PH/HA Section

Katherine Downton, Liaison & Outreach Services Librarian, University of Maryland Health Sciences & Human Services Library
As a librarian who is relatively new to the health sciences, attending the APHA conference helped me develop a deeper understanding of public health. I have been considering working on an MPH and the conference did inspire me to take more statistics courses and perhaps GIS, as well. The interaction with my mentor was valuable, both personally and professionally. I plan to reconnect with her in the near future to discuss ways that librarians might work more closely with community and public health nursing students and faculty. I was inspired by the many community outreach initiatives that I learned about during the conference. Because my library is dedicated to local and regional outreach to healthcare professionals and the community, attendance at this conference will make me more confident and skilled in developing outreach programs and working with the local community.

Feili Tu, Associate Professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of South Carolina
Connecting with my fellow library and information professionals and public health colleagues was energizing…The spirit of true collaboration shone through the programs. I firmly believe that by working together, the Sewell alumni can make a difference. We will be able to create programs covering these topics (on translational research in public health practice and evidence-based public health practice and its integration into the education of the workforce) at the 2012 APHA Annual Meeting & Exposition. Attending poster sessions was a great way to talk to colleagues about the topics, whether I knew a great deal about them or not…I would like to encourage my fellow librarians and colleagues to submit proposals for poster presentations at the 2012 APHA Annual Meeting & Exposition. It is my sincere hope that the Sewell alumni will be able to work with the Medical Library Association (MLA), so the MLA will be able to get involved in the activities sponsored by the APHA in the future.

Jennifer Abueg, Technical Services/Instructional Librarian, Touro University, California
As a first time attendee, the conference itself was overwhelming in both size and scope, demonstrating the breadth and depth of the field of Public Health. As a community member, one realizes that that there is no specialty or practice area of public health that does not impact his or her sphere of influence, whether as a health professional, information professional, student or citizen. My impressions of the conference were positive and I was able to gather the information I needed that I know will prove helpful to my academic community. I was also pleased to make the personal and professional connections with fellow stipend colleagues and public health professionals.
The US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS) booth also provided useful information and use of their data through their Investigator site. Their information sheets and cohort-specific documentation will prove useful for our students who will need to manipulate data and create tables using SAS or SPSS. The NLS’ Investigator site, as well as the SAMHSA and CDC sites will be excellent resources for our public health students and faculty. The sites and will be incorporated into our Library website as a reference and research tool for the Public Health program.

Elaine Hicks, Education/Outreach Librarian, Matas Library of the Health Sciences at Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
As a result of attending this year’s APHA conference, I will further explore Karen Dahlen’s outreach work with Souter Library and Massachussets health departments, explore ATLAS.ti for outreach evaluation and work with Stacey Robinson, SOPHE board member and president, CommunicateHealth, Inc. on a health data SIG for SOPHE (in the context of health literacy), as well as further explore the core competencies workgroup with Kathleen Amos and Diane Downing and find out about the Tier 1 (administrative level) competency development work. [I also intend to] submit an abstract for APHA2012 on Update on Health Information Online—Illinois Informatics Initiative and CU-PHD and collaborate with Joey on a survey of undergraduate medical students on information needs and behaviors (how to construct a search strategy to ask the right question and using the right tools) to update Keith Cogdill’s 1992 work.

Kristin Kroger, Reference/Academic Support Services Librarian, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Many of the things I learned were not specific, as in tangible facts, more of an understanding of what Public Health is. I learned it covers just about everything. I think it may be easier to name the things that Public Health is not! Another thing I learned I learned or noticed is that Public Health professionals are very passionate about what they do. Not to say that Librarians aren’t, but the PHPs are passionate in a way that is vital. Their interest is in the greater good and the health of everyone (mental and physical).
I have never been ‘interested’ in politics, but for Public Health you need to be knowledgeable about the issues, the potential impact of legislation, and knowledgeable about the ‘agendas’ of the interested parties… the Executive Director and President of the APHA mentioned the law (Affordable Care Act) in their opening statements, and how the government officials are making decisions without having read it, and I realized that I needed to, too.
I think the networking aspect of this Sewell Stipend is a major benefit. Being able to meet and interact with other Public Health Librarians was indispensable. I love that I now have names and contact information and a shared experience with these people. During our dinner at Clyde’s I had the opportunity to share with the other attendees, a frustration at my inability to find the answer to a particular medical reference question. The person sitting next to me was able to suggest the perfect website where I could go to find the answer. I started to feel embarrassed that I did not know about the resource, but my seatmate said that we all can’t know everything, and that is why the listserve and these relationships are so vital. Thanks once again for the opportunity you gave me! It has truly impacted my life.

