Call for Papers and Posters for MLA 2011

Now is the time to get online and submit your structured abstract for a paper or poster at MLA 2011.

This year, the various sections will be sponsoring some great specifically themed programs as well as some “general” theme programs where the topic is fairly broad.  For example there is a general section program on Education, where somebody can submit a paper on the topic of education in all its forms.  This type of general theme allows people to submit quality papers and posters that don’t fit some of the narrower themes sessions but are equally important.

There are lots of great programs and I encourage everyone to submit to the program that best fits a theme.  Since I am the Chair of Section Programming for the Medical Informatics Section I would like to profile the four programs that we are sponsoring or co-sponsoring.  Please consider submitting your paper to these programs or the other ones listed in on the MLA website

Please review the instructions in the poster or paper FAQs, then begin the online submission process. The site is open and you can start now! Submission deadline is November 1, 2010.

Here are the programs MIS is sponsoring or co-sponsoring that are looking for people to contribute papers.

  • Rethinking the Librarian’s Role in EHRs, PHRs, and EMRs: A Place at the Table
    In the health care environment these days, if your library is not at the table, you are on the menu. The role of medical librarians has moved from operating physical libraries to their underlying responsibility: facilitating access to and use of evidence to support quality clinical care and patient education.
    The emergence of electronic health record (EHR), personal health record (PHR), and electronic medical record (EMR) systems provides new opportunities for libraries to participate in the integration of evidence into the clinical process and the documentation of appropriate resources for consumers. Librarians possess the expertise, skills, and resources that are integral to facilitating these connections between information and the clinician or consumer.
    The Fifth Annual Lecture on the Evidence Base will present an overview of the librarian’s role and experiences in integrating into institutions’ EHRs, PHRs, or EMRs. Topics may include, but are not limited to, convincing your organization to bring the library to the table, selecting and integrating of point-of-care evidence-based resources, designing systems, mapping clinical questions to appropriate resources, and documenting resources that are provided by the library to support patient care in the EHR, PHR, or EMR.
    There will be an invited speaker as well as the contributed papers
  • Top Tech Trends V
    Technology trend spotters will speak about the latest issues in technology and provide their opinions and thoughts on their impact on health sciences libraries. It will be a quick-paced and interesting discussion among the panelists, along with the aid of a Google jockey searching and highlighting the topics. Bring your mobile devices, and participate in the program online as a Twitter jockey will summarize each panelist’s thoughts, fostering the online discussion. Make sure to stay to the end of the session to take advantage of the Technology Petting Zoo, where you will be able to touch and play with the latest technology tools.
    There will be invited speakers and the sponsoring sections will solicit abstract submissions in the months preceding the meeting.
  • Rethink Technology (General Topic Session)
    What are you doing with technology in your library? Implementing a metasearch? Linking in the electronic health record ? Adding folksonomy to the catalog? We want to hear about it. If your technology-related paper idea does not fit into any of the section programming themes, this general topic session is the place for you.
    This will be all contributed papers.
  • Refining Research: From Start to Finish
    Research is an important part of defining what ideas, technologies, or programs work or don’t work in libraries. Listen to a panel of speakers talk about the process of defining the question, matching the method to the idea and question, refining the process, collecting and analyzing data, and summarizing the results. Then join roundtable discussions where MLA members who want to do research or begin a project will be able to talk with “experts” about the process and how to progress through it.
    This will session will have a panel presentation and roundtable break-out sessions.