MLA will no longer be offering hybrid conferences

The Medical Library Association (MLA) recently announced in MLA Connect that it would no longer be offering hybrid options for its annual conference, and will move to an in-person-only format for their May 2027 meeting.

MLA identifies three reasons for discontinuing their hybrid meetings, which I've summarized below. If you would like to see MLA's statement, verbatim, please refer to the MLA Connect post.

• Member feedback and participation trends: MLA states that participation has steadily declined for their online conference option since 2023, noting declines in both registration counts and the number of online presenters. MLA also mentions they have received negative feedback relating to the online conference option, citing technical difficulties and access issues for attendees.

• Financial burden: MLA mentions the significant financial investment required to produce a high-quality, hybrid conference, and, what with the aforementioned decline in participation for the virtual conference option, investing in future hybrid conferences would be unsustainable.

• Purpose and benefits of in-person conferences: MLA states they already "provide a robust portfolio of virtual engagement options for members who cannot travel" via their "webinars, vConnections, virtual meetings, online learning opportunities, and recordings." MLA emphasizes the annual meeting serves a different purpose than these virtual offerings, in that it provides members the opportunity to "come together face-to-face to learn, collaborate, celebrate achievements, welcome new colleagues, strengthen professional relationships, and shape the future of the association. It is where hallway conversations spark new ideas, caucuses and chapters build momentum, exhibitors connect directly with attendees, and members experience the energy of being part of a vibrant professional community." MLA says that "by concentrating on one delivery model, MLA can ensure a more consistent and higher-quality conference experience for all attendees."

Despite the discontinuation of the online conference option, MLA states that "For MLA ’27 and beyond, recorded sessions and on-demand content will continue to provide opportunities for members to engage with educational content beyond the conference itself. This content will be available to purchase for a nominal fee."

As someone who has attended multiple virtual MLA conferences, I can understand the decline in participation over the years and poor feedback. From my own experience, the vast majority of online conference content seemed to be asynchronous; the conference site was buggy, frequently resulting in virtual attendees missing significant chunks of livestreamed sessions (not an insignificant loss, what with the dearth of synchronous sessions available to online attendees); and, even with these limitations, the registration fee for online attendance wasn't much cheaper than the in-person registration fee. 

Even so, I'm sad to see MLA do away with the online option. While it certainly had its limitations, the virtual option made the conference (including networking) accessible to a number of people unable to attend the in-person format, whether due to financial or personal hardship, institutional policies, or the simple inconvenience of having to spend a good chunk of time away from work and our families. 

As I already quoted from the MLA Connect post, "[The MLA conference] is the one time each year when members from across the profession come together face-to-face to learn, collaborate, celebrate achievements, welcome new colleagues, strengthen professional relationships, and shape the future of the association."

While I understand MLA's decision, it's upsetting to see members possibly excluded from this once-a-year opportunity. On the plus side, there are still some great virtual conferences out there (the past virtual Midwest Chapter MLA Conferences I've attended have been exceptional; WHSLA has provided great virtual offerings for its members; and, for librarians supporting evidence syntheses, LESSS is always fantastic). 

What are your thoughts on MLA discontinuing its hybrid option? Or will you be attending MLA '27 in Denver? Let us know in the comments!

*Special thanks to Karen Hanus for recommending this topic for the blog!

MLA 27 Call for Papers and Immersion Sessions

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

The Medical Library Association (MLA) has opened its call for contributed papers and immersion sessions for the upcoming MLA '27 conference to be held in Denver, Colorado.

"Make your contribution and help shape the future of health information. Whether you have developed a successful program, conducted innovative research, implemented a new service, or want to facilitate a deep discussion on an emerging issue, submit a proposal on contributed content at MLA '27" -MLA

Below are the criteria for posters and immersion sessions, pasted directly from this MLA Connect post.

Contributed Papers

Contributed papers are 15-minute presentations that showcase innovative work, research, and practical applications in health information settings. Submissions may fall into one of two categories:

• Program Papers describe the creation, improvement, implementation, or evaluation of products, services, technologies, administrative practices, or programs developed by librarians and information professionals.
• Research Papers report on the design, execution, analysis, and findings of research projects.

Presenting a contributed paper is an excellent opportunity to share your work, gain presentation experience, receive valuable feedback, and build connections with colleagues across the profession.

