The HSLS Staff News section includes recent HSLS conference presentations, publications, staff changes, staff promotions, degrees earned, etc.
News
Leslie Czechowski has been appointed to the position of HSLS assistant director for Collections and Technical Services. In this position, she has oversight of acquisitions, collection development, cataloging and serials management for all HSLS libraries. Czechowski has earned masters degrees from the University of Iowa and the University of Minnesota. She has worked at HSLS since August 2005, first as manuscripts librarian, then as collection librarian, and most recently as head of Collection Services.
Barbara Epstein, HSLS director, was appointed to the Ad Hoc Committee for Advocating Scholarly Communication of the Medical Library Association.
Carrie Iwema, information specialist in Molecular Biology, was elected to the University of Pittsburgh’s Faculty Senate Budget Policies Committee for a three-year term.
Sean King has been promoted to catalog specialist. He will perform Library of Congress/National Library of Medicine copy cataloging for new materials in all formats, with special emphasis on electronic resources. King began working in Falk Library in 1995.
John LaDue has been appointed as HSLS knowledge integration librarian. His responsibilities include planning and implementation of systems to improve information access for library users and/or streamline workflow for library staff. Specific responsibilities include development and management of Web programs, as well as database and Web server design and administration. LaDue has been at HSLS since 2005, first as a computer and media specialist and then as lead developer. He earned an MLIS degree from Pitt in April 2008.
The following presentation was awarded the MLA Research Award’s second place at the Medical Library Association’s Annual Conference this past May: Ahlam Saleh, reference librarian, “The Influence of an EBM Focused Morning Report on Resident Physician use of MEDLINE and UpToDate”. Co-authors were Nancy Tannery, associate director for User Services, Charlie Wessel, coordinator of Affiliated Hospital Services, Scott Herrle1, Bruce Lee1,2, Megan Cunnane1, Rosanne Granieri1, Elizabeth Weinstein3, and Raquel Buranosky1.
1 Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
2 Center for Research on Health Care, University of Pittsburgh
3 Section of Palliative Care and Medical Ethics, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
Mike Yaklich has been promoted to serials manager. His responsibilities include management of print and electronic journal subscriptions for all HSLS libraries. In this position, he processes orders and annual renewals for serials and other electronic resources, and works with serials vendors to resolve problems and billing errors. Yaklich will celebrate his 20th anniversary at Falk Library later this year.
Publications
Leslie Czechowski, assistant director for Collections and Technical Services, “Tales from the Shoulders of Giants: Collaborative Implementation of Encoded Archival Description at the University of Minnesota Libraries”, Journal of Archival Organization, 5(3): 9-29, 2007. Czechowski’s co-author was Lara Friedman-Shedlov, special projects archivist, Kautz Family YMCA Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries.
John Erlen, history of medicine librarian, published “Recent Dissertations in the History of Medicine” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 63(2): 289-94, 2008, “Recent Dissertations in the History of Medicine” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 63(3): 411-18, 2008, and “Recent Dissertations in (or near) the History of Technology” on the Web log SHOTnews.com, May 28, 2008.
Carrie Iwema, information specialist in Molecular Biology, “Faculty of 1000[review]”, Journal of the Medical Library Association, 96(3): 278-9, July 2008.
Melissa Ratajeski, reference librarian, “Internet Resources for the 3Rs”, Tech Talk: the Newsletter for Laboratory Animal Science Technicians, 13(3): 5, June 2008.
Presentations
Barbara Epstein, HSLS director, presented a talk “Open Access and the New NIH Mandate” at West Virginia University on April 25, 2008.