Meet 2023 WHSLA Board Member Hayley Severson

This blog post is the first in a series featuring members of the 2023 WHSLA Executive Board. 

First off, let's get to know Hayley Severson, Clinical Services Librarian at MCW and Children's Wisconsin. Hayley will be serving as a Member-At-Large for a two-year term.  

 

My name is Hayley Severson, I am the Clinical Services Librarian for the Medical College of Wisconsin and Children’s Wisconsin – a position I have only held since December 15th! Before now, I was a Reference Librarian with MCW since December 2021 and I was an academic librarian the UW System previous to that. I am from La Crosse originally and have bounced from Minneapolis to Madison where I went to school, and now I live on the East Side of Milwaukee with my boyfriend Isaac where we go for runs on the Oak Leaf trail and make unwise dessert purchases from Peter Sciortino’s.

What are your hobbies? I enjoy going for long walks, short runs, trying new recipes, and waiting (in agony) for the Packers to win a Super Bowl.

What are you passionate about? Pretty lame, but I really love my job! I come from a liberal arts background, but my mom is a cancer registrar for Mayo Clinic La Crosse and I have spent years talking about cancer with her prior to even knowing medical librarianship was a thing. I get so excited to learn about new things in medicine, assist students and professionals with their own research, and ultimately in my new job I get to support clinicians with their patient care decision making. It’s insanely cool, and I love that I know words like “myxofibrosarcoma.”

 What skill would you most like to learn? Not necessarily a skill, but I’m always looking for opportunities to permanently place more factoids in my brain for Jeopardy! or trivia purposes. Did you know that the clavicle is the last bone in the body to complete its growth, and only seals at around age 25? #noknowledge #onlyfactoids
 
What is something that always makes you smile? Airplanes flying overhead, funky fruited sour beers, walking past a curious dog, colorful lights, approaching a city skyline, and that first day in March that cracks 40 degrees.