Manju Tanwar, Research Librarian, FDA/HRSA, Silver Spring/Rockville, Maryland
Thanks to her [mentor] I was able to moderate a session and serve as a reviewer for the women’s caucus oral presentation/ poster submissions for the APHA annual conference. I read over approximately 8 abstracts and graded them on the criteria given to me. It was a very interesting process and really gave me a behind the scenes look at the conference paper selection process. I thanked and followed up with both Dr. Luchok and Dr. Wigfall the week after the conference and plan to stay in touch with them. Additionally I met several HRSA staff persons during the conference and plan to touch bases with them in the coming week to see if I can help in any way on their current projects. Overall the conference really helped me to better understand the scope of public health as well as the latest development in the areas of public health that I am most likely to have to deal with as a librarian for HRSA. It was an incredible learning experience that I am grateful to have had thanks to the Sewell Stipend.

Anna Tatro, Liaison and Outreach Services Librarian, Health Sciences and Human Services Library, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland
I will definitely promote this conference to other librarians as I feel the content is so important for all types of librarians to be familiar with. There are a few things I learned through session attendance that I plan to incorporate into the SHARE project that I am the program manager of which is one of the reasons I applied for the stipend in the first place. Overall, this was a great experience. I feel I jumped right in and got more than my feet wet! Hopefully after getting caught up from being at the conference I can become involved in a group or committee.

Aileen McCrillis, Research Librarian, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY
The most enlightening session I attended was the roundtable discussion titled Developing the Community Empowered Research Training (CERT) program: Building research capacity for community-initiated and community-driven research. This session was most interesting to me because I learned about public health research and initiatives that were taking place at the NYU Medical Center (where I work) and outside of the NYU School of Public Health (which is part of our main university campus). I was able to talk to Catlin and several of her colleagues about their work and the how the library could help support their research. Attending APHA really broadened my perspective of public health and all that it encompasses. Receiving the Sewell Stipend allowed me to meet researchers from my institution in a more social setting and get better understanding of their work as well as giving me the opportunity to talk about what I do. I plan to follow-up with the contacts I made at APHA to remind them about some of the services and resources the library provides. In the future, I hope to get more involved in the research being conducted at NYU and come back to APHA as a presenter.

Amber Burtis, Health Sciences Librarian, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, IL
While at the Meet-and-Greet she [mentor] introduced me to several other individuals involved in the section. She also encouraged me to get involved in the section and I put my name down as someone who was interested in volunteering for committee work. I expect to volunteer for at least one committee in the coming year. [She] was very interested in learning more about librarians and our role in public health. The fact that I’m working on a Masters in Public Health was very interesting to her because she didn’t realize that some librarians also have another graduate degree. I think this helped solidify the idea that librarians could be peers to teaching faculty.
The sessions that I attended that dealt with the public health workforce were important because they helped me to get a picture of what types of information needs the workforce may have. I also was very impressed with one session that introduced me to the term “Practice-based Evidence.” I think this could be incorporated into some of the research I do… all three of these workshops will help me to formulate my survey questions and tailor it to the reality on the ground in public health agencies.
I also met several PhD students in Health Education from my institution at the conference. I hope that those contacts will help me to make inroads to the department or at least make me more recognizable as a resource for students at my institution. This experience also helped me to realize that I need to be attending APHA regularly and that I should get involved in the organization… I would like to thank the Grace and Harold Sewell Memorial Foundation and the MLA PH/HA folks who helped to make this experience possible for me. It was invaluable and, quite frankly, the best conference I’ve ever been to!

