Professional Development

Medical Library Association Collection Development Caucus

Professional Development

Professional Organizations & Conferences

The following is a list of organizations and conferences that are particularly relevant to health sciences collection development. The organizations all have annual conferences and service opportunities for members. Costs vary to attend conferences and membership dues range.

Medical Library Association (MLA) (www.mlanet.org)

“Since 1898, MLA has fostered excellence in the professional practice and leadership of health sciences library and information professionals to enhance health care, education, and research throughout the world.” The annual meeting for MLA is the premier conference for health sciences librarians. Topics of posters and presentations vary but there is usually come collection development content. The conference includes a large number of health sciences collections-focused vendors and this can be a good opportunity to learn about new resources. MLA members can volunteer to participate in committees, scholarship juries, and task forces to work on special issues. There are also communities and caucuses focused on specific interest areas, such as the Collection Development caucus and Technical Services caucus. Communities and caucuses also offer leadership positions and committee work.

The Acquisitions Institute at Timberline Lodge (http://acquisitionsinstitute.org)

“The Acquisitions Institute at Timberline Lodge is a library conference that has been providing an opportunity for acquisitions and collection development for librarians, vendors and publishers to meet and discuss pertinent trends and issues in libraries since 2000.” This is an opportunity for acquisitions and collection development librarians, vendors and publishers to meet and discuss pertinent trends and issues in libraries. Registration is capped.

Charleston Conference (https://www.charlestonlibraryconference.com)

“The Charleston Conference is an informal annual gathering of librarians, publishers, electronic resource managers, consultants, and vendors of library materials in Charleston, SC, in November, to discuss issues of importance to them all.” This is a key conference for collection development librarians and vendor representatives, focused on acquisitions, collection development, and technical services, but may include topics from outside these areas. Attend the Health Sciences Lively Lunch to meet with other health sciences librarians

Core (formerly known as the American Library Association – Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, ALCTS) (https://www.ala.org/core)

A division of the American Library Association, “Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures is the national association that advances the profession of librarians and information providers in central roles of leadership and management, metadata and collections, and technology.” This group provides community and continuing education on a variety of topics including collection development.

Electronic Resources & Libraries (ER&L) (https://www.electroniclibrarian.org)

“The goal of the ER&L Conference is to bring together information professionals from libraries and related industries to improve the way we collect, manage, maintain, and make accessible electronic resources in an ever-changing online environment.”

NASIG (http://www.nasig.org)

“Established in 1985, NASIG (formerly the North American Serials Interest Group, Inc.) is an independent organization that promotes communication, information, and continuing education about serials, electronic resources, and the broader issues of scholarly communication. NASIG welcomes anyone interested in the information chain.” The annual meeting is focused on issues related to serials and e-resources. NASIG is very involved in developing new NISO standards related to information delivery and access.

Society for Scholarly Publishing (https://www.sspnet.org)

“The Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP), founded in 1978, is a nonprofit organization formed to promote and advance communication among all sectors of the scholarly publication community through networking, information dissemination, and facilitation of new developments in the field.”

Service in Collection Development

Service refers to activities by a library professional that contributes to their library, institution, or profession beyond their regular job responsibilities. It can take many forms and be done internally at your institution or externally at local, regional, and national levels. For collection development librarians, there are many service opportunities with professional organizations and library publishers that can enhance your knowledge and allow you to share your expertise.

For example, some collection development-related service opportunities that exist within the Medical Library Association include:

Becoming a member of the Collection Development Caucus leadership team (e.g., Chair, Secretary, Web Manager)
Participating in Caucus projects
Joining an MLA conference planning committee (e.g., Collection Development Symposium)
Joining an awards jury (e.g., the Louise Darling Award)
Becoming a member of your regional MLA chapter and participating in their projects. Note that the volume of collections-related content is limited within MLA chapters, but regional chapter service can be a good way to grow your leadership experience and network with local colleagues.

Other professional organizations offer service opportunities too. The list of professional organizations and conferences in this chapter can help get you started with the ones that are the most germane to collection development librarians.

Most publishers have library advisory boards that include volunteers across various library types. Members of the board will usually be asked to share their insights and opinions, give feedback on new products, share their needs for new products or communications, and respond to publisher questions regarding the industry as a whole. Usually librarians need to be invited to join a board, but if you have a good relationship with your sales representative and are passionate about improving library products, you can ask to be considered for a board position. These are often unpaid volunteer positions but some publishers may offer a stipend.

Reviewing books, databases, and other library-focused products for companies (e.g., Doody’s) or library journals (e.g., Journal of the Medical Library Association, Katina, and Medical Reference Services Quarterly) is another type of service opportunity. Doody’s has a robust review calendar and actively seeks Librarian Selectors for their annual Doody’s Core Titles project.

State and Regional Conferences

There are many other state and regional conferences that may be available to you. Joining your state health sciences libraries association or regional MLA chapter is a great way to find out about opportunities to get more involved. The best resources to find information and announcements about these conferences are the email lists below – in particular LIBLICENSE and ER&L. Your local MLA chapter may be another good resource.

Email Lists

This is not an exhaustive list of all the potentially relevant collection development email lists. These are a few of the core email lists that collection development librarians engage with.

Name	Description	Membership required?
MLA-CDC	Email list for the Collection Development Caucus (formerly Collection Development Section) of MLA. Focuses on collection issues in health sciences and medical libraries. Good place to get information on products specific to health sciences libraries.	Yes, must be a member of MLA and Collection Development Caucus
MLA-TS	Email list for the Technical Services Caucus. The Technical Services Caucus provides its members with opportunities for education, recognition, and the exchange of information, and provides leadership and research on technical services issues.	Yes, must be a member of MLA and Technical Services Caucus.
ER&L (ERIL)	Members are from all types of libraries. Good resource for help with e-resource management issues, access problems, licensing questions, and more. Also provides information about the annual ER&L conference.	No
LIBLICENSE	Focused on e-resource licensing issues and scholarly communications. Open access is a frequent topic. Good place to get help with licensing questions. This email list includes people from all types of libraries all over the world.	No
Core	Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures is the national association that advances the profession of librarians and information providers in central roles of leadership and management, metadata and collections, and technology. The group known as ALCTS (Association for Library Collections & Technical Services) was integrated with Core.	Yes, must be a member of ALA and Core.

Publications

The following resources are helpful for keeping up to date with the trends, research, and discussions happening in health sciences collection development:

Collection Development Fundamentals Online Courses

Online courses focused on specific niches of collection development are linked in their respective sections. Most of the targeted professional development courses are from the Medical Library Association and available on the MedLibEd platform for a fee.

American Library Association: https://www.ala.org/core/continuing-education/courses

Library Juice Academy: https://libraryjuiceacademy.com/topic/collections/?post_type=projects Offers synchronous online and hybrid introductory courses about general collection development and collection analysis. The offerings change quarterly as new courses become available.

Medical Library Association: http://www.medlib-ed.org/