Maritimes Health Libraries Association

The Maritimes Health Libraries Association (MHLA) continues to be an active group of about 40 members. The chapter has members in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. A new challenge facing our group this year is inter-provincial travel. As regional health authorities restrict out-of-province training, we are concerned how this will impact the dynamics and the future of our chapter. To address this, the executive drafted a form letter that members could use to advocate for permission to travel. This is sure to be an agenda item for our next business meeting as we consider our options.

Despite these restrictions, MHLA had about half its members turn out for its Fall 2010 meeting in Moncton, New Brunswick. Ours was one of the first chapters to have an overview of the Canadian Virtual Health Library by Jennifer Bayne and Orvie Dingwell via teleconference during the business meeting. The continuing education session that followed focused on developing our skills as leaders: “Leadership is an Action, not a Position” by Diane Allain, Evolution Consulting Group, New Brunswick.

For our Spring 2011 meeting, we were thrilled to have Dr. Jessie McGowan, Senior Information Scientist at the University of Ottawa, lead a 3 h session on Search Standards, the PRESS tool, and how to do a credible search with the tools in front of you and limited time. For the first time in memory, the meeting was hosted in Truro, Nova Scotia, by the Colchester East Hants Health Authority. Given our dedication to our profession, we passed up the Royal Wedding in favour of our meeting on 29 April 2011.

Lori W. Léger

MSc, MLIS

Maritimes Health Libraries Association (Chair 2010–12)

Regional Manager of Library Services | Gestionnaire des
Services de bibliothèque

Horizon Health Network | Réseau de santé Horizon

135 av MacBeath Ave

Moncton, NB E1C 6Z8 CANADA, (506) 870-2546

E-mail: Lori.Leger@HorizonNB.ca; www.HorizonNB.ca