Kay Chapa, Public Health Informationist / Program Evaluation and Assessment Specialist, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Library
Attending large meetings is often quite stressful and anxiety-provoking. Between the planning and the traveling things can get overwhelming, especially when the meeting is a large one with multiple, overlapping sessions and a hectic schedule. In such a context, a mentor is invaluable for first-time attendees. I was especially fortunate to have someone who was kind, comforting, and accommodating – she graciously allowed me to attend sessions I was interested in, and willingly accompanied me. We also spent a bit of time after the sessions discussing salient points made by the presenters, sharing observations while processing the vast amounts of information. Issues specific to our respective jobs were also discussed, and areas in which we might assist each other in future projects were identified. I hope to maintain a relationship with Cheryl, my new colleague.
I attended a 3.5 hour Learning Institute on Sunday, 10/30. I was fortunate to have a certified community health educator/MPH student at my table. She was particularly intrigued by my medical librarian background and by our Library’s new focus on community health librarianship, and I was intrigued by her CHES status. We had a great discussion on health literacy, information-seeking behavior, and evidence-based public health research/resources, and we continued our discussion after the class. Serendipitously, the class provided me with the exact tool I needed for a current work project, and I was able to talk with the exact type of community health professional I will work with in my new role as a Public Health Informationist.

Peggy Gross, Public Health Informationist, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Attending APHA helped me understand not only the faculty information needs at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, but, broadly speaking, the multi-faceted and interdisciplinary nature of Public Health as both a discipline and practice. As a result of the meeting I gained a deeper understanding of my patrons’ needs within the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Hopkins.
A very useful session was Helena VonVille’s “Tools to develop, document and track systematic reviews and meta-analyses.” I am constantly thinking about how I can streamline this time-intensive and detailed process, so I was delighted to see Ms. VonVille’s slides. Another moving session was “Examining the Psychosocial Impacts of Animal-Assisted Interventions on Pediatric Oncology Patients” by Molly Jenkins. I have a therapy dog, but since starting my position at Johns Hopkins I have not made time to volunteer. Attending this session has inspired me to start volunteering again.
Overall my APHA experience offered a better understanding of how public health information professionals can assume key roles in health care. I interact with international public health professors, students and researchers whose work ranges from the theoretical underpinnings of public health to pragmatic, daily community engagement, but the activism is brushed under the surface in my sterile, academic work environment. I now hold a deeper insight into the information needs of public health professionals and my role in addressing those needs. I greatly appreciate my APHA conference experience as a result of the Sewell stipend because it enabled my exposure to practical and theoretical concepts at play within the field of Public Health. Many thanks!

Laura Zeigen, User Experience Librarian, Oregon Health & Science University
One of the most important lessons I learned by attending this conference was how incredibly vast public health is – dealing with issues from tobacco cessation and other health promotion efforts to working with public officials on changes to transportation zoning to improve the built environment to CBPR efforts – and the unique position of public health librarianship within public health. I really appreciated both the Sewell Stipend session where we could all meet each other, as well as the dinner where we could talk a bit more in-depth. I feel like I now have a cohort of people to whom to turn when I have questions about what I am doing as I move into supporting my institution’s public health program.
As a result of talking with the head of my state’s MPH program about his desire for two of our state universities to coordinate on resources, I was able to connect him with our library director, who in turn set up a meeting between him and both university’s librarians. This was a very key connection and conversation for us all to have and was greatly facilitated by the opportunity I had to speak with him that I might not have otherwise.
I feel more motivated to be more involved with the Public Health section within MLA as a result of meeting my colleagues in this area. I am also motivated to try to attend next year’s APHA conference. I very much appreciate the opportunity the Sewell Stipend allowed me in making it possible for me to attend this year’s APHA conference!