Immersion Sessions

Immersion sessions are interactive, in-depth explorations of a single topic and are 75 minutes in length. These “deep dive” sessions can take many forms, including panel discussions, facilitated conversations, workshops, or other creative formats designed to actively engage participants.

The submission period for contributed papers and immersion sessions will be open until October 29, 2026. Additional information and a link to the submission form can be found in this MLA Connect post. 

Happy submitting! ☕

Check out two new Database Tips Blog posts: Scopus Brackets for Acronyms and Building a Database Creature!

 

A shameless plug to check out two new tips from MLA's User Experience (UX) Caucus' Database Tips blog (the second of which is by yours truly). 

Tip #69: Scopus Brackets for Acronyms

• “Consider using curly brackets around acronyms when searching Scopus and be careful of three-letter acronyms in filenames lest they unwittingly become file extensions.”

Tip #70: Building a (Database) Creature with the Best Features: An Unscientific Report

• “On June 16th, 2026, the Medical Library Association User Experience Caucus hosted the networking event, ‘Building a (Database) Creature with the Best Features’, at the Library Evidence Synthesis Services Symposium. During this event, more than sixty evidence synthesis librarians across disciplines assembled in an unscientific effort to cobble together their dream database platform based on the ones they search every day.”

Happy searching! ☕

Blog post by Rita Mitchell! Moderating a table discussion at MLA ’26

Hi, this is Rita Mitchell, librarian at Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee, WI and a recipient of a WHSLA professional development award. Back in September of 2025, I decided to reply to a call for volunteers for the MLA Living Book events organized by the MLA Community Building and Belonging Committee (CBB). I was interested in being a “book” for the live event being held at MLA ’26. The CBB committee was facing difficulties with having only 1 or 2 members able to attend the MLA ’26 conference in person, so fellow caucuses joined in to collaborate on a roundtable event. The Living Book event was not going to happen. The CBB committee decided to invite interested “books” who would be in Milwaukee at MLA ’26 to participate in the Storytelling Roundtable. This made the theme of the MLA ’26 Conference – Cultured Collaborations, very relevant. I volunteered, helped plan the details of the event, and participated as a moderator of a table.

Here is the description:

The Community Building and Belonging Committee along with Accessibility and Disability and Social Justice and Health Disparities Caucuses invite you to join us in sharing our stories of resilience, change, and confusion due to recent changes in our country and professional community. The hope is not only to have space for catharsis, but to share strategies for problem solving, working around, working through and resisting. An additional aim is to widen, strengthen or establish a network of support for members facing issues related to identity, community building, belonging, social justice, and/or accessibility.

Roundtables will have moderators to help guide conversation, some with defined topics for those that wish to focus on a particular issue, but others that are open for more mixed conversations. We will have a Padlet as a mechanism for recording discussions/reporting back which allows for both named and anonymous participation.

I was the moderator for one of the tables at the event: Later in Life Disabilities: Adapting to a disability later in life presents unique challenges. Join the conversation on how to manage this transition and provide meaningful support to others.

This allowed me a space to talk about my recently acquired disabilities – I suffered a Subdural Hematoma, a traumatic brain injury, in June of 2020. I spent June and July in the Neuro ICU and then went to a rehabilitation facility specifically for head injury patients. I didn’t return home until December and returned to work part time in January of 2021. I received exceptional support from my director, manager and teammates during my hospitalization/rehab and after my return to home and work. I thought sharing what this entailed might be helpful to others. What do you do when you or someone you work with “get hit by a bus”? Pardon the expression, but this is what we would say at a former job I had – be ready or have your job documented in case someone needs to take over when you “get hit by a bus”. Well, I did get “hit by a bus”, but I had the support of my colleagues and my family to pull me through.

I had a very engaging conversation at my “Later in Life Disabilities” table, and I hope I shared some pearls of wisdom with the participants.

Some pearls of wisdom for the manager/director of someone with a later-in-life disability:

• Be present for their family if it is welcomed – my husband appreciated the calls from my director about insurance and medical leave tasks that needed to be completed while I was in the hospital.

• Manage the person’s work email – I was gone for 7 months and having my important emails addressed and the “not so important” emails put in a folder was extremely helpful. Bonus – we didn’t lose any patrons or service requests because I was absent and couldn’t respond to an email.

