NNLM Region 7 Presents: MLA Debrief for Hospital Librarians, June 6, 2025

NNLM Region 7 Presents: MLA Debrief for Hospital Librarians, June 6, 2025

For those of us who were not able to attend the MLA Conference in May, this was a welcome program hitting some of the highlights of interest to hospital librarians.

A few Hospital Librarians who presented at MLA 2025 presented again for this de-briefing.

Liz Kellermeyer presented Offline On Hand, describing an in print collection for emergencies or other situations when internet might not be available, such as ransomeware attacks, power outages, or even a vendor pulling content.  The collection includes directories, clinical guidelines, medical procedures, and drug info.  It doesn't circulate, and should be always available.  She also talked about

• Building the collection
• Funding the collection
• Usage stats
• Expect low circulation.  
• Focus is on readiness, not CPUs.  
• Success = availability in an emergency.

Carol Durst presented her poster entitled "MyChart: Hands On Help for Patients" in which she described her Library offering walk-in/onsite support for patients using the patient portal.  No virtual help.  She said it was more trouble-shooting than research.

Carissa Tomlinson of Allina Health presented Improving Patient Care while Telling Your Story.  

• How to get the word out about Library Services
• How to show impact
• Outreach & Marketing & Communication How & Why

The Allina Libraries are involved with 

• The New Nurse Residency Program
• Orientation for Internal Medicine Residents
• All Leader Orientation - This is a 20 week program; 1 week covers Library Services.
• Library Newsletter
• Leadership in the Literature is a monthly list of curated articles

At the point of need:

• Morning Report with Residents
• Dementia Care Work Group
• Nurse Leadership Practice Council
• Nurse EBP Council
• EBM Council
• Clinical Nurse Specialist Council

They are also integrated into other Department sites and newsletters when possible:

• Nursing Professional Development
• Dermatology Newsletter

Liz Kellermeyer (again) also talked about a Virtual Authors Talk program made available through The Library Speakers Consortium.  They make it look like your library is hosting the sessions, but the consortium does all the work.  

• Books / Topics are leadership-based.  
• Shared cost with Human Resources, as they see it as an employee engagement opportunity.
• Affordable.

Attendees mentioned a few other programs they thought were useful:

• Panel Discussion on Merging Libraries - Collection Development 

• AI Clauses in Resource Contracts
• What language to use
• What language to watch out for
• Expectations & Risks by Publishers