on June 15^th and being taught by Leslie Behm. It is a review of the structure of the trees, the hierarchy and a history of the terms. It is recommended for both new and experienced searchers. Cost: free.

Notes:

The courses offered are relevant to the needs of medical librarians today. The technology planning course was an abbreviated version of an eight-hour course held at MLA in May. I feel fortunate that we were able to offer this course prior to the annual national meeting. The opportunity to present continuing education courses for little or no cost is important to the membership since staffing constraints and funds for travel are restricted at many institutions. Support from Wayne State University and Swets Information Services is invaluable in allowing us to present these classes. Our thanks go out to Sandra Martin of WSU and Jane Potee from Swets.

Email registration for courses was a problem. Next year I will institute a change in the procedure for course registration to avoid this.

The program committee handled the brown bag or “lunch and learn” sessions this year. Our thanks to them for presenting these.

The committee members Chris Hunt, Donna Marshall and Diane LeBar were instrumental in bringing the courses to the members. I appreciate all their hard work.

I look forward to remaining as chairperson of this committee for next year. I hope we will be able to offer more relevant and timely courses which will be helpful for librarians in their everyday work.

Respectfully submitted,

Audrey Bondar
Professional Development Committee, Chair
June 2004