• Accommodations/work restrictions – these are very important to have in place. Managers should be able to help direct the employee to the correct forms or HR contacts to have these in place.

Pearls for those living with a later-in-life disability:

• Life is too short to be miserable at work – find your support network, reach out and find those who have similar challenges or experiences.

• Ask for help when you need it and give yourself grace (Giving yourself grace means cutting yourself some slack. It’s about letting go of perfection, dropping the harsh inner critic, and allowing yourself to be human. Treat yourself with the same kindness, patience, and understanding you would offer a good friend – from Jenna Overbaugh).

• Be honest – if you are having a bad day, let it be, and let your manager know. Open communication is key to your success and happiness at work.

Helping with the planning process allowed me to meet some fantastic MLA members from different locations and different types of libraries. I get very nervous about presenting or speaking with peers, but this experience of moderating “difficult conversations” has helped me gain some confidence and provided the conference speaking engagement I needed. My biggest takeaway was that MLA is an organization for the profession, but also for people. The MLA Community Building and Belonging Committee is there to support inclusivity, fairness and belonging within the organization, at all levels. A huge thank you to WHSLA for the financial support provided to attend the conference in Milwaukee, and to the MLA CBB committee for inviting me to be part of the Storytelling Roundtable.

Note: Posted on behalf of Rita Mitchell 🌟

WHSLA Lunch at MLA 26!

 Join us for a social lunch with WHSLA members during MLA in Milwaukee!

• When: Thursday, May 21st at 12:00 pm (CT)
• Where: 3rd Street Market Hall, 275 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI

Pick up your lunch and WHSLA will reimburse your receipt! See details on reimbursement below:

• Please email your receipt to Karen Hanus (Karen.Hanus@aah.org) by June 12, 2026 if you want to be reimbursed for your meal. Reimbursements can be made by check or Paypal.
• Reimbursement threshold is $35. Tips should not exceed 20% of the bill(s). Alcoholic beverages are not reimbursable expenses.
• Reimbursement applies for WHSLA members in good standing with a paid membership for 2026.

**Posted on behalf of Hayley Severson**

Vote in the 2026 MLA Election!

Image by WOKANDAPIX from Pixabay

If you're a member of the Medical Library Association (MLA), take care to cast your vote in the 2026 MLA Election! 

Positions on the ballot include: 

• President-Elect (1 position)
• Board of Directors (3 positions)
• Nominating Committee (9 positions)

You may also have access to personalized ballots based on your caucus memberships. 

You will need to be an active member of MLA and sign into MLANET in order to vote.

Happy voting!

Rescheduled: MLA Collection Development Caucus Forum- Open to Non-MLA Members

 

The Medical Library Association’s (MLA) Collection Development Caucus has rescheduled its forum on collection development policies. It is now scheduled for Thursday, March 12 at 10am (PT) / 1pm (ET). Please contact gaukh@vcu.edu for the Zoom link.

The session will start with brief presentations from librarians who will talk about how their collection development policies were developed, what their policies include, and some of the challenges they faced in developing them. We will hear from:

 

• Yumin Jiang, Collection Management Department Head, University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus (Collection Development Policy)
• Robyn Gleasner, Resource Management Librarian, University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center (Collection Development Manual)
• Liz Kellermeyer, Director of Library & Knowledge Services, National Jewish Health (Collection Development Policy)
• Ramune Kubilius, Collection Development / Special Projects Librarian, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Collections Philosophy)

 

Following the presentations, there will be time for Q&A and discussion. Kayce Gill, from Vanderbilt University and Chair-Elect of the Caucus, will facilitate the session.

 

Non-MLA members are welcome to attend and participate in the discussion. The session will not be recorded to encourage open conversation. 

 

See you there!

Call for questions: Navigating the ADA Title II Digital Accessibility Rule

The April 2026 compliance deadline is approaching. Is your library ready?

Join five MLA Caucuses (User Experience, Accessibility & Disability, Vision Science, Technical Services, and Technology in Education) for a 90-minute deep dive into the Department of Justice’s new rule impacting websites, LibGuides, databases, and instructional materials.

Event Details

 

Date: Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Time: 1:00 PM Central / 2:00 PM ET/ 12:00 pm MT/ 11:00 AM PT

Who can participate: Anyone! MLA membership not required

Platform: Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83051394100?pwd=JM4jFRGGBteWR7bB4BDVvrX0hJa1LN.1

We Want Your Questions!  Help our expert panel address your specific "on the ground" challenges—from legacy PDF remediation to vendor accountability. Questions will be anonymized and used to provide actionable, real-world solutions.

