Preferred Professional Development Methods of Health Science Librarians

Participating in professional development (continuing education) is an important component of librarianship. This is especially important in the health sciences where the amount and complexity of new health information can be overwhelming. Library professionals who specialize in the health sciences need to have a deep understanding of the unique needs of health sciences to support faculty research, enrich student learning and develop and manage comprehensive health collections. These library professionals rely on a variety of professional development resources to develop their skills in the field of health science librarianship. This research project seeks to learn the preferred methods of professional development by health science library professionals. A survey was created using Qualtrics and seven instruction modalities were identified and included on the survey. The survey was sent out through various listservs used by health science librarians and the researcher is awaiting results.
This poster documents the process of a novice researcher as she embarks on her first major research project with the guidance of the Medical Library Association Research Training Institute (MLARTI). The researcher will discuss the rapidly changing landscape of health information, her process in developing the survey tool, and how the current COVID-19 Pandemic, which forced her and other researchers to work remotely and change her instruction and services to an online format, affected her research process.