Hardin News

For more information, please review the complete job announcement.

Reporting to the Assistant Director, Collections and Outreach, and working as a member of the education and outreach team, the Biomolecular Sciences Specialist develops and conducts a program for supporting biosciences and bioinformatics programs on the University of Iowa health campus.

• As liaison to biomedical research programs, centers, and departments, cultivates relationships with faculty, graduate students and research groups to identify opportunities for library partnerships.
• Develops and teaches tailored education sessions related to selection and use of biosciences, genetics and bioinformatics tools and resources. Coordinates education services for liaison units. Works with faculty to integrate library education into the curriculum.
• In support of research and education, assists researchers with effective application of biomedical information tools and skills through individual and small group consultations. Coordinates consultation services for liaison units.
• Conducts and publishes research to better develop relevant programs for the biomedical sciences community.
• Investigates new technologies and works with others to develop and revise programs to respond to the changing information needs of members of the health campus.
• Updates and maintains information about research tools to promote and support biosciences and bioinformatics resources available to members of the biomedical research community.
• Partners with other librarians to market library services and promote increased awareness of scholarly communication issues on the health campus.
• Works with other Hardin Library staff members on public services projects for the health campus and health professionals and consumers in the State of Iowa.
• Serves on Hardin Library, University Libraries, health colleges, university and hospital committees and working groups.
• Contributes to and learns from the profession through such avenues as local, state and national professional organizations and publications.

GRADUATE ASSISTANT
Information Commons Training and Systems Assistant
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences

Background: The Hardin Library Information Commons is a state of the art educational technology facility, featuring multimedia development workstations, hands-on computer classrooms, a group study, audiovisual materials and computer labs. The Information Commons also supports web development projects in the health sciences such as Iowa Public Health Information and Go Local Iowa. For more information, please visit http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/ and http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/commons/.

Position description: Reporting to the Assistant Director, Technology and Outreach, the Training and Systems Assistant supports the activities and services of the Information Commons. The Assistant provides on-demand technology support for instructors, students and other users of computer labs, classrooms and multimedia workstations; designs and teaches staff development sessions for Information Commons desk workers; creates and maintains equipment and software documentation; and assists the Technology Support Specialist with systems administration tasks.

The Training and Systems Assistant is required to work between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm, two days per week and four additional hours as assigned. Some weekend and evening hours occasionally required.

See http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/jobs/commonsga.pdf for details.

Janna Lawrence joined the Hardin Library staff as Assistant Director for Collections and Outreach in late May. Janna comes to the University of Iowa from the Briscoe Library at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where she began her career in health sciences libraries as a library assistant and most recently served as Coordinator of Reference and Instructional Services.

After 23 years in Texas, Janna is happy to return to her Midwestern roots. A native of central Illinois, she received a BA from the University of Illinois, and a Masters in Library and Information Science from the
University of Texas at Austin. She is an active member of the Medical Library Association (MLA) and a past-president of the South Central Chapter of MLA.

Janna looks forward to working with the Hardin staff to expand the Library’s collection of electronic journals and other resources and to meeting faculty and students in her Outreach role.

MedlinePlus Go Local is a service for finding local resources for health-related issues. Go Local Iowa is a project of the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences in partnership with the College of Public Health and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) Patients’ Library. For more information, please visit http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/ and http://medlineplus.gov/golocal/.

The Go Local Iowa Technical Manager identifies and collects information about local health services, assigns metadata and service terms using a controlled vocabulary, assists in development of new vocabulary terms, enters information in a National Library of Medicine-hosted database, solicits data from external organizations, analyzes external data for data import/export, develops web-based publicity materials and/or tutorials, and similar projects. The Technical Manager is responsible for the collection, creation, indexing and maintenance of entries into the system; creates and deactivates user accounts; and handles local customizations including the Featured Site.

The Technical Manager also provides on-call technical support for library users and instructors between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm, two days per week.

For more details, please review the complete position description.

Kathy Skhal, Clinical Education Librarian, has been appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Carver College of Medicine. This is a three-year appointment with the department of Internal Medicine.

Skhal will tailor her education sessions specifically to medicine students and faculty; she will coordinate and lead small group sessions on specific related topics; she will have lecturing responsibilities and she will help provide information resources.

