Business Meeting History of the Health Sciences Section of MLA

MLA History Section Business Meeting Minutes,
Honolulu, HI
Monday, May 18, 2009

Attendees: Trenton Boyd, Patricia Gallagher, Stephen Greenberg, Heidi Heilemann, Dee Jones, Lucretia McClure, Diane McKenzie, Dick Miller, Melissa Nasea, Richard Nollan, Jere Odell, Joan Stoddart, Linda Walton, and Colleen Weum.

Chair, Diane McKenzie, called the meeting to order at 6:35 a.m. The 14 members present at the meeting constituted a quorum. Reports (annual report and various committee reports) that were sent out via email were reviewed. Minutes of the May 2008 Business Meeting were approved.

Chapter Council Sharing Roundtable 2010: We have requested that “Archives” be a topic at the 2010 Chapter Council Sharing Roundtable.

Continuing Education Course 2010: The Section is exploring the possibility of conducting a continuing education course during the 2010 MLA Meeting in Washington, DC. The course will be an introduction to rare book management and will be taught by Stephen Greenberg at the National Library of Medicine and should be able to accommodate up to 30 participants.

Bylaws Change: The Section Bylaws have been changed to reflect the fact that the past chair of the section serves as the Section Council Representative. The current chair is the alternative and if neither the chair nor the past chair can attend, they can appoint someone to attend. Since a quorum was present, this change in the Bylaws was voted upon and approved unanimously. Motion by Lucretia McClure and seconded by Stephen Greenberg.

Murray Gottlieb Award : Trenton Boyd, the 2009 recipient of the Murray Gottlieb Award, discussed the research that led to his award-winning paper “The Lost History of American Veterinary Medicine: the Need for Preservation.” Lucretia McClure discussed her service on the Gottlieb Jury for the past two years and stressed the importance of always having a member of the History of the Health Sciences Section included as a jury member.

Advocacy Task Force Report : The report, “Advocating for History of the Health Sciences Libraries and Librarians” prepared by Lucretia McClure, Mike Flannery, Ed Holtum and Suzanne Porter, was presented and discussed. The following statement is taken from the document and explains its purpose: “This advocacy document is, therefore, proposed so that MLA once again takes the lead responsibility in recapturing its own heritage in recognition of the value and importance of history in the healthcare professions and of the historical collections so ably managed by specialists in this field.” A motion calling for a vote to accept the report was made by Lucretia McClure and seconded by Stephen Greenberg. The report was approved unanimously. The report will be distributed via email to the membership of the History of the Health Sciences Section and shared with the membership of the Archivists and Librarians in the History of the Health Sciences and the American Association for the History of Medicine. The report will also be submitted to the Journal of the Medical Library Association for possible publication.

Program Proposals 2010: Incoming Program Chair, Joan Stoddart, requested ideas for the 2010 section programming. Each section is requested to provide 3 ideas for programs. Ideas discussed for the 2010 section programming include (1) A panel discussion centered on the concepts set forth in the Advocacy Report; (2) The pros and cons of electronic books and their impact upon collection development; (3) Contributed papers on the topic of Bioethics. A possible focus will be to highlight hidden bioethics collections.

History of Medicine Publications: A discussion ensued about which publishers traditionally publish history of medicine materials. Catherine Arnott Smith has expressed an interest in conducting research to determine where articles and books with a history of medicine focus are published.

Goals for 2010: The following goals were identified for 2010: (1) support the Advocacy Report; (2) encourage the editors of the Journal of the Medical Library Association to publish articles of historical interest and importance; (3) explore new technologies and new means of communication, such as blogs and wikis.

Adjournment: Motion to adjourn was made by Dick Miller and seconded by Joan Stoddart.

Minutes submitted by

Dee Jones
Secretary/Treasurer
History of the Health Sciences Section

The following reflects account activity for the period, May 19th of 2008 through May 6th of 2009

Balance ending as of May 6th, 2009: $5255.48

Submitted by

Edwin Holtum
Secretary/Treasurer
History of the Health Sciences Section

6/10/2009