HSLANJ Committees & Taskforces

Committee membership is voluntary but very important to the Association's growth and viability. It is at the committee level that members have the opportunity to make lasting contributions to the Association and to health sciences library services throughout the state. In addition, committee members are awarded credits toward credentialing and recertification in the Medical Library Association's Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP).

Archives - Jennifer Kral, Chair
Maintains the permanent records of the membership; collects data concerning the Association from all officers and committee chairmen; determines which documents are to be placed in permanent files and those which should be discarded after five to ten years.
View Archives list.

Awards - Keydi Boss, Chair
Administers the Association's annual recognition and awards program; identifies award categories, defines selection criteria, chooses recipients of the awards, and presents the awards at the annual meeting.

Award Nomination Forms: Librarian, Clinician, Support Person, Administrator
View Awards, 1993+

Bylaws - Cathy Hilman, Chair
Maintains and updates the Association's bylaws; forwards all proposed changes to the Newsletter Editor for inclusion before vote by the general membership; gains Board approval for all changes.
View 2008 Bylaws .

Consumer Health - Deborah Magnan, Chair
Informs the HSLANJ membership of new developments in consumer health; prepares, maintains and distributes a directory of member libraries that provide consumer health services.
Learn more about MLA's Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS) Program.
View HSLANJ members certified in CHIS.

Education - Erica Moncrief, Chair
Assesses and evaluates the continuing education needs of members. Acts as advisory committee for the Vice-President who plans the continuing education programs at the general membership meetings.. This committee can also consider offering other CE courses.

Finance - Vicki Sciuk, Chair
Advises the Board as to the Association's fiscal matters; makes recommendations to the Board regarding approval of fiscal projects; prepares and submits a budget to the Board and upon their approval to the general membership. The Treasurer shall serve on this committee.

Group Licensing - Michelle Brewer, Chair
Advises and assists in the management of the group licensing initiatives jointly offered by HSLANJ and the NJHA Library. Researches, recommends, and approves vendors; creates criteria for vendor selection; establishes vendor and library relationships; arranges free vendor trials; informal consultation with members by assisting them with their licensing needs; plans and coordinates continuing education and training for members for licensed vendor products; formulates strategies for short and long term group licensing; conducts needs assessments; negotiates pricing; reviews contracts; acts as liaison with vendors for technical and other concerns of participating libraries and markets and promotes initiatives. The fiduciary library for group licensing is the Chair of the committee and members should consist of at least one librarian from the UMDNJ libraries and representation from hospitals with both a large and small bed sizes.

Hospitality - Lia Sabbagh, Chair
Recruits new members into the Association; welcomes, introduces and orients all first-time members; fosters professional and personal networking among Association members.

Information Technology - Marie K. Saimbert, Chair
Maintains and improves the competencies of the membership in the areas of information technology by sponsoring brown-bag discussion groups, programs, and CE courses; contributing items to the Association newsletter; developing and advertising technological standards; and assisting the membership with grantsmanship activities. The Chair of this Committee, or a designee of the Chair, shall serve on the Education Committee.

Interlibrary Loan and Networking - Pat Regenberg, Chair
Monitors the operation of the various interlibrary loan networks; gathers and interprets borrowing statistics.

Legislative - Michelle Brewer, Chair
Monitors federal and state legislation regarding health and library issues; informs members through reports at general meetings and via the newsletter; prepares position statements and letters of support or opposition on legislative matters; serves as a communications link with legislative committees of other library organizations, especially the Medical Library Association, the New York/New Jersey Chapter of MLA and the New Jersey Library Association.

Marketing - Patricia May, Chair
Plans and executes the conception, promotion and distribution of ideas, products and/or services that support and promote health sciences libraries and librarians in New Jersey. Creates an awareness of the value, roles and expertise of health sciences librarians and libraries with a variety of audiences; develops partnerships and collaborations with the members of these audiences and educates them about the changing nature of libraries and librarians; develops a positive image of libraries and librarians and works toward increasing usage of health science libraries.

Newsletter - Nancy Forsberg, Chair
This is a working committee, chaired by the Newsletter Editor. Each member is responsible for writing at least two columns a year, and meeting deadlines. The Newsletter is published in the Spring and Fall.

Nominating - Erica Moncrief, Chair
Selects a slate of candidates for all open offices, including the Nominating Committee itself.

Public Relations - Louise Yorke, Chair
Handles the public relations of the association; contributes articles to the Newsletter; coordinates advance publicity prior to general membership meetings. The Committee also publicizes the annual HSLANJ awards and their recipients.
HSLANJ Brochure (PDF)

Web Site Development - Erica Moncrief, Chair
Develops and maintains the HSLANJ web site; providing current information, meeting announcements and provides tools to assist HSLANJ librarians. The web site is used as a medium to disseminate news and other information to the membership and other interested parties in an electronic format.