This article was featured in Library Notes #48 (Fall 2008).

Professional Gatherings and Meetings

Anna Fleming, Head, Collection Management, attended the technical seminar portion of the ELUNA (Ex Libris Users of North America) 2008 conference in Long Beach, CA on July 27^th-31^st. In August, Anna also attended the first two sessions of Northwestern University's Leadership & Management training series along with Heidi Nickisch Duggan, Associate Director. The first two sessions, Leadership and the Role of Management, and Recruiting & Hiring Great Staff, opened the six-part series which will conclude in December. Heidi also attended the Summer Institute in Coaching: Critical Skills for Strategic and Effective Coaching from the School of Continuing Studies of Northwestern University, from August 27^th to 29^th.

Also in attendance at the ELUNA conference from July 28^th to Aug. 1^st were Tony Olson, Catalog Librarian, and Michelle Frisque, Head, Information Systems. Tony and Michelle also represented the library at the American Library Association (ALA) conference in Anaheim, CA from June 26^th to July 2^nd, where Michelle completed her term as the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) Director at Large. She is now beginning her term as LITA's Vice President / President Elect (see earlier Library Notes article for details).

Stephanie Kerns, Head, Education and Outreach / Curriculum Librarian and Jim Brucker, Instructional Design Librarian attended the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) conference held in Salt Lake City, UT, from July 25^th to 29^th.

Jim Shedlock, Director, attended the National Library of Medicine (NLM) 2008 conference in Bethesda, MD from June 11^th-13^th.

Appointments and Committees

Kurt Munson, Head, User Services, is in his first year as a member of the Electronic Funds Transfer System (EFTS) Advisory Committee, which is the electronic billing system for the National Library of Medicine's DOCLINE interlibrary loan system. Northwestern was an early adopter of EFTS and Kurt has worked to increase knowledge and the implementation of EFTS among DOCLINE users. Kurt has also been asked to serve on the Rethinking Resource Sharing delivery committee. The Rethinking Resource Sharing group is working to improve and expand the functionality of our current library information delivery systems.

Congratulations and Kudos!

Welcome to the world, little Aisia Alayah Wiggins, the daughter of proud father Eddie Wiggins, Library Clerk. Aisia was born on June 24^th.  Congrats Eddie!

Jeremy Prevost, IT Consultant, married Alison Hofer on August 11^th in a private ceremony at the Signature Room at the 95th in the John Hancock Center. Best wishes to Jeremy and Alison!

Congratulations go to Linda O'Dwyer, Communications Coordinator and Education Librarian, for her recent promotion to Communications Coordinator for the Galter Library. Linda's new appointment places her in charge of all library communications, internal and external, in addition to her regular librarian responsibilities.

Another staff member receiving a promotion is Anna Fleming, our new Head of Collection Management. Anna now leads a team of staff responsible for the acquisition and maintenance of new materials for our collections.

Congratulations also go to Ramune Kubilius, Special Projects / Collection Development Librarian, who was recognized for 25 years of membership in the Special Libraries Association (SLA). She received an award at the Biomedical and Life Sciences business meeting at the SLA 2008 meeting held in Seattle from June 15^th to 18^th.

The Library's Special Collections and Ron Sims were a featured news article in the Summer 2008 issue of Ward Rounds, the alumni magazine of the medical school (see p. 32 of the issue).  The article gives a brief overview of materials in the collections, plus several vignettes that illustrate the various routines, tasks and services provided by Ron.