Philadelphia is the chapter using WP for their website.  I think it works, but would like your thoughts.

kathy

NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program, 2008-2009

Call for Applications

The Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) is pleased to announce the 2008-2009 year of the leadership program jointly sponsored by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and AAHSL. The NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program is focused on preparing emerging leaders for the position of library director in academic health sciences libraries.

“This collaboration of NLM and AAHSL is of exceptional value for the next generation of directors, and the program has benefited both fellows and mentors,” said AAHSL president Linda Watson. “Our evaluation shows that it has contributed to the quality of leadership in the profession.”

Fellows will have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills in a variety of learning settings, including exposure to leadership in another environment. They will be paired with mentors who are academic health sciences library directors. In addition to the individual relationship with their mentors, fellows benefit from working collaboratively with other fellows and mentors. Experienced program faculty and mentors will provide content and facilitation for the cohort. The program takes advantage of flexible scheduling and an online learning community to minimize disruption to professional and personal schedules. The sponsors will provide financial support for up to five fellows and will underwrite travel and meeting expenses.

Thirty fellows have participated in the program since its inauguration in 2002. To date, seven former fellows have assumed director positions.

“The program helped sharpen my focus and convinced me that becoming a director was a worthwhile ambition,” noted Jett McCann, fellow, class of 2004-2005, and director at Georgetown University. “It exposed me to what a variety of directors actually do and how they work. The comradeship forged with my cohort colleagues continues; we are each others’ best critics, advisers, and champions.”

Jerry Perry, fellow, class of 2002-2003, and director at University of Colorado, said, “It provided an opportunity to reflect and put my career goals into perspective. The relationship and dialogue I established with my program mentor serve as an ongoing source of insight and discovery, and I’m certain it will make me a better director.”

Judith Robinson, mentor, class of 2007-2008, and assistant dean at Eastern Virginia, stated, “As a new mentor in the program, I was thrilled with the opportunity to work in such a collaborative environment with the fellows and other mentors. The experiences with external experts and the chance to work closely with my fellow resulted in one of my most rewarding years as a director.”

Program Overview

The one-year program design is multi-faceted: three in-person leadership institutes; attendance at an Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) annual meeting; a yearlong fellow/mentor relationship; Web-based courses and discussions on issues related to library leadership; and a two-week site visit to the mentor’s home library (in one or two-week segments).

The program is designed to:

• Introduce fellows to leadership theory and practical tools for implementing change at organizational and professional levels;
• Introduce fellows to critical issues facing academic health sciences libraries;
• Develop meaningful professional relationships between fellows and mentors that give fellows access to career guidance and support;
• Expose fellows to another academic health sciences library and its institutional leadership under the guidance of their mentors;
• Examine career development and provide models of directors to fellows;
• Create a cohort of leaders who will draw upon each other for support throughout their careers;
• Promote diversity in the leadership of the profession; and
• Offer recognition to emerging leaders and enhance the competitive standing of fellows as they pursue director positions.

Application

The NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program is currently accepting applications and nominations for the August 1, 2008, deadline for potential fellows and mentors for the 2008-2009 experience. Candidates for fellow should have a strong interest in pursuing a directorship in academic health sciences libraries, as well as a minimum of five years of department head level or higher responsibility, or equivalent experience, in an academic health sciences library, hospital library, or other library-related setting. Applications from qualified minority candidates are encouraged. Mentors should have at least five years’ experience as director of an academic health sciences library.

The program brochure, including information on program design, schedule, and application process, is available at http://aahsl.org/Applications_Awards_Scholarships/NLM_AAHSL2008-2009rev.pdf

For more information about the program, please contact Carolyn Lipscomb, Program Manager, AAHSL Future Leadership Committee, carolynlipscomb@cs.com.

Comments have been made that having to login with a password is keeping people from using the blog.  The original purpose behind setting up the blog was to provide a communication forum for members which could include non-work related items.  The hope was to build a community.  By having the blog accessible only to members and keeping posts out of the blogosphere, we thought folks might be more likely to share.