“Kathy plays a valuable role within the medical school as a Clinical Education Librarian. She provides Course Directors with numerous resources that will be helpful to our students on a variety of topics,” says Dee Dee Stafford, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine FCP IV Course Director. Kathy is extremely enthusiastic about medical education and in the dissemination of knowledge. She has the knowledge and commitment to trouble-shoot problems extremely well. She is very committed to helping out learners at all levels.”

We are happy to announce that Mary White has joined the staff of the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences as an Education and Outreach Librarian. She will serve as the liaison to the College of Public Health. Mary White is an NIH/NLM Fellow in Health Informatics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She has her undergraduate and graduate training from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with specializations in information and library science, international development and public health. She has worked with community centers and libraries in South Africa and Honduras. DISCO (Dance based Interventional Study on Childhood Obesity), her other research project at Hopkins, utilizes the Dance Dance Revolution video game for childhood obesity prevention with children in East Baltimore. Please join us in welcoming Mary to the University of Iowa.

We are happy to announce that Brooke Billman has joined the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences as an Education and Outreach Librarian. Brooke will be the liaison to the College of Nursing. She received an M.A. in Information Resources and Library Science from the University of Arizona in 2006, where she completed an internship in the Arizona Health Sciences Library. Previously, she has been an HIV educator volunteer and worked as with teenagers as an advocate/educator and clinic counselor intern. Please join us in welcoming Brooke to the University of Iowa.

We are happy to announce that Jonathan Koffel has joined the Hardin Library staff as an Education and Outreach Librarian. Jonathan will be the liaison to the College of Pharmacy. He received an M.S. in Information from the University of Michigan in 2005. Most recently, Jonathan has been working as an Access Librarian at Palmer College of Chiropractic and prior to that he worked half time for two years at the University of Michigan Public Health Library and served as an intern at the University of Michigan, Taubman Medical Library. At the Public Health Library, he developed and taught classes for librarians and health care practitioners. Please join us in welcoming Jonathan to the University of Iowa.

Linda Walton has accepted an offer to become the next Associate University Librarian and Director of the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences effective August 31. Linda comes to the University of Iowa Libraries from the Galter Health Sciences Library at Northwestern University where she has been the Associate Director.

“She has solid experience in health sciences librarianship and plenty of energy,” says Nancy L. Baker, University Librarian. “I am delighted to have Linda join the Libraries’ administrative group and assume leadership of the Hardin Library.”

Linda was attracted to the UI and the Hardin Library primarily because of the commitment to and progressive nature of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. “The interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of the University shows that the people are truly interested in health care and their patients,” said Walton. “Nancy Baker and the Libraries’ administrative team recognize the unique attributes of a health sciences library and sees this as a plus to the library system as a whole. Working together is critical in this complex information age.”

Some of the challenges Linda sees for all librarians involve understanding the ethical and legal information access issues brought about by the ease of information transfer over the Internet. She also wants to enhance the library user experience by developing tools that help faculty, students, staff and researchers connect with information resources more effectively.

After completing her graduate degree in library science at Indiana University, Linda worked for a small private psychiatric hospital library. This position proved to be the beginning of her career in health science librarianship. She appreciated the structure of health science libraries which allows for networking among libraries, developing library services and programs through grant funding and interlibrary lending. The fast pace of the medical world and being a part of the clinical setting all added to the excitement of being a health sciences librarian for Linda.

Hardin Library for the Health Sciences is part of the University of Iowa Libraries. Hardin serves the combined information and research needs of the five health science colleges of the University of Iowa as well as the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. Each year Hardin also fulfills nearly 30,000 information requests of health professionals across the country. For more information about Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, check online at www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin.

Kathryn Skhal joined the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences on October 5, 2004 as Reference and Education Librarian. She is involved in reference and consultation services, Hardin Housecalls and curriculum education. She has an interest in the influence of emerging technologies on library services.

Prior to working at the University of Iowa, Kathryn was a library assistant at the Carlson Health Sciences Library, University of California, Davis. At UC Davis, she administered interlibrary loans and commercial document delivery services and worked on the circulation and reference desks. As a research assistant, she was involved in the publication of Introduction to Reference Sources in the Health Sciences, which was dedicated to her by the author.

Kathryn recently received her M.S. in Library and Information Science through the LEEP distance-learning program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She has B.S. degrees in Anthropology and Psychology from the University of California, Davis. She has been very active professionally, presenting and serving on panels at regional and national conferences.

We are happy to have Kathy join the staff of the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences and the University Libraries.