The past three months since my last report have been full of HSLI committee business. As conference planning chair, most of my time has gone into meeting planning. The committee has put together a great program and made extra efforts to reach out to non-HSLI members. We did attract some non-members this year, so please…
Overview of 2014 Illinois Legislation
During this year’s ILA conference, representatives of several statewide advocacy organizations, including the ILA’s Public Policy Committee, gave updates on pieces of legislation from the current Illinois General Assembly session that are especially relevant to libraries. The following bills, in particular, were of special concern to legislative advocates this year. House Bill 3793-This is a…
Hungry in Urbana-Champaign?
Urbana-Champaign is filled with unique and delightful restaurants. Nationally acclaimed Black Dog features some of the best BBQ in the USA. For authentic Thai cuisine try Siam Terrace in downtown Urbana.Located in the heart of campus, The Red Herring serves up vegetarian dishes. If you’re looking to unwind in a modern atmosphere with creative cocktails and dishes, locally owned Radio Maria is waiting…
Explore Urbana-Champaign
While in town for this year’s HSLI conference, be sure to check out unique Urbana-Champaign attractions. Of course, no trip would be complete without a quick stop at the Library of Health Sciences Urbana A satellite campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical School, LHSU is the number one stop for information by health professionals….
Overview of 2014 Advocacy Events
Here is an overview of recent and upcoming advocacy events at the state and federal levels. Illinois Legislative Meet-Ups-During February, meetings with legislators were held in four locations, including Lockport, Oak Brook, and Edwardsville. These meetings grew out of the annual Presidents’ Day breakfast, which is held in the northwestern suburbs. The meet-ups were intended…
Legislative Action Agenda
The Illinois Library Association has released its 2015 Action Agenda. The main items are library funding, intellectual freedom and privacy, access to library services, and increasing the effectiveness of Illinois libraries. Below are the specific goals for each item. (I’ve put in bold the items that will probably have the biggest impact on hospital and…
Interview with Stacey Knight-Davis in IACRL Newsletter
I also wanted to share my interview with HSLI President Stacey Knight-Davis that appeared in the Spring edition. (Again, sorry I’m sending this out just now.) Thanks, again, Stacey, for agreeing to be interviewed! Member Spotlight: Stacey Knight-Davis Why did you decide to become a librarian? I started volunteering at my local public library when…
Story on Open Access in IACRL Newsletter
Below is an article I wrote that appeared in the Spring edition of the IACRL Newsletter. The article covers open access, which continues to affect many aspects of librarianship, mainly because of librarians’ role in providing users with the tools for accessing scholarly articles, and also because of the increasing number of scholarly articles that…
LSTA Story in IACRL Newsletter
Below is an article I wrote for the Fall issue of the IACRL Newsletter, which was just released. The article covers LSTA, the Library Services and Technology Act. LSTA is the only federal legislation that focuses exclusively on libraries, making it a crucial source of funding, in addition to a barometer of the level of…
McGraw Hill offers discount for HSLI members
McGraw Hill is proud to be one of the world’s leading Medical Education publishers and take pride in supporting our local organizations. One way we would like to extend our support is by offering the following discounts to all HSLI members between now and December 15, 2014. We will offer a 10% discount to…