Midyear Report 1999-2000

Progress on Goals and Objectives

Goal 1: Professional Development

MIS is the lead section for two co-sponsored contributed paper sessions at MLA 2000 meeting in Vancouver:

1. Clinical applications of technologies: Linking knowledge-based information to the clinical record with the Medical School Libraries section; and
2. Life-long learning: Information competencies for the health practitioner with the Medical School Libraries and Public Health/Health Administration Libraries sections.

MIS will sponsor three program sessions at ICML 2000, the International Congress of Medical Librarians to be held in London in July 2000. Each session will include four presentations under the following titles: Librarians and Informatics: Making It Work, Advanced Technologies for Digital Libraries, and The Visible Human Project: An International Imaging Resource.

MIS/MLA Career Development Grant Jury solicited applicants, using library listservs, in July, October, and November 1999. There are two probable applicants.

The Spring 1999 Continuing Education Needs Assessment, conducted by email, was posted to the section website. Results of this survey were incorporated into program planning for the annual meeting. A Self-Education Resources Project was developed and posted on the section's website. The project offers starting points for a number of informatics topics identified in the CE survey. Each topic includes approximately three websites and a linked PubMed search.

Goal 2: Advocacy

For the second year, MIS members are writing a series of short articles on informatics topics for the MLA News again this year. The first article, to be published in the January 2000 issue, is entitled Medical Informatics Education and Training: Our Dual Roles of Teacher and Learner. Three other articles are in development.

MOTION: This report is informational and requires no action by the Board of Directors.

Debra Ketchell, Chair