Submit Your Questions Here Deadline to submit: Thursday, February 12, 2026 (11:59 PM PST)

See the full text of this rule at ADA.gov: https://www.ada.gov/law-and-regs/regulations/title-ii-2010-regulations/ 

Note: The above text was written by the MLA Multi-Caucus Planning Committee (on behalf of the User Experience, Accessibility & Disability, Vision Science, Technical Services, and Technology in Education Caucuses)

The Hospital Library Caucus of MLA is updating its Resources for Hospital Librarians

 

The Hospital Library Caucus (HLC) of the Medical Library Association has released Version 2.0 of its LibGuide; a refreshed and expanded hub designed to support hospital librarians in their day-to-day work. Whether you’re managing a solo library, building clinical partnerships, or advocating for the value of library services, this updated guide offers streamlined access to essential tools, professional development resources, and support for demonstrating impact.

Read more in this recent MLA Connect article by Carlos Fernandez:

LibGuide 2.0: A Wickedly Good Resource for Hospital Librarians 

Hospital Library Caucus LibGuide Version 2.0: A Fresh Look at Resources for Hospital Librarians

It covers:

• What's New
• Why it Matters
• Who Should Use it 

Explore the updated Guide: Access Version 2.0.

The 2.0 site is still under construction, refer to Version 1.0.

MLA Award Nominations Due December 2nd

 

Image by Mimzy from Pixabay

For fellow MLA members, this year's MLA award nominations are due December 2nd, 2025. Nominate a colleague for one of the many MLA awards!

 The award categories include:

•  New to the profession
• Mid-career professionals
• Proven leader
• Organizational focus
• International focus
• Chapter & caucus
•  Lectureships

 Submit your nominations via MLA's Awards and Honors page. Note that you need to be signed into your MLA account in order to make a nomination. 

Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone has a great day!

Attend the MLA UX Caucus' FREE event: EBSCOhost Idea Exchange!

 Many (if not most) libraries have moved to the new EBSCOhost user interface. Now that you and your patrons are using it regularly for both novice and expert searching …

• Do you have questions about which features have vanished and which are just hiding from you
• Have you found solutions or workarounds for things you thought the new UI couldn’t do?
• Are you running into system errors or missing functionality?

All are welcome at the EBSCOhost Idea Exchange! Join this open forum to share your challenges and strategies. Help us compile a crowd-sourced resource matching problems to solutions, listing outstanding issues, and brainstorming enhancement requests.

Save the date: Wednesday, November 19, 2025, from 12:00 – 1:30 pm Central Time, hosted by the MLA User Experience (UX) Caucus. Zoom information is included below.

 

Topic: EBSCOhost Idea Exchange

Time: Nov 19, 2025 12:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88632776538?pwd=eDkb6o1M5MqsZnQMu5Losr30OkZ0OK.1

Meeting ID: 886 3277 6538

Passcode: uxc2025

Post by Jannette Bradley, Former Recipient of the WHSLA Professional Development Award!

 As a former recipient of the WHSLA Professional Development award, I am happy to acknowledge that I have completed the coursework for the Level Two Certificate in the Systematic Review Services Specialization. This specialization is sponsored by the Medical Library Association which seeks to enhance the expertise and skills of health information professionals. I used the award to fund the specialization courses. My journey, which began around 2019-2020, has been both challenging and rewarding. I have gained valuable insights into the librarian's role in systematic reviews and am excited to apply these principles when assisting my patrons.

When I started way back in the "olden times" of 2020s, it seemed there were somewhat limited resources available for librarians to enhance their skills in systematic reviews. The University of Michigan course and the course on designing search strategies offered by Washington University were among the primary options. Today, I am thrilled to see the growing number of educational opportunities in this field. This expansion allows librarians not only to strengthen their skill sets but also to elevate the quality of their contributions to research teams.

Through this coursework, I have sharpened my ability to draft complex and reproducible search strategies, an essential skill both for systematic reviews and for the wide range of literature review requests I receive day to day. I have also become more confident in clearly describing the systematic review process to researchers and students, helping them understand where a librarian’s expertise can make a measurable impact on the rigor and transparency of their review.

