Hardin Librarians are active in the Medical Library Association. The annual conference is in New Orleans, May 3-6, 2022.
Jennifer Deberg, a 2022 RTI (Research Training Institute) Fellow is presenting a poster: Exploring DNP (Doctorate Nurse Practitioner) Student Information Literacy Competence for Evidence-Based Practice
Hardin Library Director Janna Lawrence will be attending the in-person Board meeting on Tuesday, May 3. Ms. Lawrence is also co-facilitator of a session, “Staying Ahead of the Future: Developing Your Library’s Collection Philosophy and Policy,” which is part of an in-conference symposium called “The Big Not-So-Easy: a Symposium on 21st Century Health Sciences Collection Development and Resource Sharing.”
I like to say we left at first light
with Chairman Mao himself chasing us in a police car,
my father fighting him off with firecrackers,
even though Mao was already over a decade
dead, & my mother says all my father did
during the Cultural Revolution was teach math,
she says & it’s the first time the word doesn’t hurt. I respond by citing something age-inappropriate from Aristotle, drawing mostly from his idea that hands are what make us
It is essential that Summer be grafted
to bones marrow earth clouds blood the eyes of our ancestors. It is essential to smell the beginning words where Washington, Madison,
Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson assembled amid cries
of:
“The people lack of
information” “We grow more and
more skeptical” “This Constitution is a
triple-headed monster” “Blacks are property”
It is essential to remember how cold
the sun how warm the snow snapping around the ragged feet of soldiers and
slaves. It is essential to string the sky with the saliva of Slavs and Germans and Anglos and French and Italians and Scandinavians, and Spaniards and Mexicans and Poles and Africans and Native Americans. It is essential that we always repeat: we the people, we the people, we the people.
Taped to the wall of my cell are 47 pictures: 47 black faces: my father, mother, grandmothers (1 dead), grand- fathers (both dead), brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins (1st and 2nd), nieces, and nephews. They stare across the space at me sprawling on my bunk. I know their dark eyes, they know mine. I know their style, they know mine. I am all of them, they are all of me; they are farmers, I am a thief, I am me, they are thee.
I have at one time or another been in love with my mother, 1 grandmother, 2 sisters, 2 aunts (1 went to the asylum), and 5 cousins. I am now in love with a 7-yr-old niece (she sends me letters in large block print, and her picture is the only one that smiles at me).
I have the same name as 1 grandfather, 3 cousins, 3 nephews, and 1 uncle. The uncle disappeared when he was 15, just took off and caught a freight (they say). He’s discussed each year when the family has a reunion, he causes uneasiness in the clan, he is an empty space. My father’s mother, who is 93 and who keeps the Family Bible with everbody’s birth dates (and death dates) in it, always mentions him. There is no place in her Bible for “whereabouts unknown.”
my father is a retired magician which accounts for my irregular
behavior everythin comes outta magic hats or bottles wit no bottoms & parakeets are as easy to get as a couple a rabbits or 3 fifty cent pieces/ 1958
once, while on a coke binge, and away from my mother, my father drove his car across the sand and into the pacific ocean. before he had done that, he had given away all of his possessions, and eaten a steak dinner. he survived.
Selections by Bushra Moghram
This Bridge Across by Christopher Gilbert (entire poem) A moment comes to me and it’s a lot like the dead who get in the way sometimes hanging around, with their ranks growing bigger by the second and the game of tag they play claiming whoever happens by.
The world is a beautiful place
to be born into
if you don’t mind happiness
not always being
so very much fun
if you don’t mind a touch of hell
now and then
just when everything is fine
because even in heaven
they don’t sing
all the time
Comparison by Paul Laurence Dunbar (entire poem) The sky of brightest gray seems dark To one whose sky was ever white. To one who never knew a spark, Thro’ all his life, of love or light, The grayest cloud seems over-bright.
Your role at Hardin: I am a Library Assistant IV working in Collections, Access Services, and just recently, returned to help in Interlibrary Loan.
Years you’ve worked in a library and years you’ve worked at Hardin: My library career started in high school in the late ’70s as a volunteer at my hometown library in Allison, Iowa, under the direction of librarian Mabel Bauman. I started working at UI Libraries in 1983 and have worked at Hardin on and off as a student and staff since 1983. I’ve also worked at the UI Law Library, VA Library, Math Library, and the Iowa City Public Library (24 years).
One thing you enjoy about working at Hardin: I’ve worn many hats during my library career. Anything from dealing with the bomb-sniffing dog in 2007 during an active bomb threat at Hardin, working at the storage facility (lovingly referred to as the “barn”), to working on the lighting/HVAC project at Hardin. The best experience during my library career has been working with the many students and other individuals that have crossed my path and continue to keep in touch with me decades later.
A fun fact about yourself: I have no peripheral vision, so if you don’t like the answer I give and you roll your eyes at me as you stand next to me, I most likely won’t see it. My door is always open at Hardin, so stop in and say hello.
Professional development (usually a virtual webinar)
Working with a researcher interested in JMRBR materials
Consulting with a clinical researcher about their project
Working on a systematic or other review
A reference desk shift
Damien Ihrig
Interested in visiting the John Martin Rare Book room for research or fun? In-person or Zoom appointments are available. Want to host a class here? Need help with your historical medical research? Contact Damien by email or phone (319-335-9154).
Linda Lococo, Hardin Library’s longest serving staff member, retired on December 1 with 43 years of service.
Linda worked in Hardin’s Interlibrary Loan Department, borrowing materials from other libraries for University of Iowa faculty, staff, and students as well as fulfilling materials requested from libraries around the world.
Linda’s favorite part of her job was the detective work required to find articles when very little or incorrect information was provided by users. When Linda first started in interlibrary loan, she typed up requests on paper forms and then used print indexes to find holdings of libraries to send the requests to. Now, most of this work is automated, but we still manually scan print materials at a large scanner.
Linda is looking forward to having more time with her husband Joe, a retired nurse, and the rest of her family. She has lots of home projects lined up to work on and more time for reading!
Alex Hsieh, College of Dentistry Student, has won a University of Iowa Libraries graduate student scholarship. Alex works at the Hardin Library.
“Making sure our library patrons feel cared for has been a goal of mine while working at Hardin Library, and that is a philosophy I will carry into my career as a dentist. In both situations, a patron/patient who feels comfortable and welcome will get the most out of their visit and will more likely come back again!”
Read more about Alex, and our other scholarship winner Sara Jensen in Bindings.
Scholarships for library student employees are funded by donations.
Hardin staff presented a paper, “Workshop the Workshop: Continuous Quality Improvement Strategies for an Instruction Series,” at the year’s virtual Medical Library Association, May 24-28.
Authors were Heather Healy, Jen DeBerg, Riley Samuelson, Matt Regan, Damien Ihrig, Chris Childs, Jess Elliott, and Janna Lawrence.
Janna C. Lawrence, MLS, AHIP Distinguished Hardin Library Director
Janna Lawrence, Hardin Director, and Linda Walton, Associate University Librarian and former Hardin Director, were named Fellows of the Medical Library Association.
Linda Walton Associate University Librarian
Fellowship recognizes “sustained and outstanding contributions to health sciences librarianship.”
Hardin Library Director Janna Lawrence was elected to Board of Directors of the Medical Library Association. Her three-year term began at the May 2021 Medical Library Association Conference.
Janna C. Lawrence, MLS, AHIP Distinguished Hardin Library Director