No sharing is happening.  We can limit who can post to members and remove the password requirement.  However, I’m not convinced that removing the password will have more people writing posts.  What will happen is that the blog will no longer be a member benefit .. since anyone would be able to read posts. 

We could “hide” the SurveyMonkey password behind a post that only members would read (like I’m doing with this message — by adding as the first line, only Board members will see this message).

Thoughts?

The password for SurveyMonkey has been changed.  Normally, we’d have done this 1 March – so this year there as been a long grace period to renew your membership!

The link for the password is in the upper left corner of the home page.

Let me know if you have any questions.

I’m on to week 2 of the MLA class — and we’re supposed to figure out the above questions.  So, I went surfing and found these pros/cons:

Blog pros:

• Easy to post information
• Chronological order
• Automatic RSS feed
• Comments can be attached to each post
• Only blog authors can edit the content of a post
• (mine): there is an archive and discussion can be limited to specific groups

Con – blogers blog, non-bloggers don’t.  It has been my experience with the PNC blog that few folks post … I’m also guessing that we’re so used to the hlib listserv, the transition to the blog just hasn’t happened.

Wiki:

• aim is creation of documents (individual pages as well as the entire wikiweb)
• Anyone anywhere can contribute
• True equalized collaboration (when accounts aren’t required)
• Can create any order/flow to the information (sometimes chronological order doesn’t work well for the type of content)

Cons:

• good comments can be edited maliciously, where to put stuff, passwords needed to edit.

So, is anyone using both for work purposes?  I know we’re making noises here about a wiki for some internal course collaboration.

Cheers.

I signed up for this course while I was in Seattle.  I figured my sister had Internet access, so I’d be able to start the course there.  LOL!  Not only did I find that a 7 week old baby precludes any chance of this, I rarely had time to even read and respond to email!.  Got back to Anchorage and then spend the last week on our 40th birthday party.  HSIS was begun as part of the Native Medical Center, had the collection moved to the university and the staff funded by the State Library, before all became part of the University in 1993.  Was lots of fun getting all the old pictures pulled together and on display, having an invited lunch for some key players, and then an “open house/birthday bash” last Friday.

 I’m just now starting on the MLA course.  So — to my question – is anyone else in the course?

I’m pleased to inform our Chapter that we have a representative on the Nominating Committee for MLA – our very own Michele Spatz! Michele informed us back in December that she had been elected. This is no small matter – they seek to elect people “…who have established national reputations.” Michele certainly fits that bill. In addition, she was elected as one of only a few representative from multiple Chapters. Way to go, Michele. We know you will represent the Pacific Northwest Chapter with pride!

The PNC Board, after receiving input from members, has agreed that we will allow PNC members to apply for Professional Development funds to supplement financial needs for attendance at the Joint Chapters meeting taking place in Las Vegas, NV February 6-9. For information about the conference, visit the web site: http://www.med.unr.edu/ncnmlg/index.htm

If you are interested in applying for this award, please fill out this application:

http://depts.washington.edu/pncmla/services/fund-application.pdf

Instead of sending it to Nanette Welton, please send it to our current Treasurer:

Judith Hayes, Medical Librarian
Tuality Healthcare
335 SE 8th Ave.
Hillsboro, OR 97123

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at: gmarie@u.washington.edu.

Thanks to all for your input!

One of our members is quite interested in attending the Joint Chapters meeting in Las Vegas – http://www.med.unr.edu/ncnmlg – and asked about applying for the PNC Professional Development award to help with the costs of attending. The award is intended to go toward PNC sponsored events or classes that have been developed by PNC members. However, since we are not having an annual conference this year, I would like to get your input about using some of the monies allocated for this award to help members attend the Joint Chapters meeting taking place in Las Vegas next month.

While this is not a sanctioned tri-chapter meeting, the planning committee for this conference is very concerned about low registration numbers and I know any of our members would be welcomed warmly. Please let me and your Board members know how you feel about the possibility of designating some of the Professional Development funds to support our members attending the Joint Chapters meeting this year. Thanks!

Gail Kouame
PNC/MLA Chair, 2008