I am especially looking forward to using new tools in my daily work—not only for systematic reviews but also for narrative reviews, as well as for everyday research consultations. Some of the webinars I have attended during this training, for example, highlighted emerging AI-based tools designed to support various phases of the review process. Learning to critically evaluate these tools and integrate them into my workflows has given me a broader perspective on how librarians can enhance efficiency while maintaining quality and standards.

We are considering how AI tools might be thoughtfully integrated into our research workflows. Included among the courses on offer for this specialization was a session led by Gregory Laynor, “Communicating with Researchers about the Benefits and Risks of AI for Evidence Synthesis.” It was especially thought-provoking and offered useful perspectives for engaging with patrons and colleagues on this evolving topic.

Overall, this certification validates the progress I have made as a professional and represents my ongoing commitment to supporting evidence-based practice. It equips me with both foundational and advanced approaches that I will now apply in my institution when collaborating with patrons. I am grateful for the support of this award, which has allowed me to continue growing in this specialized area of medical librarianship.

MLA `26 Call for Proposals

 

The Medical Library Association (MLA) is now accepting submissions for contributed papers and immersion sessions to be presented at MLA ’26! 

• Round 1 submissions for contributed papers and immersion sessions are open through October 23, 2025.
• Round 2 submissions for lightning talks and posters will open on December 11, 2025.

Additional information and guidelines for submission can be found on the MLA `26 information page.

MLA `26 will be held this year in our very own Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from May 19th through the 22nd. According to the MLA `26 information page, "This year’s theme is Cultured Collaborations to highlight the transformational partnerships and evolutions of the health information sciences community."

Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone has a great False Fall! 😊 

Post by 2025 WHSLA Professional Development Grant Winner, Eileen Severson!

Guest post by WHSLA member, Eileen Severson

First, thank you for the boost of cash to attend MLA!  Here’s a bit about what I learned, and thought might be important for you all to know.

I took the CE entitled “Hospital Librarianship: Keeping Traditions and Bridging to Innovations: (Re)Vitalizing your Career and Your Library.”  The title of this course attracted me because there are times lately I’ve needed a bit of re-vitalizing around my career and library.  What I came away with the most was that I wasn’t alone.  I sat in a room of both exhausted but enthusiastic hospital librarians who shared their frustrations and problems as well as their successes.  We discussed creating a mission, vision and strategic plan for your library, and making sure they connected with the organization’s mission, vision, and strategic plan.   We brainstormed services and ways we could “get out of the library” and make our value known.  Some ideas were being on committees like continuing education, research, patient education, IRB, GME and grants.  Other ideas included attending grand rounds, morbidity and mortality conferences, and department meetings.  One of the librarians shared her email tag line that we all thought was spot on: “We use our expertise so you can focus on using yours”.  Through this course I met some creative and kind librarians with lots of ideas and feel more energized to try new things in my library.

I attended a variety of symposiums and poster presentations.  Some takeaways from these presentations:

• Take time to reflect on how you are hiring—is it inclusive? Where can you offer flexibility in the position description and job ad?  Do years of experience need to be in a library—what other experience does the candidate have?  Be more flexible in the interview—for example, give the candidate the questions before the interview, turn off the camera to give candidate time to think before answering a question.  Allow notes—this isn’t a test! 

•  Succession planning! This presentation hit home for me.  Basically, if you have someone retiring or moving to a different position—make sure to document, document, document all that they do.  The presenters suggested that the documents don’t have to be prescriptive but should describe the thought process when performing tasks.  They created flow-charts showing the thought process of several responsibilities of one of their retiring staff. 

•   How to highlight your library as a value driven partner: 
• Use data that means something to your leaders; align your data with organizational goals.   
• How much money does the library save?  How do we help meet strategic objectives of the organization?  What is the ROI of the library?
• Don’t just share the data, include narrative, stories.  Make sure to eliminate library jargon. 
• How do we provide a community benefit?
• Talk to people, attend events
• Connect work with incentives/reimbursement 

• AI is the new hottest topic—it was everywhere at MLA.  I have determined I need to learn more about it and our library needs to be a resource for understanding and teaching others about AI. 

I also networked with my fellow WHSLA Professional Development winner, Kathy Koch!!!

Before (left) and after (right) photos below: