Poster Board Number: 26
Title: Rethinking Engagement: Getting More Involved with Clients
Objective: This study investigates the short- and long-term effects on librarians of attending their patrons' professional association meetings.
Methods: Setting or Participants: Librarians serving public health workers, faculty, students, and researchers who have applied for partial funding to attend the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA) over the past nine years. A SurveyMonkey instrument of thirty questions was sent to librarians in the participant group. The survey collected both quantitative and qualitative information focused on the effect of partial funding on the likelihood of the librarians attending the meeting and the effects of attendance on their subject expertise and subsequent professional development and involvement with the groups they serve. The survey also solicited consent to participate in a fifteen to thirty minute follow-up telephone interview. Responses to the survey and interviews were compared with impression-papers written within a month of the meeting for short- and long-term effects of meeting attendance.
Results: While some stipend recipients have moved or been transferred from public health since attending the meeting, others have increased their interactions with their local user communities or become more visible in the APHA.
Conclusions: We anticipate that results of this research will support anecdotal evidence that attendance at APHA results in greater comprehension of and connectedness with users, allowing the librarian a unique opportunity to become embedded with the professionals they are serving.
Authors: Joey Nicholson, Lead Trainer, National Training Center and Clearinghouse, New York Academy of Medicine, New York, NY; Nancy Schaefer, AHIP, Associate University Librarian, Health Science Center Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL