In case you missed it, I’m attending the Medical Library Association conference in Minneapolis this week. I’ve been chosen as an official conference blogger and will be blogged a couple of times a day on my experiences as a new member and first time conference attendee. I know most of you won’t be following me on the official conference blog, so I will be reposting my posts here.
I’m very excited to be attending my first MLA conference and sharing my experiences with you. I graduated from library school in December 2009 and became a medical librarian in May 2010, so not only am I new to medical libraries and MLA, I’m also new to the profession in general. By way of introduction, I thought I would share what I’m looking forward to most here at MLA’11.
Top 5 Things I’m Looking Forward to Most:
1. My CE course on systematic reviews. I consider myself a fairly decent searcher and I’ve been known to generate some excellent results on almost no information. However, I’m at sea when it comes to major reviews. I’ve read a few articles but I have no idea where to begin a systematic review. I have a physician who is in the beginning stages of research on a new project and I know he is going to require a comprehensive review of the literature. I’ve done what I can but I recognize my limits and when I need more knowledge on the subject. Hopefully this course will help me better serve this physician and prepare me for other reviews I may do in the future.
2. New Member Breakfast. I only joined the medical librarian force a year ago when I became an accidental medical librarian. I don’t know very many people in the field so I’m really excited about meeting other new medical librarians and hopefully learning more about MLA overall, despite the fact that this Sunday event starts at 7:30. In the morning. I hope there is enough caffeine.
What are you most looking forward to at MLA’11?
Since most of you aren’t at MLA, what do you look forward most to at conferences? If you’ve never been to a conference, what would you like to do/see/learn?
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I just wanted to tell you that I found this whole post really interesting even though I am not a librarian, and certainly not a medical librarian. I guess I'm just a nerd.