WHSLA 2024 Election - vote today

All WHSLA members in good standing are invited to vote in the 2024 WHSLA Election, which runs October 17-31, 2024. An election ballot link was sent to you this week. If you have not received one, please contact brenda dot fay at marquette dot edu. 

Two positions are being voted on: one 2025 President-Elect and two Members-At-Large 2025-2027. Winners will be announced at the Friday, November 8 Annual Business Meeting (1-2:30 pm via Microsoft Teams). 

Thank you to all candidates for volunteering to run.

Spring Board Meeting: Friday, March 8 from 1-2:30 pm (virtual)

All WHSLA Members are invited to the Spring 2024 Board Meeting to be held on Friday, March 8 from 1-2:30 pm via Microsoft Teams. While only Officers may vote, all are welcome to attend and participate in the meeting. 

Current Officers and Committee members have received their invitations. If you are part of the general membership and would like to attend, please email brenda dot fay at marquette dot edu. 

Serhio Magpie, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Meet 2023 WHSLA President Liz Witkowski

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

In this post, get to know WHSLA 2023 President, Liz Witkowski. 

Where is the coolest place you traveled? 

I recently went abroad with my husband to Italy. Our first there time for both of us! I think it is fascinating to experience culture from a place that has existed for thousands of years in the same space. The coolest thing we did on our trip was a tour of the Trevi Fountain. Obviously, the fountain itself is very beautiful and historically significant, but our tour included something a bit more interesting to me. We went under the fountain to the oldest known working Roman aqueduct. It was a “recent” archeological discovery from the 1990’s and wasn’t opened to the public until the mid 2000s. Seeing the construction up close and having a private guide (an enthusiastic teacher who did tours in her free time, she was a delight!) explain to us in detail the important features to look at as well as the other areas of interest including layers of medieval living spaces built on top of old roman homes. It was remarkable and easily the coolest thing I have experienced.

What is one thing that instantly makes your day better and aside from necessities, what one thing could you not go a day without? 

I am combining these two questions with one very simple answer: Coffee! I always enjoy a good cup of coffee, it makes my morning so much better, and I can’t imagine willingly forgoing it. Luckily, I am kept well in supply of good beans. Both my father-in-law and my mother’s partner are also coffee enthusiasts and love sending me new coffees to try. It’s special to be able to share something with both of them, and makes for good conversations.

What is something that always makes you smile?

I love seeing kids playing. It truly always makes me smile. They can be rowdy or quiet, in groups or alone, and it just makes me happy! It I visited the “Beyond Monet” exhibit this past fall, and one of the highlights was the projections of the lilypads onto the floors and ceilings. There were two small kiddos there who started hopping on them and ribbiting. So adorable! This is one of the reasons I sought to put up a little free library in front of my home, happy kids! (LFL currently on my front porch, in the works for warmer weather!)

What are you most looking forward to?

Right now, I am most looking forward to the Spring. I don’t love the short cold days, so Spring is always on my mind. Longer days, green grass, flowers, and sunshine. Yes please!! Only a few more months…

Meet 2023 WHSLA Board Member Claudia Noonan

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

Claudia Noonan, Reference Librarian at the George E. Magnin Medical Library at Marshfield Clinic Library, will be serving as a Member-At-Large for a two-year term. 

Brenda asked me to share a bit about myself as I will be a member-at-large in 2023, and I am newer to medical librarianship. I started my librarian career later than most. I had two young children by the time I pursued my Masters. Ask me sometime to tell the story of when my child got lost in the closed (and moving) stacks at the UWM Golda Meir library! I was a public librarian for the beginning of my career in a small suburban library and wore many hats that involved programming for children and adults. As Covid affected how we interacted with our patrons, I found that what I loved most about librarianship was the “helping people find the information they need or suggesting their next best reading choice.” That meant a career change that led to medical librarianship where I can assist in researching timely information for our doctors and nurses.

What inspires me at work? I love finding the right information that helps a doctor or nurse treat a patient, do a presentation, or support their research.

What is a challenge at work? A perpetual challenge in any librarian role is being visible to the wider organization. Promoting the library and our important role in support is a challenge.

What are my hobbies? I am learning how to create stained glass pieces. I have learned the mosaic and copper foil methods. I also love to read, of course!

What is one this that instantly makes your day better? That’s easy—Chocolate!

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.

Thank you to the 2022 WHSLA Board

As 2022 wraps up, please join me in thanking our 2022 WHSLA Board. As we all know, professional associations like ours run on volunteers and people willing to help out. 

I would be remiss if I didn't thank all our WHSLA members for playing a part in our association this year. Whether you read a blog post, attended a meeting, shared an update during a discussion, or networked with other WHSLA members, we appreciate you!  

2022 WHSLA Executive Board

President

Kathy Koch

President Elect

Liz Witkowski

Immediate Past President (ex-officio)

Ashley Zeidler

Secretary

Eileen Severson

Treasurer

Robert Koehler and Karen Hanus (Apprentice)

Members-At-Large (Two-year term, 2021-2022)

Brenda Fay

Dora Davis

2022 WHSLA Committees

Archives

Karen Hanus

Communications

Allan Barclay (List-serv)

Brenda Fay, Annie Lipski, Michele Matucheski (blog)

Jennifer Schram (WHSLA website)

GMR Health Science Librarian Focus Group

Dora Davis

Membership Coordinator

Jennifer Schram

Midwest Chapter/MLA Representative

Kathy Koch

Professional Development and MLA webinar coordinators

Dora Davis

Call for candidates for WHSLA election

From our current WHSLA President, Kathy Koch:

Are you interested in getting more involved with WHSLA in 2023? Looking for some AHIP points? Then nominate yourself for one of these open WHSLA board positions:

Member-at-large (2 positions)

An easy way to get involved with minimal time commitment! A great opportunity for new members or those looking for their first role with a professional association.

President-elect

Serve one year as president-elect, become president the next year, and finish up with 1 year as past-president.

Since we’re such a small group, we really depend on everyone getting involved and taking a turn on the Board. You can see lists of pastboard members on the WHSLA website. 

If you’re interesting in running or would like more info, email me at kathy dot koch at aah dot org (Annie's note: weirdly written out to foil bots from contacting our esteemed president via email).

WHSLA Election - Candidates for 2021 open board positions

WHSLA Members in good standing will be invited to vote on four open 2021 Board positions:

• One President-Elect
• One Secretary
• Two Board Members-at-Large

All members in good standing will receive an email the week of November 30 with their invitation to vote. 

Thank you to the following WHSLA members for volunteering to run as candidates!